logitech z-540 review

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Picture courtesy of Max Hunter.

Average Ratings

Quality	10/10
Value for Money	10/10
Reviewer Rating	10/10
Overall Rating	10/10

100% Recommended2 out of 2 Reviews

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By Maxismaxx. on 19th Jul 2002

Maxismaxx.'s Ratings

Quality	10/10
Value for money	10/10
Overall value	10/10
Maxismaxx.'s recommendation

Good Points

Best price for the 4.1 entry class, wall stand or desktop stand, astounding bass (wooden box), generous cable length, acceptable styling, value and best sound for money around.

Bad Points

Blinding blue led (Logitech obviously has other purpose for this), large subwoofer box, lack of high freqz.

General Comments

I shop around and did some research before I got the Logitech Z540 speakers from my local retailer. Most retailers sell the Z540 at $199 or more in Australia but I got it for only $149. I tried the Z560, which is THX approved and yes the Z560 sounded better at the high end but for triple the price of the Z540. I also tried various Altect Lansing entry models which are sold for $50 more, or the retail price of z540 in Australia, but they did not sound as good.

Like its bigger brother, the Z540 can be wall mounted by rotating the metal stands using a screwdriver. This feature will attract buyers who want to have the option to hang their satellites in 4 corners of the rooms, making sound positioning accurate. Generous supplied cable length means that you will not need to purchase additional cable. The problem with the Logitech though is that the satellites are connected using RCA like connectors making it hard for the buyer to add extension speaker cables. At least a new one has to be made or purchased. Sound quality are excellent, only failing at the high end when used with PC. I tried connecting to DVD and it sounded as good as you can get from home satellite systems made 5 or more years ago. The bass is astounding from a 4"inch woofer. Did I say 4" woofer - yes I did. Initially I thought that the subwoofer is an 8 incher but after thorough researching, one of the websites that reviews z540 revealed that the z540 subwoofer actually applies an 8" cone to increase the bass output equalizing that of an 8 incher. The 4inch woofer is built inside the bandpass box that direct the sound wave at the 8" cone. In simple terms, all I can said is that the z540 can deliver a shaking performance. M3D is a Logitech feature that allow buyer with a 2 channel sound card to generate a virtual surround sound. It works perfectly on games and movies too.

The downside of the z540 is the low fq to high fq ratio making the system sounds little too much emphasize on the sub. The good news is you can always turn down the sub volume to minimum. The sub box is large and this is what you get when you want big bass, can't really complain. The only thing irritating me is the bright blue led on the control satellite that provides switch and volume controls. I shared the same idea as another reviewer about this problem at first but slowly I come to realise why Logitech used the bright led instead. Do most of us always forget to turn off our speakers? Well I do most of the time, and with this bright and blinding blue led, we shall never forget to turn off our speakers again.

Total Respect: +16