Home > Consumer Reviews > Logitech X-540 Multimedia Speaker System (5.1)

Purchased on Wednesday, arrived on the following Monday so fairly quick delivery.

My Brother has the x-530 speakers (these are the x-540 and the newer model) and I would reccomend spending the extra money to get this model. The x-530 speakers are covered by material, which rips. The x-540 speakers have a metal grill instead.
The sound quality is very very good and the matrix mode spreads the sound well to make films seem more realistic and around you.
The bass is good for just playing music loud and overall I would say that these speakers rival upper brands, such as the Bose speakers my dad has.

Overall, I would reccommend these speakers.

These speakers are a must buy for anyone who wants top quality sound, a deep-bass boom for movies, mp3 players, computer,games consoles or cd players.

When I first flicked open the manuel and box, I was surprised how easy it was to set the speakers, set-up took 10 minutes. Colour-coded wires couldn't be easier, some have commented on the length of the cables but they were fine for my room - no problems.

Movies - These speakers really bring movies to life with crisp sound, Iv'e only seen Gladiator so far but I noticed sounds that I didnt before (wind around the tents etc). Awesome!

Music - Nice, smooth sound with a great bass.

Get these speakers - you really can't get getter value for money.

Having been used to the rich, high quality sound from the Sony MDR-V300 headphones, I decided it was time I went for a new pair of speakers to replace my old stereo ones that came with my old IBM PC and go for a 5.1 surround sound setup too while I was at it. I ended up deciding on these speakers because of all the good reviews but here's what I think after trying them out.

PROS

+ Good surround sound experience for movies and games.
+ "Matrix" surround sound for stereo sources work well with instrumental music.
+ Loudness - Just half the volume is loud enough to sound through the house.
+ Large easily accessible volume control within short reach.
+ Wired remote controls headphone volume too.
+ Powerful bass response with little distortion.

As a lot of the reviews here such as Michael Green's review suggest, the Logitech X-540 pack some good power and features.

They definitely provide some decent 5.1 surround sound giving a good sense of immersion when watching DVD movies and, games such as Mirror's Edge, Assassin's Creed and Fallout 3 come alive enveloping you in its environments full of ambient sound effects.

However as expected, "Matrix" mode is a bit of a hit and miss when it's upmixing 2 channel sound sources such as CD music to give it a surround sound effect. The vocals in songs tend to become too pronounced through the central speaker, drowning out the instruments from the satellites but on the other hand, the results are impressive with instrumental songs because it feels as if you're the conductor surrounded by a band.

Fortunately, you can conveniently toggle it on and off at the touch of a button on the wired remote In fact, the wired remote is actually very handy as a control centre because it saves reaching out to the speakers to adjust the volume and bass or, fidgeting with any software on the computer! The cable is long enough to have it within quick reach say, by your monitor.

I was pretty confused why there were reviews saying the volume control doesn't work with any earphones/headphones plugged in because it works just fine with the Sony MDR-V300 headphones.

The speakers are loud. It can thunder through the house at half the volume - Didn't really dare go to full! Even with my room's door closed and the bass at about a quarter of its setting, I can still hear the feel the beat from hip-hop music thumping away. This is most likely thanks to the 5.25" driver "firing" out the sounds onto the room's floor so that it can spread out for full effect.

CONS

- Musical instruments sound flat with the dual cone satellites.
- Mechanical hum from subwoofer even when it's "off".
- Vocals are a little rough around the edges.
- Exposed subwoofer cone.

A few minor points to bear in mind when purchasing these speakers.

The cone at the bottom of the subwoofer is exposed so you will want to be fairly careful when lifting it up and moving it around. It also produces a low mechanical humming sound even when you have the power button set to off. It only goes away after you turn it completely off at the mains.

Many people have been complaining that the cables are too short but good enough for a small room. Personally the (approximately) 4m rear, 2m front and 1.5m subwoofer cables work just fine for my corner desk.

However, my biggest gripe about these speakers is the sound quality.

Instruments simply sound flat. I listen to a lot of instrumental music while I'm working such as those by Nobuo Uematsu and Joe Hisaishi and instruments such as cymbals, strings or piano notes don't sound any different from my old stereo speakers. Perhaps worse. The notes don't sound as if they're rippling through the air as if the instruments are live. Whether in "Matrix" mode or the original stereo mode, they feel very synthetic and lack ambience.

Or in the words of another reviewer, "Surfer8" the music teacher - They lack presence.

It sounds like a half-hearted band is performing the music and this may very well be down to the dual cone satellite speakers. Even vocals sound a little rough around the edges although you can just about get away with it with synthesised pop music.

Thinking it might have had something to do with the quality of the sound signal from my on board Realtek HD chip, I plugged in the Sony headphones into the remote but I found the sound quality was still as rich as they sounded before. I then decided to test the speakers on a dedicated Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card yet, the sound quality of instruments remained very poor no matter how much I tinkered with the software settings.

CONCLUSION

At this price, the Logitech X-540 should really deserve a full five star rating for providing the surround sound experience they're supposed to offer. However, I am giving them a four because they didn't produce the sound quality I wanted, just to let potential buyers take note.

They're great if you just enjoy feeling the beat in your music with some powerful bass or, want a fairly good surround sound experience for games and movies. But if you want to hear those instruments in your music at their best, avoid these and try a different set of speakers.

Not a bad package overall and perfect for hooking up to your PC.

Purchased initially to connect to Xbox 360 as the wording states this package includes an adapter for consoles. This is true as an adapter is included but only to allow 2 channel (left and right) audio with simulated 5.1 (which isn't brilliant.)

Connected to a Windows PC its does the job and worth the price on Amazon.

I bought these mainly for replacing my PC's aging 5.1 sound system which was deteriorating and crackling.
They are great for doing that job.
Sound is fine, although the bass needs to be cranked to the max just to hear it correctly. Maybe I'm just used to having my old system's bass turned right down for the equivalent sound to this one.

The downside is that, I also wanted to try a 5.1 system on my PS3's blu-ray discs.
The PS3 only has an optical sound cable though and this system only attaches with the standard green/black/orange 5.1 PC sound attachments.

Do not get this product if you want to connect it to your PS3.