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

Easy to set up. Beautiful sound. Great bass. An awful lot for your money.

I was looking to upgrade my Tevion 2.1 speakers by adding a bit more audio meat to my custom built pc (which has a HD 7.1 sound blaster card).

After much searching on ebay and amazon, I decided to buy one of the Logitech 5.1 surround sound systems, primarily because all models (2.1 & 5.1) received extremely good reviews from the vast majority of customers (and also because I am a little short on space to accomodate a 7.1 system - which were too expensive anyway).

I intended to buy a brand new unit, yet I managed to find an 'ex-display' item on amazon for £35 (p+p=£7; total=£42). The seller advertised 'as new', so I thought 'why not?'.

The item arrived and it all seemed to be in good condition, apart from some putty/plaster on the speaker grills :( which I had to remove. I hooked it all up and it works nicely.

Positive points - sound clarity is good and I am surprised by how much bass this system has. It is loud (at full volume) and I can hear it downstairs. There is no distortion even at full volume and full bass.

However, being a 2nd hand unit, I dont think it is as loud or responsive as a brand new item, because the volume from 1% to 45% is not particularly audible. When I increase the volume to just over half, then it does become noticeable. I am not sure why that is (I did ask the seller if the item was used to play loud music etc, but I received no reply). Being a 2nd hand unit, this was my only concern (since a previous reviewer bought a brand new X-540 from amazon and stated that at half volume, he could hear it out on the street).

Overall, I am 75% satisfied with this unit. During the 5 weeks of daily use, it has not given me any trouble and even though the lead on the volume remote control is a little short, the volume control is still an asset, particularly when I am lying on my bed watching a movie .

If you intend to buy 2nd hand (especially if you are on a budget), then make sure the item works perfectly and make sure the seller makes an honest effort to answer your queries, because 2nd hand should still mean good quality.

Amazing speakers!!! Great sound plenty loud bass doesent overpower mid tones sound great! Love them!

I have had these speakers since October 07 and use them as a sound system for my PS3 and XBOX 360.

First up, the speakers are excellent sound quality for the money. Crystal clear sound, good sound quality and they are powerful. I'd recommend the 540's over the 530's because it has a bigger subwoofer, wired remote, hinged central speaker and matrix mode plus independent control of the subwoofer volume.

I bought the speakers to replace an old hi-fi used for console gaming. The attraction was a cheap 5.1 surround sound. Only when I got them [a couple of days after ordering via Amazon] did I find out the TRUTH.

5.1 sound is only available via a PC with a 5.1 soundcard. For consoles all you get is stereo. So beware! The matrix mode gives simulated surround sound like a reverb. Its very subtle and can be turned off but its actually fine for gaming. The supplied console dongle only allows you to connect the PC connections to a stereo connection.

So no surround sound then! I felt diddled at first. However when I realised that I needed a 5.1 with HDMI to get surround sound from the PS3 then I realised I would need a more expensive sound system.

I use these speakers regularly for gaming and they are very good, especially with the SW turned up full. Surprisingly, you get a seperate central channel for speech along with stereo. Delayed mono is what comes out the rear speakers.

It connects fine with the XBOX but the PS3 doesn't have stereo outputs so you need to configure the output to access stereo sound.

I got around this by connecting my consoles using HDMI to my LCD TV which has an audio output. The 540's are connected to this so that I can use them with the PS3, 360, Wii and the TV itself.

The system is good enough quality for gaming and worth the money but note that they are difficult to connect to the PS3 and you don't get true surround sound from consoles.

I feel compelled to leave a review of this product, because i disagree avidly with most of the other reviews that persuaded me to buy this item in the first place.

Compared to my old 2.1 creative i-trigue speakers this logitech item is totally and utterly inferior the bass is almost no existent, the speakers crackle when playing mp3's on my pc and when connected to my tv they sound tinny and worse than the standard small speakers of the lcd tv itself. plus the sub woofer has a horrible hum when the bass is turned up.

I cant imagine why this product has ever received a single good review, in future i may not bother reading reviews at all as i am totally disappointed with this product, it is inferior in every way to my old speakers and probably one of the worst sounding speakers i have ever heard, from the minute i connected them i thought something must be wrong with them or the connection due to such good reviews "How can they be so bad", Returned as faulty because they sound so bad. I have had cheap alba speakers that sound better than this!