Quality 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers for your PC (Logitech X 530)

Member Name: Deru

Product:	Logitech X 530
Date:	27/01/08 (3553 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low price, Great build quality, Sound quality, Looks stylish

Disadvantages: Not many controls or line in for mp3 player, Rear speakers not loud enough, No digital-In audio

The Logitech X-530 is a 5.1 Surround Sound speaker set for your computer. It consists of a set of five small speakers, known as 'satellites', and a subwoofer, which is the larger unit that produces the bass. It set me back £55.00 online.

Home theatre, or home cinema, systems will usually hurt your wallet quite a bit and although the X-530 isn't really a home cinema system or even part of one, it is a good alternative for your PC. A home cinema system would usually have a Logic 3 amplifier as well as the satellite speakers and subwoofer but the X-530, being a PC speaker set, connects to your computer using analogue signals. A 'true' 5.1 sound system would be digital but these speakers do not have the option. You can buy digital PC speakers for use with a PC though as some soundcards have the connection. Even though it's not truly 5.1, it's a great low cost way to emulate the experience. Having them means you can have sound coming from the front left, front centre, front right, rear left and rear right as well as bass from the subwoofer for a greater cinematic experience.


-= The Speakers & Subwoofer=-

The five satellites speakers all look quite similar to each other. The only differences are the front-right speaker having the power button, volume control and a headphone socket, and the centre speaker standing horizontally rather than vertically. Oh, and it has the Logitech badge on the foot, not like the other four satellites where they are at the top. The five satellites are black with the black see-through mesh covering two cones on each.

Cheap plastic is nowhere to be seen with these speakers. These speakers are high quality! The plastic looks and feels very durable and dropping one of the speakers did no harm at all.

Excluding the centre speaker, the others are wall mountable. Simply rotate the feet 180° anti-clockwise then hang them up using a screw or something. The centre speaker is not wall mountable but it is the only speaker which is adjustable. You can tilt the speaker to face up or down. Not only are they good quality, they look good too! They're quite small so can fit in small places. The subwoofer is also very good quality and looks like it can survive a good hard kicking. It's not too big so fits nicely under my desk. The small size of the speakers and woofer usually means they are not as powerful compared to bigger ones but can't complain for the price!


-= Setting Up =-

To be able to fully use the Logitech X-530, you need a 5.1 capable soundcard. Although many computer motherboards are equipped with onboard soundcards, not all have 5.1 audio. To make your PC 5.1 compatible, you would need to buy yourself a 5.1 Soundcard. If you only have a two or four channel soundcard, you would not be able to use all the speakers. With two channel sound, i.e. standard soundcard, you would not have sound from the rear speakers. I had bought myself a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card for slightly better sound than what my motherboard has.

Set up is relatively easy and instructions and diagrams in the manual make the process even easier. I didn't have any real trouble setting everything up although running the wires can be a pain depending on where you put the speakers and what you have in the room. If it were a very large room with lots of corners to go round, you may have to buy yourself extensions. This is especially true with the two rear speakers.

I thought the Front-Right speaker's wire was a bit short so had to keep it close to the subwoofer and computer. I wanted mine slightly further to the right. To connect up, I just connected the satellites to the subwoofer, and then the control unit to the soundcard. The Phono sockets at the back of the subwoofer are colour coded along with the Phono connectors so you can easily tell which cable goes where. Which colour is for which speaker (i.e. Front Left, Rear Right, etc) is also labelled.

I found connecting the three 3.5mm connectors to my PC slightly more challenging since my current sound card isn't colour coded so I didn't know which connector connects to what. These are the green, black and orange connectors (although the orange one looks more like pink to me). The manual told me which goes where though!


-= Controls =-

I would have liked for the control unit to give me more control over the speakers. Currently, there is only a volume control on it but it could have included several more controls allowing me to control the volume of each individual speaker and the subwoofer. The control unit is on a speaker so there isn't much room for this but if the controls were on another unit, then there would be space for this. A shame it would probably bump up the price. I currently have to 'mix' the volumes using my soundcard's software. The subwoofer volume is at the back of the subwoofer unit, which is fine I guess. I would have also liked an extra 'Line-In' socket at the control unit so that I could plug in my MP3 player or laptop to the speakers. Otherwise, I would have to unplug one of the connectors at the back of my PC and even then, I'd only be able to use one of them and would not be able to use all the speakers.


-= Sound Quality =-

The sound quality of these speakers is brilliant. Watching DVDs gives you a pretty good cinematic experience with no hisses or any noises that shouldn't be there. It's not as powerful as a 'proper' surround sound system but I can't really complain for the price I paid. The X530 boasts a 70 Watt RMS or 140 Watt peak, which isn't much at all compared to other speakers I've seen! Some of the Logitech Z range speakers are way more powerful. A single speaker is more powerful than the X-530 set combined, but they cost a lot more. I think the X-530 is more than enough for my little room though, which is only about 1.5m x 1.5m. When turned up, it's pretty loud! They also boast Frequency Direct Dual Driver (FDD²) satellite technology that "produces a uniform sound field for full, rich sound" and a bunch of other stuff.

When the subwoofer is turned up to the maximum along with the speakers, the sound can sometimes sound a bit distorted. This can be resolved by turning down the subwoofer volume a bit and turning down the bass and treble bass in your computer's volume settings if your soundcard software has this.

One issue I have with the speakers is that the rear speakers are a bit quiet. When watching something, it's difficult to hear the sound from the rear so I have to turn up the volume. Sitting further back helps too as I'd be nearer to the rear speakers. Something else I could do is to lower the volume of the front speakers in my soundcard software's volume mixer, and then turn up the volume knob on the control unit. This would balance it out a bit.

-= Conclusion =-

I love these speakers. When turned up, provide an excellent cinema surround sound experience, or quite close to one for PC standards anyway. A shame about the lack of controls but for such a low price, I can't complain. It's almost like being at the cinema or in the middle of the film, sound-wise. Even though it's not the most powerful of speaker systems, my family sometimes complain about it being too loud even though it's not turned up much. I'll need a bigger screen for that bit extra cinema experience! You're not giving up quality either as they're Logitech branded and their products are nearly always top quality computing products. They also look good and can be mounted onto walls if need be. You can also connect your games console to it if you buy yourself an adapter. It's definitely not for audiophiles as they'd want to go for top-of-the-range stuff but these speakers are ideal for those looking for a low cost 5.1 PC speaker set for their PC without sacrificing quality. Highly recommended!

Thanks for reading!

Technical Specifications
* Total RMS power: 70 watts RMS
o Satellites: 45 watts RMS (2 x 7.4 watts front, 15.5 watts center, 2 x 7.4 watts rear)
o Subwoofer: 25 watts RMS
* Total peak power: 140 watts
- Frequency response: 40Hz - 20kHz

- Speaker dimensions (H x W x D):
-- Satellites: 8" x 2.5" x 3"
-- Subwoofer: 9" x 6" x 9.25"
- Signal-to-noise ratio: >96dB

System Compatibility

- PC/Mac
- CD
- MP3
- DVD*
- PlayStation®*
- Xbox®*

*Requires game console adapter.

Package Contents
- Speakers:
-- 5 satellites
-- 1 subwoofer
* Color-coded audio cables
* 2-year limited warranty
* User manual

Summary: Great quality 5.1 PC speakers at a low price

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