Maximum PC speaker system RSS Feed

Logitech Speaker System Z520

Michael Brown — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:30:39 -0600

Damn-good cheap speakers

We haven’t auditioned many cheap speaker systems lately. Why? Well, let’s just say we don’t enjoy subjecting our ears to the sonic equivalent of waterboarding. But Logitech has a knack for packing big sound into inexpensive boxes, so we agreed to review its new two-channel Z520 system.

You’ll have to decide for yourself if the Z520 system’s $130 price tag really puts it in the “cheap” category, and we imagine the folks at Logitech will cringe to hear us describe them as such; but you can cut only so many corners before we begin to ask, “Why bother?” Judging by these speakers’ performance, Logitech’s engineers know just how low they can go.

When we see small speakers, we usually pigeon-hole them as near-field monitors: short-throw speakers that produce a small stereo soundstage that collapses as soon as you move more than three feet away from the cabinets. There’s nothing inherently wrong with near-fields, especially in a PC environment, but they have their limitations. So we were surprised to hear Logitech boast that the Z520 could provide a “great listening experience throughout the room.” We decided to put that claim to the test as soon as we took the speakers out of the box.

An auxilary input on the side of the right cabinet can accommodate an MP3 player; there's a headphone output there, too.

We connected the set to Asus’s kick-ass two-channel soundcard, the Xonar Essence STX, which meant we had to find an adapter to convert the speakers’ six-foot hardwired cable. The cable ends in a 1/8-inch stereo plug, but the soundcard’s jacks are stereo RCA. The six-foot cable connecting the left speaker cabinet to the right, which houses the amp, is hardwired to the left cabinet. We realize that renders setup fairly idiot-proof, but it also limits where you can put the speakers.

We played a number of tracks that we’d ripped from CD and encoded in FLAC, starting with an old favorite: Joe Jackson’s “Rant and Rave” from his Blaze of Glory release. We expected the speakers to be bright, since there’s no subwoofer (and no way to add one), but we were pleasantly surprised with their range and definition. Listen to a song like this on most inexpensive speaker systems and the acoustic piano, horns, and vocals will peel your ear drums. The Z520 produced the congas, acoustic piano, trumpet, and vocal as thoroughly distinct elements. The system even delivered respectable bass response from its three-inch woofers, without having to resort to devices such as reflex ports and passive radiators. The cabinets are fabricated from thick plastic and flare out with a wide bottom that renders them very stable. There’s not enough bass here to satisfy hardcore gamers or movie buffs; but for the price, we think most music listeners will be satisfied.

The Z520’s integrated amp produces just 26 watts per channel, so don’t expect it to fill a large room with sound, especially if you’re throwing a party. With the volume control knob turned about three-quarters full, however, it did manage to fill our 14x8-foot home office. But the speaker’s ability to present a stereo image almost anywhere in the room is what really impressed us; in fact, the soundstage didn’t begin to decay until we were standing at a nearly 90-degree angle to the speakers. Remarkable.

M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Speaker System

Michael Brown — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:16:40 -0500

Considering their $200 price tag, it’s amazing to see how many professional features M-Audio’s Studiophile AV 40 reference monitors are packed with, including 1/4-inch balanced inputs that can accommodate long cable runs. But you know the company had to make some compromises—and we found out where the moment we turned the speakers on.

At first, we attributed the low-level hum we heard from the amplifier to a ground loop, which can occur when components with different ground potentials are connected. But after connecting two other systems to the same outlets, we concluded the problem was with the amp. We returned the speakers to M-Audio, and the replacement set we received was a little quieter, but we still detected a funky buzz when we pressed our ear to the driver. If you’re using these speakers for recording, mix-down, or other critical listening tasks, the noise will haunt you because you won’t know if it’s coming from your instruments, your mic, or some piece of outboard gear.

The AV 40s do exhibit a characteristic that is essential for any speaker laying claim to the “studio monitor” moniker: pancake-flat frequency response that doesn’t add to, subtract from, or otherwise color recorded music. The 20-watt-per-channel class A/B amplifier is well suited for near-field listening, but if you also want to use the system for recreational listening or even gaming, simply flip the bass-boost switch on the back and be rewarded with just a little more thump in the low end. Even in this mode, bass response is far short of what M-Audio’s subwoofer-equipped Studiophile LX4 system dishes out, but it’s impressive for monitors in this price range.

Listening to the power funk of Tower of Power’s “Oakland Stroke,” we were impressed by the AV 40s’s ability to deliver the band’s full sonic spectrum, from the belch of Stephen “Doc” Kupka’s baritone sax to the crackle and snap of Dave Garibaldi’s drum work. But we’d score these speakers much higher if the amp were quieter.

Logic3 iStation 8

Michael Brown — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:34:10 -0600

The iStation 8 has almost everything you could want in an iPod speaker system: It docks, syncs, and recharges your iPod; it has composite and S-Video outputs, a headphone output, and an auxiliary input; it’s portable; it comes with a remote control; and it even boasts a 16-character LCD display. Its designers neglected just one aspect: great sound.

In our mind’s eye, we see them excitedly leafing through a Chinese component-manufacturer’s catalog: “Wow, everything’s so cheap! We can put eight drivers in the box, and an absolutely huge woofer.”

Sure you can. But when critics like us audition systems like this, we just can’t muster the same enthusiasm. To be fair, the iStation 8 sounds only mediocre, not outright terrible; and it’s a bargain for all that it delivers. But bargains usually entail compromises, and this compromise impacts the product’s core mission: audio.

Four 1.26-inch neodymium drivers are stacked on each side of the enclosure, with a single 2.5-inch woofer in the middle. An amplifier squirts four watts per channel to the full-range speakers—one watt to each driver—and 12 watts to the woofer. The system produces acceptable highs, but slightly muffled and ill-defined mids and lows. Put them together and you get an unexciting musical experience; closer to listless than utterly lifeless, but boring all the same.

We’ve criticized many an iPod docking port for not providing adequate support for the player, and we level the same charge at this one. The iStation 8’s blue LCD, on the other hand, cranks up the hip factor with a feature we’ve never seen before: Song titles plucked straight from a docked iPod!

Month Reviewed: November 2006
Verdict: 7
URL: www.logic3.com

SoundMatters FullStageHD

Michael Brown — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:06:50 -0600

It’s no myth that two-box speaker systems can produce compelling surround sound. Cambridge SoundWorks’ SurroundWorks 200 and Yamaha’s YSP-800 (paired with a good subwoofer) pull it off using head-related transfer functions and digital audio-projection technology, respectively. SoundMatters would have us believe its FullStageHD can work the same magic, but we’re calling bunk.

The $600 system consists of two components: A crescent-shaped cabinet houses an amplifier, a built-in subwoofer, and small speakers for the front, rear, and center channels. A larger powered subwoofer delivers added oomph to low-frequency effects. FullStageHD sparkles with audio CDs. We reveled in The Blind Boys of Alabama’s cover of Tom Waits’ “Jesus Gonna Be Here” as the upright bass’ wood and catgut resonated perfectly with the vocalist’s gravelly tenor.

We weren’t nearly as pleased when we tested the system’s theatrical capabilities, using Tim Burton’s underrated remake of Planet of the Apes. The system succeeded in placing audio events on a wide and tall sound stage, and the subwoofers did a stellar job producing coherent bass. But at no point did we ever perceive that audio events were originating anywhere other than from the front of the room.

After obtaining disappointing results from several other movies, we decided to switch gears and listen to some surround-sound music. We’d just received This Binary Universe, the latest DTS release from electronica pioneer Brian Transeau (BT), so we dropped it in our DVD player.

After listening to 10 seconds of silence, we spent the next few minutes checking settings on the FullStageHD and on the DVD player. Then we double-checked the cable connections between the two devices. And then we finally decided to RTFM. It turns out the FullStageHD doesn’t support DTS. We were even more appalled to learn that SoundMatters doesn’t license Dolby’s technology, either—it uses an old Zoran DSP chip and an audio algorithm that emulates Dolby Digital.

SoundMatters offers a respectable compact sound system for audio CDs, but we thought we’d left this kind of surround-sound hokum back in the 1990s.

Month Reviewed: November 2006

Verdict: 5

URL: www.soundmatters.com