Logitech X-230 Speakers

I know these are popular ones for the price. Anyone here own these and if you do is the sound alright (does it ever distort etc.)? I've never listened to good music on them, but I've read great reviews about them on newegg and I want good speakers for my computer when I'm on campus. Also, these are going to be hooked up to a laptop so I was wondering if anything else is necessary to have the hooked up.

There's a pretty nice deal for these speakers on www.slickdeals.net I'd only be paying $18.

 

I own them and have also heard some 5.1 speakers. I must say that the X-230 sounds better than most of them. For $18 they're almost a steal. I would definitely recommend them, especially if you are not a super audiophile but still want good sounding speakers.

 

I've used them on a couple budget builds. They're good as far as style, and are better than most speakers in the price range. But, for me anyway, listening to music with them is more a chore. If you've never heard better it will probably be fine, but it just... doesn't sound like the music I know and love.

I don't have them here to tell you about, but I recall some holes in the response range, and an overall thin and somewhat tinny sound. (definitely not as tinny as most speakers at this price, this is a strength!) If you can spend more, do it. $30 more will get you a lot better speaker, though still nothing special of course.

 

how do these compare to the logitech z-2300?

 

The X-230 speakers sound great compared to most 2.1 speakers on the market. I'd highly recommend them to anyone with working ears.

 

Quite simply, they don't. I'm no fan of the Z-2300, but these x-230 aren't even visible on the Z-2300's scale.

 

can I change the soundcard on the laptop i get easily if the sound isn't too good w/ these speakers?

 

Nope, the sound hardware is integrated to the motherboard. You can disable that, though, and use a PCMCIA, USB, or Firewire interface.

 

The X-230's are good for regular computer use, but it you watch movies, play a lot of games, or like your music loud, I would suggest the X-530's.

 

just checked out the230's at bestbuy, very good quality for the movie they were playing. much better (IMO) and slightly less expensive then the altec and creavtives.

they didnt have the the z2300, is it worth the extra money? its getting rave reviews.

if not, what do you guys suggest for a 2.1 system? i would love to get a 5.1 but my room is too small

 

I own both the X-230s and the Z-2300s. Obviously the latter blows the former away in all areas (including price ) but the X-230s are great for the money. I don't think you can go wrong with them - the clarity and bass are good for the most part.

 

I was in the same sort of situation - I was at university in a small room and moving every 4 months (co-op) so I needed to keep the number of things I was taking to a minimum. I ended up choosing a 2.0 set of speakers. I wanted something with good response though, none of those cheap 2.0 speakers.

I narrowed it down to between the Creative GigaWorks T20's and the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0's. I eventually settled on the T20's as there was a great sale on at Futureshop, bringing them down to about $70CAD. The reviews I had read on both sets were sparkling - the real killer is that I listen mostly to music and the response and clarity of these speakers were said to be just awesome. That's the thing with cheap 2.1's or 5.1's. You get a subwoofer, sure, but it only serves to muddle the sound with poor fidelity bass. It's cool to show off how much you can rattle the stuff on your desk, but if you're actually looking for sound quality as opposed to merely sound, you're better off with something else. Here are a couple reviews of the T20.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/05/15/creative_gigaworks_t20_speakers/1
http://gear.ign.com/articles/700/700749p1.html
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=306
http://www.trustedreviews.com/multimedia/review/2007/04/19/Creative-GigaWorks-T20-2-0-Speakers/p1

In my use, compared to a set of Altec Lansing ATP3 (2.1) and a set of Logitech Z-640 (5.1) the Creative T20's produce much better sound quality. You definitely lose some bass and extremely low frequencies, so watching movies may not be the best on them (if you do that a lot, you may want to consider something with a sub) but for music, they easily outshine the above to mentioned sets.

Plus, they just look high class. No cheap plastic knobs here.

 

at around 120 for the z2300, i think im going to get those, the only question is what exactly is "thx-certified"

 

Just an FYI, that slickdeal is now dead.

 

Tigerdirect has the X-230's for $20 (excluding shipping) if you missed the slickdeal.

 

ordered yesterday from buy.com, thanks guys

 

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=57&name=Sound-Cards

so from here I can only use the usb section if I want to use a sound card? I wanted to get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102002 but I'm guessing that this can only be put into a desktop case.

 

honestly, the x-230's are 2.1s and they are okay for 2.1s, but if you want really good sound for just a little more, go for the x-530. i saw them on ebay for like 40 bucks with shipping.. anyways, i have the logitech z-5450 and i believe that they are the best speaker system available.. has a million different effects.. 7 different inputs.. wireless rear speakers.. huge subwoofer.. and the option to control the level of each speaker.. including the sub.. well that is probably out of your range though.. around 250, but i had to stretch my budget a lot to get them, but in the end, it is well worth it.. i can use my desktop on it, and with the click of the input button switch to using it on my laptop and then click it again and be using it on my 360.. best system out!!!

 

oh and by the way the x-530 and the z-5450 are both 5.1.. which means u might have to get a usb 5.1 adapter or go for the sound blaster 2 ZS(compatible with vista!!) but 5.1 absolutely crushes 2.1..

 

Chuck I would be eternally grateful if you took pics of how big they are, say in relation to your laptop (can't really tell from press shots) or point me to a link which will show me

 

I took a couple shots for you. As reference, that's a 20" widescreen LCD in the back and a Z71V in the foreground (15.4" WS laptop).




Hope that helps.

 

Thanks. Actually smaller than I thought. May yet choose this one

 

i still don't understand which sound cards I can use from newegg if I don't want to use the one on the notebook motherboard

 

See this post and here

 

i believe THX is some sort of certification that the speakers receive. basically it means they are kick ass speakers.

 

Missed that before THX is from George "milking the cow dry" Lucas - basically a certificate of quality in playback. More to do with films and home cinema than music, but I suppose its *nice*?

 

Yeah, they're a solid set of speakers. I'm very happy with them. Do be warned that for mainly movie-watching, you may want to go with something that has a little more oomph (eg something with a sub) but for music (well, depends on the genre as well), they're just great.

 

try the X-230, they have more oomph lol. I just got these today and they KILL the harman/kardon (2.1 speakers) that came with my dell. I've only used the X-230 with my Creative Zen Micro Mp3 player with the eq settings off and they still sound amazing. The bass is deeper and hits harder (I listen to hip-hop) so it's probably great for gaming/movies. Now I just need to decide what laptop I will purchase =p