With the recent proclamation of their 0 5.1 surround sound speaker set, the Z506, Logitech has made yet an additional one splash in the affordable sound solutions pool. While Logitech audio products have quite a bit of range on their price points (their favorite Z-5500 surround sound theory retails for around 0,) the company has recently sought to tap added into the "budget" market, and their X-540 speaker set did that beautifully. Much like the Z506, the X-540 is a 0 5.1 surround sound system. It was first released in late 2006 to warm critical reception, but took off in popularity as time went on. Reviewers both professional and amateur tend to agree that the X-540 delivers solid performance, particularly for a gismo as cheap as it is. My understanding tends to be that the most consuming part of this set is the price tag; while the speakers function well, bias can enter into the evaluation of the product's execution in that mental "for what I paid, this is well above what I expected." That said, I tried to describe this product objectively, without factoring price too heavily into the equation.

First, the speakers set up beautifully, with the only issue I noticed being not sufficient cable distance (you get a few feet; sufficient for most computer/Tv setups, but setting up an whole room as a music hub could be problematic). Other than this, however, I liked the way the actual components connect to walls/platforms/monitors; their aesthetic isn't bad either. When you get to watching movies/playing games, you observation that while the sound is clear, the yield is weaker than you'd expect, both in the left/right speakers and the bass unit. As far as games and movies are concerned, this verily isn't a problem, but I wouldn't suggest using these speakers as part of a music setup.

Logitech

As far as I know, these speakers have an extremely long life, although this is somewhat stereotypical of Logitech products. I haven't owned these speakers for more than a year, but I've seen reports that claim the life of these sets can exceed 3 years. Overall, the allocation aspect of these speakers is what gives them their appeal, but as far as speakers are concerned, they don't lag that far behind more high-priced models in quality. While "you get what you pay for" will always be applicable to products like this, Logitech has proven that you can get away with paying a bit less while still getting a ability product.