Logitech z623 2.1 Speaker Review

Conclusion

Like the worlds largest elephant the Logitech z623 2.1 THX Speakers are very impressive with a giant ‘but’.

Build quality is important for any set of speakers, particularly 2.1 ones for your desk. After all, the subwoofer gets kicked whether you mean to or not, and the satellites are in the firing line for furious controller launches and knocking over of your beverage of choice. Fortunately the z623 are extremely robust. The case for the subwoofer is sturdy enough that you could kill someone with it and the satellites, despite their plastic casing, feel fantastic and have no flex in them at all. This isn’t your aunties cheap plastic. The grills aren’t for show either. We’ve come across many speaker grills which were there for aesthetic reasons and had all the protective qualities of a slice of bread in a thunderstorm. There are no such issues with the Logitech z623. 

Whenever we test audio we always do it with the flattest EQ profile and the barest minimum of adjustments. It’s important to get a feel for the product in the manner that the manufacturers intended. Some models have monstrous bass as their natural setting, and some need a good kick to really get your chest pumping. The z623 are wonderfully neutral. Whether we were breaking our necks with Busta Rhymes, digging out our old white label hard house, grooving some classic rock or mellowing in the summer sun with some Pink Floyd, the z623 performed very well. The bass-heavy parts had plenty of boom to them without getting woolly or dominating your aural soundscape whilst the soft and gentle moments were reproduced with richness and subtlety. If you don’t touch that dial, you’ll be very pleased with the result.

At this point the elephant enters proceedings. Touching that dial. The volume control is nice and linear but despite an acclaimed 200W RMS we could barely hear things in the lower settings and by the time the music/game/film was pumping we’d run out of ways to turn it up. You would imagine that something sporting a large THX logo would make your neighbours weep. As it is it’s plenty loud enough for its position in front of you but it wont have a second life as a room-filling party machine. All of which pales in comparison to the hideousness of that bass dial.

In the central position, as we’ve said, it’s fine. Turn it up for those pounding four-on-the-floor moments and it doesn’t seem to add much bass at all, if any. Curious. By no means is it as curious as turning it the other way. If you move it a hairs breadth down from the central position it’s as if the bassist and drummer have been muted. No we’re not resorting to the hyperbole of hack journalists. It really is like an on/off switch for any frequency below Minnie Riperton. Quite how nobody in the R&D department noticed this we don’t know.

So it’s built really well, not ear-burstingly loud but plenty loud enough for anything below having a party and, as long as you promise to never touch that bass dial at all, the sound profile is absolutely spot on. Just a shame about the bass dial being wired up to the worlds most over-eager low-pass filter.   

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