6. Logitech Z-4: Original Solutions

• Z-4 2.1 Speaker System...
• • ABT
  • $99.00

Like other manufacturers, Logitech has tried its hand at "design" speaker systems, meaning kits with small elongated satellites that look good alongside a flat-panel display or a laptop. It's become almost a compulsory exercise nowadays, since many consumers are more interested in looks than in sound reproduction. Logitech has done its job using some original solutions - but are they effective?

It's hard to redesign in this style, since the shape is more or less imposed, but the Z-4 has almost succeeded in doing it. The satellites are wider than most of the competitors', but are still column-shaped and thin. Esthetically, the result doesn't especially turn us on, but that's obviously a matter of personal taste.

The subwoofer is almost a perfect cube, of average size (for this category) and very restrained in appearance-black with a metallic surround on the front panel. The controls are on a small unit connected to the subwoofer by a cable, which looks a little like something you'd see in a science-fiction movie from the '50s or '60s.