7. Logitech MM28 Stereo Speaker System: Compact, Good Sound And Volume

Reviewer: Barry Gerber

Whether your dad has a digital music player or a laptop or notebook computer, he'll appreciate Logitech's MM28 stereo speaker system. And, if you can wrangle it away from dad, the speaker will add some fire to the sound from the games you play on your notebook computer or game console. The MM28 plugs into any standard 3.5mm sound output jack and produces very good sound. The unit is self contained and easy to take anywhere, with no external parts other than its AC power adapter, which dad won't need to often because the speaker runs for extended periods on batteries.

Logitech's MM28 speaker open and ready for action.

The MM28 uses NXT flat-panel technology from New Transducers Ltd. The entire front surface of the MM28 is a stereo speaker. The speaker is covered by a plastic panel. You rotate the panel 270 degrees to form a base that allows the speaker to stand up.

When rotated 270 degrees the cover on the Logitech MM28 speaker becomes a stand that holds the speaker upright while in use.

The Logitech MM28 in an upright position. The connecting cord stores easily on the back of the speaker.

With the plastic cover closed the Logitech MM28 is 1.24" thick. In this state the flat panel speaker is fully protected and no carrying case is required. At 11.38" long and 4.5" high and weighing only 1 pound, 4 ounces, the speaker is small and light enough to accompany dad almost anywhere he goes.

The MM28 can be powered by an AC adapter or 4 AA batteries. The batteries are supposed to last up to 40 hours. We have been using the speaker on and off for a couple of weeks and haven't had to change the batteries yet.

Like most powered speakers, the MM28 produces a bit more bass than we like. Still "enhanced" bass levels are far less annoying than with most powered speakers in MM28's price range. Unlike many powered speakers the MM28 doesn't tend to distort sound even at high levels.

The Logitech MM28 speaker system has no volume control of its own, so be careful that the volume control on source device can adjust from very low to high levels. On one radio we tried the mechanical volume control was worn and tended to produce very high sound levels with the control set to no volume at all. This resulted in almost deafening sound from the MM28. The speaker worked beautifully with our Sony VAIO laptop.

The speaker's stereo effect is good when you're within 3 or 4 feet of the speaker. Beyond that you hear mostly monophonic sound.