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Date: March 12, 2008
Author(s): Rory Buszka

Logitech unveiled their Z Cinéma speaker system at this year's CES, to plenty of fanfare. The system blends a refined two-way satellite design with a robust, powerful subwoofer. We take the latest high performance Z-series PC speaker system for a spin, and find lots of cause for excitement.

Packaging; First Impressions

The Z Cinéma box is two things - large, and heavy. It's covered with high-quality photography, and clearly describes the Z Cinéma system's unusual approach to surround sound. Its weight is reassuring - welterweight speakers tend to, as a general rule, deliver welterweight performance - but it's not unmanageably heavy.

In the box, the subwoofer is packed between two styrene plastic shells, with the upper shell encasing the satellite speakers and included accessories. In the Z Cinéma's package, you get the subwoofer and satellite speakers themselves, a quick-start guide, a more in-depth instruction manual, a software installation disc, the included Media Center remote, and a USB cable for connecting the speakers themselves to the host PC. They're even kind enough to provide a set of batteries for the remote, so everything you need to get started is in the box.

My Z Cinéma system's travel wasn't without incident, however. The heaviest component, the subwoofer, suffered some superficial cosmetic damage to its faceplate either in packing or in transit. However, the subwoofer's enclosure itself was not compromised, so the damage isn't enough to affect performance.

Next, we'll take a look at the features of the Z Cinéma system in more depth, to see how each contributes to the system's performance.

• Type: 2.1-channel (two satellite speakers, subwoofer)
• System Frequency Response: 40-20,000 Hz (+/-3dB)
• Subwoofer Configuration: Bass-Reflex, Self-Amplified
• Subwoofer Driver: 8 inch long-excursion
• Subwoofer Power Output: 110W RMS (4 ohms @ 45Hz)
• Satellite Configuration: Two-Way, Bass Reflex, Bi-Amplified
• Satellite Drivers: 1" textile-dome tweeter, 3" poly-cone midwoofer
• Satellite Power Output: 26W RMS (Midwoofer, 4 ohms @ 335Hz) + 9W RMS (Tweeter, 16 ohms @ 17.4kHz)
• Satellite Cable Length: 6 feet
• Amplifier Type: Hybrid Class-D/Class-AB, actively crossed-over
• Subwoofer Dimensions (H x W x D, mm): 292.4 x 290.6 x 413.9
• Satellite Dimensions (H x W x D, mm): 250.4 x 115 x 112.4
• System Requirements: USB Port, CD-ROM drive, 256MB RAM, 20MB available hard drive space, Windows Media Center (for full remote functionality)