Manufacturer: Logitech Website: Logitech Z-340 Price: USD $49.99 Author: Brian Lee Page: 2

Here is the nice box that the speakers are shipped in.  The box does have quite a heft to it.

Inside, the components are all very nicely packaged and wrapped.

This is the subwoofer unit.  The box is finished in black with a black grill that sports a silver ring.  Looks very nice. 

Unlike many other speaker systems, this subwoofer uses a sealed box enclosure instead of the more common ported box.  Ported subwoofers have a port (duh) that allows air to move in and out of the box as the subwoofer drives vibrates.  The advantage of a ported subwoofer is that it requires a less powerful amplifier than a sealed box subwoofer to produce the same amount of bass.  However, this comes at the expense of having more distortion and unwanted driver cone rattling at high volume levels unless the port has been very carefully designed.  Sealed subwoofer systems usually have more accurate bass because the air inside the subwoofer is a fixed volume and limits the physical incursion/excursion of the subwoofer driver.  This means that in order to have the same amount of bass as a ported subwoofer system, you need more power since in a sealed system the driver has to fight the pressure of the sealed box.  At high power levels, sealed subs aren't as prone to distortion as are ported subs.  Don't get me wrong, both sealed and ported subwoofers can sound great but the main reason that lower end computer speakers have a port is so they don't require as much power from the amplifier.

Well how come expensive home theater subwoofers have often have  ports as well?  Part of the reason is the same as for computers speakers; to keep the power requirement and cost down.  Secondly, the ports on home theater subs are more likely to be finely tuned to get the best performance out of that box.  A port isn't just a hole in a box, it's a tube that creates specific standing waves and can dramatically alter the way a subwoofer sounds.  Also, the shape of the port opening must be specifically designed so that audible air turbulence is kept to a minimum.  There are extremely sophisticated calculations for tuning a speaker port.  Low end computers speakers are not likely to have as carefully designed ports.  Just so you know I'm not bashing ported speakers, the subwoofer in my own home theater is ported.  However, it's still nice to see that the Logitech speaker system has a sealed subwoofer.

On the back of the subwoofer is the power cord to an AC outlet, a knob to control the bass level, and a single connector that connects to the right speaker.

Here is a picture of the connector port and the connector from the right speaker.  The green 1/8 inch connector also originates from the right speaker and connects to your sound card.

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