Difference between Logitech X-230 and Z-2300?

The X-230 has a pair of 2" drivers with a basic crossover system where the top 2" driver acts like a tweeter. Suffice to say, it's not a very good idea to make a 2" tweeter as it cannot flex fast enough at the higher frequencies without significant distortion. The X-230 is also a "flat speaker" design made to mate with LCD monitors. With less internal volume to the satellite, this forces the subwoofer to work higher, so the sub will be muddier, all things equal, and the satellites will sound thinner.

The Z-2300 has a single 3" driver, and slightly more internal volume, but still is a small satellite. A 3" driver can go deeper and thus cross over with the subwoofer at a lower volume (not to mention the bigger satellite internal volume helps as well), which means the bass will probably be slightly cleaner. The single 3" design has its problems as well however. High frequencies beam forward like a laser, which is one of the reasons (also lower distortion, more linear response, higher breakup modes) a tweeter is a good idea. Without the tweeter, the 3" driver will have less horizontal dispersion than a tweeter + midrange combo, meaning you have to sit in a smaller area around the speakers to get proper sound response. Beyond a certain number of degrees to the sides, bass and treble response will drop off significantly, so the setup would not work very well in a larger room, or for any setting that requires more than one person to listen to the sound system. Also, compared to the X-230s, treble may be a bit troublesome, since 3" drivers will have breakup modes, frequency ranges where the cones will simply resonate like a cow bell, whereas the X-230s can probably reach up to somewhat higher frequencies before breaking up. Neither is optimal compared to a standard 1" tweeter.

I think the main tradeoffs are slightly better treble response (X-230s) vs slightly cleaner bass (Z-2300s). For the money you could do better for sound, but Logitechs do look nice and trendy though, which is generally the biggest reason people pick them for PC speakers.

Because Logitech sells alot of speakers, and when you have market dominance, it makes no sense to spend more money improving your product, unless someone with a lot of marketting power comes your way to threaten your hegemony.

I'm sure their D&D department has dozens of designs ready (just like Bose), but when you can sell a product that's only costs half has much to produce as the competition (just an example, it could be ten times cheaper for all we know), decreasing your own profit margin (just to make something better) is not a rational choice for a monopoly. They are a publicaly traded company, so their main focuses are making their stock holders happy, and that means maximizing profit margin unless you absolutely have to do something to avoid future disaster.

The only way for there to be actually any competition against Logitech is if Klipsch cut their iFi prices down to $100, and the Klipsch 5.1 Ultra to $150, or if "Altec Lansing" (I use quotations as the current Altec Lansing company has nothing to do with the audio pioneer by the same name; they merely bought the name after the old AL folded) brought over their $600 5.1 MX5051 set from the Euro market and cut the price to $150. This is simply not going to happen, because they can't do this kind of hedging like Microsoft was able to do with the X-Box, as they don't have hundreds of millions of dollars to lose to gain market share.

Better products do not sell in a consumer market. Marketting does. Microsoft had a better performing console but had to take on nearly billions of losses to force its way into the market, and the stagnant console market is now full of competition to the point where console games no longer look like "kiddie games." Just having a vision of making a better product doesn't do anything for you unless you have the sheer resources to take extended losses in order to challenge the current king of the hill. The reigning king of the hill's job is to stifle competition so it *doesn't* have to spend money improving its product.

Sorry I slipped up. I have Logitech x-230 …..

also let me know how you get on with adding the b+w 601's I might go down that route as well if the set up works for you !