Logitech has introduced the Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System, featuring a design that the company thinks will change how people think about and use PC speakers.
The speaker satellites' polished acrylic faces offer clean, minimalist facades accented by the digital display and each speaker's two metal mesh grills. The speakers promise to deliver rich audio without using a separate space-consuming subwoofer.
This new model comes with touch-sensitive controls on the face of the speakers, eliminating the need for people to toggle between applications to control music on their computer monitor. People can continue to work or surf the Web, or even turn their monitor off and use the integrated speaker controls to adjust volume, treble and bass, and navigate music tracks with play, pause, skip forward and back buttons.
Using USB technology and some software, the speakers can display track information from popular media players, including iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, and Musicmatch. The digital display also shows a clock, volume levels and other system information from the PC.
The Logitech Z-10 speakers also have four Internet radio preset buttons located on the speakers' touch sensitive panel. When touched, the preset buttons let users quickly save and recall their favorite Internet radio stations and playlists.
A built-in amplifier splits the high and low frequencies (called bi-amplification) directing the high-range signals to the tweeters and the low-range signals to the woofers -- an approach that Logitech says is typically used only in performance home-theater speakers.
Each satellite is 9.7-inches tall, 4.5-inches wide and 4.7-inches deep. A single USB cable provides both a digital audio signal and the information for the LCD. The speakers also include a headphone jack that enables private listening, and a 3.5 mm auxiliary input that can connect to MP3 players or other audio devices.
The Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System will be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in September 2006. Its suggested retail price in the U.S. is US$149.99.
