The
Z-680’s center speaker can also output at 53 watts RMS just like the satellites. As with the satellites, it features one 3” driver with an aluminum phase plug in the middle. Interestingly enough, the speaker doesn’t have the banana plugs that the satellites do. Instead it has the spring clips to hold the speaker wires in. I’m curious as to why Logitech didn’t outfit the speaker with the banana plugs as they are a really nice feature of the set. The speaker stand can be positioned to point the center speaker up or down so for those like me who place the center speaker on top of the monitor, you get a better position of the speaker face. Like the others, you can also mount them on the wall with the bracket stand.
While the
Z-560 had a very simple control unit, the
Z-680 features an awesome LCD equipped control unit. First of all, all the connections to audio sources are here. There are two digital connections: one optical and one coaxial. Sound card connections feature three 1/8” plugs with front, rear, and center plugs. Finally, another 1/8” input on the front of the unit so you can theoretically have four sources connected at once. You can cycle through the digital and analog sources via the input button except for the front 1/8” plug, which is blended into the current selected source. The optical and coaxial inputs makes connecting an Xbox or Playstation 2 very simple as there would be just one audio wire to connect. For private listening, a headphone jack is also on the front of the control unit. Once plugged in, all sound is piped through the headphones and the speakers become silent.
Above the knob is a sensor for the included remote control. All the functions on the control unit also appear on the remote so you can sit back and control the
Z-680s. The remote also features a test button, which you can use to test if all the speakers are connected and that they are positioned correctly. If you decide to utilize the
Z-680 as part of your home movie setup, you don’t have to sit near the control unit to adjust sound, settings, or turn on the system. If you have a learning remote, you can easily program it to learn the functions of the
Z-680 remote. While probably not that much use in a PC configuration, the remote really helps for those using it as a home theater setup.
You can easily select effects for your listening pleasure. From stereo to Dolby Pro Logic 2 decoding to Dolby Digital decoding, you can choose what type of decoding you want to use with a push of a button with the decoding taking place in the control unit. Within some of the modes, you can adjust the effects. For example, the Pro Logic 2 decoding allows an adjusting of a panorama setting whereby the sound is wrapped around you from the sound from the front left and right speakers. There are other various settings that can easily be adjusted with the control knob on the control unit. All information on settings is displayed on the LCD in black letters on an indiglo blue background. Default settings are easily identified as there’s a horizontal line indicator when it is selected so if you do change a few of the settings and wish to go back to the default, there’s a visual indicator of where it should be.
Page 2 of 4
