I Bought a Pair of Speakers in 2008, They’re Still Going Strong

Back in the late summer of 2008, I bought a new pair of computer speakers to upgrade my computer setup that would carry me through my college years. The humble Logitech X230 surpassed my expectations and then some. They’re still alive and well today, living their best life on my partner’s desk.

I Was Anything but a Considerate Owner, but My Logitech X230 Somehow Survived

I had used the speakers only for about a month before they survived their first move. Since then, they’ve come through countless moves unscathed. I’ve changed five different apartments since 2008 and also carried them with me each summer back home during college. That’s about 12 moves to date, each including disconnecting the DB9 connector connecting satellites with the subwoofer, multiple drops, and jolting along pothole-filled roads.

I was anything but a considerate owner during the first decade of ownership. My pair of Logitech X230s have spent the first half-decade of their life blasting metal non-stop. If I didn’t sleep, watch something, or play games, the music was on full blast. I’d also crank the volume to fairly high levels even when watching movies or playing games.

When I moved in with one of my best buddies from college in the early fall of 2011, I became really unhinged. That place was constantly chock-full of people, and the speakers would shift between our rooms at least once a week. You can bet both he and I dropped them multiple times while chucking them between the two spaces. Multiple drops onto the hardwood floor and countless times we jostled them over had no effect on them, at all!

I even kept them wall-mounted for a while since their stands can swivel. This led to one particularly nasty drop onto the floor from about four feet high. The left satellite, which was the victim, somehow survived. I don’t know how, but it just carried on playing music, lying there on the floor like nothing had happened!

After college, I spent a few years working odd jobs before starting my writing career. During that time, the X230s continued to play a lot of music. Less and less of it was metal, because I went through the shift many a metalhead faces sooner or later: you either realize that you like other genres and start listening to any piece of music you enjoy, or turn into an elitist who stops discovering new music.

The X230s persevered through the wild years and continued to live on through my “quiet” period that started around 2015. I’d still occasionally blast something ultra-aggressive every other day. Most of the time, though, they would play video game, movie, or TV show audio, and could finally rest a little.

And let me tell you, for a pair of budget computer speakers, they sound surprisingly solid. They cannot compete with the best computer speakers out there, but the sound quality is outstanding for such an affordable 2.1 sound system. The X230s offer relatively balanced sound with pretty clean highs even though each satellite packs a pair of full-range drivers; you won’t find separate tweeters here.

The max volume is impressive for such a compact pair of speakers, and the woofer can deliver a rather pleasant bass experience if you keep it at fairly low levels. The overall sound is nothing to go crazy over, but it’s more than what you’d expect from a pair of budget computer speakers. It is perfectly suited for playing music, and movie and game audio.

Nowadays, They’re Enjoying Their Golden Years at My Partner’s Desk

I started living with my partner in 2018 and continued to use the sturdy little X230s. Of course, the dynamic changed significantly compared to the years I spent living with my college roommate.

I’m not moving them between rooms every week or so, and I’ve never dropped them since I moved into my current apartment. Not that the X230s wouldn’t survive through those. I also stopped blastic music, metal or otherwise, unless I’m alone in the apartment and I want to actually listen to music instead of gaming, reading, or watching something. I usually just play something chill when cooking, with the bulk of my music listening nowadays happening over earphones during walks.

So, the compact Logitech X230s finally found some peace and quiet, which turned into an almost constant state of relaxation after I upgraded to a pair of Edifier R1700BT, an excellent mid-range computer speaker option.

The X230s ended up on my partner’s desk, and she has been a much more considerate owner than I ever was. The worst she puts them through is an occasional TV show and a bunch of YouTube podcasts, with barely any music blasting. And even when she listens to music, it’s so quiet that the X230s aren’t put through any effort, which I’m certain they appreciate.

The constant beat-down they’d been through during my college and post-college eras did leave some marks. As you can see below, the netting covering the drivers is tattered, especially at the topside, and the subwoofer has a couple of marks from its falls to the floor.

The woofer also occasionally emitted a silent hum for years that would disappear after I’d use the universal technique performed all over the world to mend electronics: percussive maintenance—also known as whacking it.

Luckily, I haven’t heard said hum for years now, so I guess the last dose of percussive maintenance fixed it for good.

My Logitech X230s will turn 17 this summer, and I’m pretty sure they will enter their third decade still alive and kicking. The speakers sound just as good as they did back in 2008, and I don’t see myself parting from them, ever.

Even if they die, I think I’ll just put them in the back of a closet instead of throwing them out, because I can’t throw out something that has been with me longer than any other tech product I’ve ever owned.