Logitech G51 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers

I was a little reluctant to purchase another set of Logitech speakers. My first set, the Z-560, worked well, but one of the channels burned out about 16 months after I purchased them.
My second set, the Z-680, sounded great but had a fatal flaw: HISSSSSS. I had to have a box fan going in the room to drown out the constant hissing. It finally drove me to seeking another set, and I desperately sought out a non-Logitech set of speakers. Sadly, in my narrow price range, there were no alternatives that I can find.
With some relucatance I ordered the G51. I set them up yesterday, and so far I'm very pleased with them. The soul-searing hiss present on the z-680 is mercifully gone, and the system sounds excellent. The bass is sufficient without being overpowering (provided you turn it down a notch or two from the default setting), and the control pod is sensibly sized and sports a great, logically laid out interface. Mids and highs are perfectly acceptable for a relatively cheap computer speaker set.
The matrix mode works surprisingly well (though I think it's likely nothing that revolutionary, just a re-imaging if their existing stero x2 mode) for both games and music.
I don't have plans to use the silly 'patent pending mod system' (pretty much just a piece of transparent plastic to slip printed designs into), but if you do want to 'pimp your rig' then I suppose the option is there.
Here's a couple of tips for the new G51 users:
1) Take off those grills on the speakers! They are *not* acoustically transparent, and in my ears the highs opened up a bit after removing them. Just be careful not to poke anything into the exposed speaker drivers!
2) BE CAREFUL if you mount the center channel on your LCD screen; I cringed when I read the instructions to 'tighten the hinge screw' - this is applying pressure to your LCD monitor. If you over tighten you might experience the pleasure of cracking your LCD screen in half. I simply placed mine on top and used a little double sided tape on the base - I'd rather have a slightly loose center channel than a pair of non-functioning 11" flat screen monitors.
PROS:
+ great sound
+ easy installation
+ excellent control pod
+ simple center-channel LCD mounting option
CONS:
- front speaker wires a bit too short
- hard-wired speaker cables