Harman Kardon Soundsticks Ii

[threegee]

Link to Harman Kardon Soundsticks II Specification

[Carole]

Thank you 3g for adding the photo and link to the Harman Kardon website. I would have tried adding a photo but so far my attempts to put photos into posts using the PhotBox photo sharing website have been unsuccessful. Your photo is much better than my description!

[Monsta®]

why on earth would you pay £100 for a set of 2.1 speakers? so they might be see through and look all 

flash but is the sound that good. i checked the specs and its only got 10w satelites and a 40watt bass bit weak seeing you just spent 97 quid! wow 

and another 50 quid and you could of had a set bose speakers!

[threegee]

... you just spent 97 quid! wow

and another 50 quid and you could of had a set bose speakers!

I'm looking forward to your review of those amazing £150 Bose speakers!

[Monsta®]

I'm looking forward to your review of those amazing £150 Bose speakers!

 amazing £150 Bose speakers!

[threegee]

"Current retail price is £279.99"? We're comparing apples with oranges here!

£170 next bid (including postage) with 4 1/2 days to go. Would you buy second-hand gear from someone with zero feedback?

When you're talking about little boxes like this the power rating can be pretty well meaningless. Is it RMS? Is it Peak Music Power? Is it even honestly measured? More often than not it's a figment of a marketing guy's imagination. Efficiency is what matters, and for little boxes it can be horribly low.

The only way to choose (apart from noting your strained wallet) is to do an A-B comparison at home.

[Monsta®]

When you're talking about little boxes like this the power rating can be pretty well meaningless. Is it RMS? Is it Peak Music Power? Is it even honestly measured? More often than not it's a figment of a marketing guy's imagination. Efficiency is what matters, and for little boxes it can be horribly low.

The only way to choose (apart from noting your strained wallet) is to do an A-B comparison at home.

not true as they would be fined by fair trading for misleading info! it has to be reasonably accurate and state the measurements used. otherwise everyone would be stating lies!

as for the bose speakers i wouldn't buy those either even if they were £100 as you can get some pretty decent sets for around £30.

 

unless your a music producer or something why do you need over expensive speaker

s? 

[threegee]

not true as they would be fined by fair trading for misleading info! it has to be reasonably accurate and state the measurements used. otherwise everyone would be stating lies!

Sadly, it's very true! There aren't enough hours in the day for Fair Trading to argue, and even if they did there are so many grey areas to argue.

Only a fool buys from a written specification. The manufacturer's reputation is very important when you are buying speakers, many things are so subjective and others wide open to interpretation. A listening test on your own ground is the only way. Though hearing from someone who actually uses them is a million times better than heeding someone who has BA practical experience (or near zero technical knowledge)!

[Monsta®]

Sadly, it's very true! There aren't enough hours in the day for Fair Trading to argue, and even if they did there are so many grey areas to argue.

Only a fool buys from a written specification. The manufacturer's reputation is very important when you are buying speakers, many things are so subjective and others wide open to interpretation. A listening test on your own ground is the only way. Though hearing from someone who actually uses them is a million times better than heeding someone who has BA practical experience (or near zero technical knowledge)!

another pointless arguement! like prefabs etc!

still £100 for a set of 2.1 weedy speakers! 

[Carole]

I don't doubt that the Bose speakers Monsta suggests are great but I wanted a 2.1 set of speakers for my PC, not a 4.1 set, and I was looking within a price limit of £100. I tried a range of speakers in this price range - nothing I tried came close to the Harman Kardons. The appearance initially made me think twice because I loved the design but suspected that something so radically different might be putting appearance before function and they could be really let down by poor sound quality. Not so. I was astonished by the sound when I tried them. They produce a clear undistorted sound with more volume than I could possibly want. They have the capacity to produce a really punchy bass if that's what you want, although I generally don't so I haven't got the bass turned up very far.

Appearance definitely isn't the key factor for me but I find a lot of computer equipment frankly ugly (apart from Macs - wish I had one) so it's just a bonus to find something in my price range which sounds great and looks great.

I looked at Monsta's link to the Bose speakers on That online auction site that is in no way as good as Free Bedlington.co.uk Classifieds to see what I might have missed, but as they are a 4.1 set they weren't what I was looking for, and as the current bid for them is £190 (including delivery) with 3 days to go they would in any case have been way out of my price league.

I agree with 3g that by far the best way to chose speakers is to try them out and make your own comparison. People have different preferences for sound quality and appearance. Some people will think the Harman Kardons just look weird and hate them - fine, each to their own!

There are loads of customer reviews of the Harman Kardons available on line if anyone's interested. Some people say they are using them with an iPod to replace their main hifi/audio system. I wouldn't go THAT far but they do give our Denon system with Mission speakers quite a run for its money.

I notice from scanning some reviews online that one person bought them even though put off at first by their appearance: "Not sure of the alien phallic jellyfish thingy they've got going on but the sound is simply awesome (for less than £100..!) Bargain price too.. I'm hearing sounds on cds I didn't know where there... After the initial should I shouldn't I etc I am simply overjoyed that I did... "

Well, that thought hadn't occurred to me...

By the way, the price on Amazon for the Harman Kardons has just been adjusted down to £90 (9th Jan 2008).