Harman Kardon Soundsticks Wireless Bluetooth Speaker System

harman kardon soundsticks wireless bluetooth speaker system

Harman Kardon SoundSticks Wireless Bluetooth Speaker System

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Integrated Bluetooth technology for high performance wireless connectivity
6 Inch (150 millimeter) down firing sub woofer for deep bass
Eight full range transducers for crystal clear sound
Elegant touch controls for volume and mute
Awe inspiring industrial design
1/8 Inch (3.5 millimeter) stereo audio connection

Buy Now : Harman Kardon SoundSticks Wireless Bluetooth Speaker System

Brand : Harman Kardon
Category : Electronics,Portable Audio & Video,Portable Speakers & Docks,Portable Bluetooth Speakers
Rating : 4.4
Review Count : 687
SalesRank : 0

harman kardon soundsticks wireless bluetooth speaker system

Harman Kardon SoundSticks Wireless Bluetooth Speaker System

Update: I have since discovered the fault for the hissing and it is in something called a ground loop which causes audible interference in speakers. I decided to bunp the review up a star for this being a faulty electrical problem in the apartment complex. It was only very noticeable in the Soundsticks due to their use of several small speakers picking up the unusually high frequency of the hiss. Standard monitors or others of similar design still produce the sound but are not as easy to notice. However, there is still a possibility these speakers are at fault as well because the hiss did not exist the first few days. The bluetooth working as it does is still a huge dealbreaker for me.So let me explain why I gave it what it got.Initially, I would\'ve rated these very high because out of the box setting up and all that went smooth and they were immediately pumping out quality sound. So the problems with these are not the ability to create room filling music with tight highs, and rumbling lows. Shortly after my purchase I was greeted to a hiss coming from the satellites, at first I thought little of it, as it was very soft and thought maybe it was picking up some feedback from the computer, which was odd enough because the sound card is shielded for that purpose. The days went on, and I kept hearing it whenever I stopped playing music. Mind you, the music merely drowns it out so it was still audible whenever I watched a dialogue heavy video or turned down the music (the static was a constant hiss, this is important because it\'s part of the troubleshooting process).I troubleshot the problem. There were only two ways for me to stop this horrendous hissing. The built in \"mute\" feature or powering them down entirely. Why would it only silence itself when I mute it, but not when i turn the volume down? Why would it continue to hiss even when I disconnected it from the computer?Nothing I did would stop the hissing, at all. This infuriated me so much that I gave up and decided to return them. Tomorrow I will return them, and consider the alternative, the SoundSticks III, non-wireless edition. My theory is that, if it\'s not related to the touch controls, it\'s actually the shoddy wireless in the Subwoofer.Yes. The Subwoofer. See, when I disconnect one speaker (the touch panel one) the other speaker will still receive a signal for a second or two, and the hissing. The Bluetooth capabilities are garbage. I thought it\'d be great! I saw that it would ask for a pass code in the manual and thought, hey that\'s perfect, now no one in my apartment complex can access them.Wrong. They never ask for a passcode, my neighbor connected mistakenly to the speakers because they are always in discovery mode. No option to change this. Otherwise, the bluetooth audio actually works fairly well, there are some issues with a delay and receiving intermittent sound from phones (causing a notorious pop and crackle) but otherwise, once the audio is going it\'s rock solid.See the thing about the Bluetooth on these is that they treat it like a mobile speaker I.E. the UE Boom, where the only way to lock the bluetooth is to be connected, thing is, a mobile Bluetooth speaker is portable and battery operated, it\'s used with the sole intention of being connected via Bluetooth randomly throughout the day and even auto-powers down when no audio is playing. These are stationary with an inconveniently placed power switch so should have a toggle feature for the Bluetooth or a security option, not merely a mute option.Anyways, these speakers are beautiful, they sound great, but the hissing which SEEMS to be isolated to the wireless model (I have found nothing stating the non-wireless model has this issue as well), is too much for me to tolerate. I will update this review with more information regarding whether or not this issue is just a common defect in the wireless model, or across both models.TL;DRGreat sound, great aesthetics, a few nice features earning it more than one starFundamental flaws creating a persistent never-ending static, inferior Bluetooth capability, and slightly inflated price tag for a poorly implemented feature knock it from the 5 stars I WOULD have given the set, to 2 stars.
Fiqured out volume control, sound is good.
This is my first Amazon review - I was so excited about these speakers and felt so let down that I decided to spend some time to warn other fellow Amazon buyers about my experience.First of all - an opening statement. I am not an audiophile or musically trained, but I have decent pieces of sound equipment that I truly enjoy: Klipsch subwoofer, Harman Kardon receivers, speakercraft in-ceiling speakers, ATH-M50 headphones, etc.I received these speakers on Tuesday night - I still remember the excitement I felt when I saw online that the package had been delivered - I was thinking about these speakers on the way home from work. When I arrived the first surprise was the size of the box - much smaller than I expected but hey - sometimes quality comes in small packages.Like most of you I had read reviews for days on and tried to grasp an idea of the sound looking at Youtube videos - since these speakers are difficult to find in stores I had to resort to online sources. I knew all about the quality and design - but *nothing* prepared me for the amazing build quality and impressive design when I opened the box - I felt just like my first visit to the Grand Canyon: pictures cannot convey how impressive this really is. The speakers are heavy (I think most of the weight comes from the base) and look absolutely amazing. The subwoofer is lighter than I expected, but truly stunning - after all, it is exhibited in New York\'s MOMA. No complaints on how cool this is.I connected all the pieces - very simple setup and installation. Not much to say here: if you know how to connect speakers this is a piece of cake.I then started the real test: how do these things sound? Are they going to live to my high expectations after reading so many brilliant reviews?I connected my iPhone thru the 3.5mm cable - since sound quality is better than bluetooth with hard wires. I proceeded to play a combination of songs thru Pandora, Amazon Music and my itunes library - everything from classical, latin, hip-hop, rock and of course, holiday music. And my excitement kept dying as I listened more and more. I do not have lossless digital files, I dont have a fancy DAC or an external sound card - I was playing music from my phone from different sources as I expect many of the target buyers of these speakers will.So how do they sound? Lets start with the positives on sound quality: All the reviews that state that they sound clear and crisp are right: they are very clear, the highs are truly enjoyable and give songs a feeling of brilliance that is very musical. Also, most vocals are also clear, especially those in the upper mid range of the frequency. And that\'s it for the positives.Now the negatives: *everything else*. Right off the bat I noticed that there is virtually no sub bass - there is no feeling of power in this set - there is some audible bass but very little you can actually feel. Perhaps I should have expected this from a 40W system but given all the reviews I was hopeful. The other big problem is the lower mid range - or the deeper vocals: since these frequencies seemed to be driven mostly by the bass, they become really boomy to the point of being painful. Overall the woofer seems underpowered, very boomy and unable to reproduce the frequencies that need to complement the 8 tweeters.Some of the reviews state that the bass is accurate and I would tend to agree but it is so tinny, underpowered and unable to keep up that it is simply not adequate for this setup.I listened for 3 days consecutively, perhaps a little break-in would help. But this morning I just realized that the only thing I enjoyed is the design and $50 logitech speakers that I tested in the big box store sounded much better. So I printed my RMA and dropped them in UPS about 1 hour ago. They are on their way back to Amazon and the search continues. I will go for a higher wattage system like Z623, Promedias or SP2500 so I can get a feeling of power from the music.My veredict: if you are looking for a stunning piece of functional art for your desk - then this is the product for you. If you are looking for truly enjoyable music and you like bass and midrange please look somewhere else. For $200 this is way overpriced for the sound quality you get. I would have kept this system for $75 - the design is stunning. But anything above that you are just paying for the design.