Harman International PC multimedia speaker system

Harman/Kardon seem to be taking the multimedia market seriously by releasing a speaker set that wouldn't look out of place in a modern living room/study. With a design that is a welcome change from drab beige boxes, you are sure to attract admiring glances from your friends.

These speakers really do look the part with their slim stands, contoured driver enclosures and the imposing black-grey finish. The subwoofer is a neat round cylinder ...
...bother.

The setup of these speakers is very easy. Every plug is colour-coded to the corrosponding input on your sound card, and the speaker plugs are even shaped so there it's impossible to connect them the wrong way round. The speakers themselves tend to slide around on smooth desks, but its nothing a small blob of Blu-Tac wouldn't fix...

So far so good. Fired up Windows Media Player, picked some songs from my MP3 ... more

Harman/Kardon seem to be taking the multimedia market seriously by releasing a speaker set that wouldn't look out of place in a modern living room/study. With a design that is a welcome change from drab beige boxes, you are sure to attract admiring glances from your friends.

These speakers really do look the part with their slim stands, contoured driver enclosures and the imposing black-grey finish. The subwoofer is a neat round cylinder that can be situated on your desk without too much bother.

The setup of these speakers is very easy. Every plug is colour-coded to the corrosponding input on your sound card, and the speaker plugs are even shaped so there it's impossible to connect them the wrong way round. The speakers themselves tend to slide around on smooth desks, but its nothing a small blob of Blu-Tac wouldn't fix...

So far so good. Fired up Windows Media Player, picked some songs from my MP3 collection and off I went. Immediatly i was aware of a crackle from the right speaker, and on closer inspection it was a loose connection in the right speaker plug. Harman/Kardon dispatched another speaker set, but there was still a few problems. The subwoofer speaker grille fell off and the set started hissing like a bad-tempered snake for no apparant reason. Im on my third set now and things are holding well together.

Now everything is working properly it enables me to scrutinise the sound quality. Sound quality is superb, no apparent rattles from the subwoofer during heavy bass tracks and this set can go VERY loud before it starts gasping for breath. Ease of use could be slightly better as the ON/OFF switch is tucked right round the back of the subwoofer and the volume adjuster is a fiddly rubber pad on top of the right speaker. The Bass, Treble and Surround dials however, are set neatly on top of the subwoofer. Surround really does add extra space and depth to the sound. Most effective for classical tracks or concerts.

Overall, im very happy with this speaker system. It looks very very stylish and can handle any kind of music you throw at it. I would love to give it 5 stars but Im only going to give it 4 because of some questionable build quality issues. 

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