Harman Kardon SoundSticks II 2.1 Plug and Play Multimedia Speaker System

By admin on October 17th, 2009

Amazon.com Price: $115.76 (as of 2010-02-09 11:25:28 GMT) Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

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Manufacturer: JBL
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List Price: $169.99
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Product Description

Harman Kardon’s 40-watt SoundSticks II three-piece speaker system produces high-quality stereo sound for music, MP3’s, movies and gaming experiences. The mini stereo jack connection allows you to enjoy awesome audio from a variety of devices such as digital music players, computers (all platforms), stereos and portable listening devices. Touch Volume Control – Just a touch increases or decreases the volume. Just a touch mutes or un-mutes the system. SoundSticks II also remembers your last volume setting. The SoundSticks II audio system utilizes a straightforward interconnect technology, which provides an effortless user interface with minimum desktop wiring. The powerful subwoofer provides clean, low bass. The treble and subwoofer level controls are located on the back of the subwoofer.

Product Details

3-piece plug and play multimedia speaker system
Stunning, original design with great sound
Features computer-optimized multi-band parametric equalization
Capacitance touch control buttons provide direct access to volume control
20 Watts RMS subwoofer power output

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Customer Reviews

Perfect for Classical Music!

Review Date: January 29, 2005

Reviewer: HK, USA

I have been looking for a decent pair of speakers for my computer for almost a year. After going through many user reviews, as well as actually listening to some of them, I have to say the Soundsticks are one of the best computer speaker sets out there. You will be surprised that plastic speakers can sound this great! I have had the Soundsticks speaker for close to a month already. As with many others, I am very pleased with my purchase.

I primarily use Soundsticks to listen to classical music, which I believe is very demanding towards speakers. Due to the very dynamic nature of classical music, speakers need to perform well all the way from the highs to the lows in order to give a reasonable interpretation to the music. Because a lot of the speakers on the market now are geared towards the R&B / Rockn'Roll / Rap crowd, many of them only have some bass to shake the floor. Their inadequacy in reproducing the intricate details in classical music is indeed painfully obvious.

On the contrary, Soundsticks give a balanced performance across the spectrum, providing classical music fans the perfect solution to computer music. The highs are sweet and clear. If you try to play the "Voice of an Angel" album from Charlotte Church on Soundsticks, you will see what I mean. Midrange is a little bit on the tight side, probably because the tweezers aren't equipped very well to handle that. Nevertheless, Soundsticks still show considerable warmth and refinement. Bass is solid with good definition. The subwoofer won't shake the floor like other systems. What Soundsticks give you is quality bass, not quantity. Overall, the sound is very spacious and rich. You can try the Tchaikovsky piano concerto no. 1 on Soundsticks. The grand poetic opening of the piece will give you a very good idea what Soundsticks can do for you.

Of course, nothing is perfect. Soundsticks do have shortcomings:
1. Lacks a little bit of midrange.
2. Sound is very directional. Once you move away from the "sweet spot", the spaciousness of the sound disappears.
3. Bass adjusting knob is on the subwoofer unit, kinda hard to reach if you put the subwoofer under your desk.
4. Touch sensitive control will take some time to get used to.
5. Soundsticks cannot be turned off unless you unplug them. So, they are not very friendly to your electricity bill.
6. Relatively pricey.

However, I guess all the shortcomings mentioned is relatively trivial compared to the wonderful sound they produce.

I highly recommend Soundsticks to all classical music fans. You will get the biggest bang of your buck investing on Soundsticks! They will perfectly fill up your office / bedroom / dorm room and give you the most intimate experience with your favorite music ever! Amazon has been offering the Soundsticks at the lowest price on the internet as far as I know. For the record, I brought mine for $120.

One last point I want to draw your attention to is the pitfall of connecting the Soundsticks to computer. You may hear a good deal of statics noise in doing so, even when you are not playing any music. Chances are that it is the fault of your bad computer soundcard. You can verify this by connecting the Soundsticks to a CD player, preferably those with a dedicated optical lineout. If you don't get statics anymore after that, then it is definitely your computer's fault!

You may also want to check out the Bose Companion 3 speaker set. The Companion sounds at least as good as Soundsticks if not better. However, they cost twice as much as Soundsticks. And of course, they don't look quite as good! Is this a trade off you are willing to make? You will have to decide on your own.

Some good recordings to try on the Soundsticks:
Dvorak Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op.104 (Rostropovich)
Bruch Scottish Fantasy (Perlman)
Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1/Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 2 (Van Cliburn)
Voice of an Angel (Charlotte Church)
Classics (Sarah Brightman)

[...]

Happy listening to all the intellectually sophisticated classical music fans!!

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Categories: General
Tags: harman, kardon, multimedia, play, plug, soundsticks, speaker, system