SoundSticks II Multimedia Speaker System

I researched alot of speakers on line, and consistently these speakers where rated high on alot of sites. I decided to try them out and haven't been disappointed, the sound quality is very good, and the look of the speaker is pretty cool too. If you are looking for very solid sound out a speaker for a decent price these are the speakers for you.

I bought this for an x girl friend a few years ago and I got it when we broke up. I have had it for a long time and it still sounds great for any type of music. I use it with my ipad mostly during parties so every weekend!

I have had budget speakers, mid priced speakers, higher priced speakers, ran keyboard amps as subwoofers that'll blow the windows out of a neighbors house, you name it. But this is by far the coolest looking pc speaker system I have ever purchased. Harman Kardon Soundsticks offer very good, crisp, clean sound. But they have great presentation as well. The unique design looks so much better on my desk than your average blocky satellites and a boring cube for a sub. Some don't like the blue led but I think it adds to its modern design. I have led cooling fans as well so it is a matter of taste to have a jedi-like glow coming from your room. I have used these speakers for at least a couple years now and they haven't given the slightest indication of breaking. And I love bass and volume... But while I am quite happy with the design, sound, and quality of this system, there are some areas of improvement as noted by other owners. The first is a lack of a power button; I really don't like leaving them on all the time although it is convenient to know your sound will be on when you boot your pc. The touch volume control adds to the "coolness" factor, but I like the ability to turn a volume knob quickly without having to leave my finger on the control. But my actual gripe with this feature is that it doesn't let you know where in the volume range you are. This sucks. While many audiophiles in my opinion can be a little too picky and snooty about every minute detail, the opinions I've read from some of the audio gifted do have merit. Using one inch speakers in the sticks provide crisp and clean highs but make it so the subwoofer carries the burden of providing the mid and low end. And the Soundsticks II subwoofer does a good job of providing these mids and lows. However, there isn't enough amplification to really drive this system and it is easy to cap the satellites out resulting in crackling. I am spoiled however having used a 15" powered subwoofer along with professional monitors made for recording studios. For pc speakers? These sound awesome at a medium-loud volume. Overall, if you're looking for "pc speakers" these are going to one of the best looking and sounding products you can buy in this price range. If you want perfect highs, mids, lows, and the ability to shake the floors of your home, do what I do and buy actual home audio or studio monitoring setups and hook it up to your pc.

We absolutely love the speaker system!! Great sound--much better than a more expensive Bose system that we own. Transaction was super fast, and item arrived in new, excellent condition! Would highly recommend!

Excellent speakers for the price. Perfect for my apartment. Two things seem poorly planned: no on/off button! (you must unplug them), and the only reason you probably want to unplug them is because of the annoying blue light in the woofer, that is way too bright for a nightlight if you are a light sleeper. (I just cover it, no problem)

I received the product 2 days after I placed the order. I think it was because where they shipped it from was very close to my house. Very good service and delivery. It was packed well and the product works great. I would definitely buy from this seller again!

As a previous reviewer has remarked: really fine sound quality from these speakers. The only negative is the amazingly intrusive blue light in the sub-woofer, which cannot be extinguished. Major design mistake there.

I've only owned these speakers for about a week, yet I'm already blown away by there quality. Looking at these online I was skeptical of both there sound and build quality due to the plastic housing. I was delighted when I got them to find the plastic very strong and scratch resistant. The sound quality is outstanding. Highs are crisp and detailed. The subwoofer sounds like one twice its size, and offers a lot of punch. Even the crossover between the sub and satellites comes together to bring natural sounding mids. The sound quality is that of a system that costs 2 to 3 times more. Very pleased. Pros: Great overall sound at all volumes. Touch sensitive volume controls on right satellite. Button on Sub that acts as both on/off switch and bass volume. Thick connection cords Cons: Nob is difficult to get to, back lower portion of subwoofer. No way to keep system on while turning off blue LED. Many cords including an external power brick. Subwoofer is downward firing causing annoying feet vibrations, making u feel more than hear.

Sans aucun doute le meilleur système audio pour ordinateur que j'ai eu l'occasion d'entendre. Je l'utilise depuis des années et même s'il est un peu moins rutilant qu'au départ, la qualité audio n'a jamais fait défaut et la fiabilité est à toute épreuve !

Une qualité de son surprenante pour un système plutôt destiné aux ordinateurs au départ! Le design est original, la qualité est bien là.Une fois de plus, Harman Kardon nous montre son savoir faire.

April 2015 update: I've had these since 2006 and have to say that I haven't heard anything better in the meantime. If anything my original review was a bit lukewarm. I'm still amazed by how good the sound is from these speakers and how stylish the Jonathan Ive design still looks. They've also been utterly reliable. Since the price doesn't seem to have gone up over the years, they're now amazing value too. These speakers get such rave reviews wherever you look that you'll expect them to be pretty amazing. In many ways they are. They look amazing, for a start, all transparent and space age, and nicely built. The satellites look particularly good, and you can angle them easily. It's odd that the little blue globules inside the satellites don't light up like the ones in the subwoofer though. The subwoofer is too good-looking to be hidden under a desk, but that's where the instructions recommend you put it. There are rather a lot of wires: one for the power cord, one to your computer, another to the satellite connector, and then cables from that to the satellites themselves. But it all worked once I plugged it in, and my immediate feeling was disappointment. I thought they sounded quite ragged. But... taking note of something I read, I let them play to themselves for a few hours. I also fiddled a lot with the volume controls (a knob on the subwoofer and a pair of annoying touch sensors on the base of one of the satellites). Turn the volume on the sub above about ten percent and you get lots of bass, but none of it very nice. The resonances drown out bits of the music and sound awful. This may vary depending on your room and particularly your floor of course. I'm used to a carefully set up, neutral-sounding hi-fi separates system. Some people suggest these speakers sound as good as a hi-fi - they don't. Nowhere near. But once I'd set the sub and satellite volumes to my liking (the sub volume way, way down) they sounded pretty good. Vocals are projected very strongly by the four drivers in the satellites, and for a lot of music this is quite a good thing. With the bass turned down, the sound is solid and focussed, and you're not too aware of the gap in the mid range. You do have to crank up the volume to get them to sound good though. At lower volumes they are quite weak. I suppose you could up the sub volume to compensate, but you really won't want to be crawling under your desk to do this all the time. The last thing to mention is that the position and angle of the satellites is annoyingly critical. Even leaning to one side in your chair spoils the effect somewhat. I'm not sure I totally recommend them, but they're not bad, and sometimes they're great. Because they're self powered, you can always take them elsewhere with your iPod so that adds versatility. Try to listen before you buy.

In spite of some reviewers suggesting that this speaker system doesn't live up to some of the more rapturous reviews, I have to add my praise for this product to that of the many owners who find these speakers to be nothing less than totally awesome. Indeed, as far as a computer sound system goes, these speakers do the business. The combined sound of the sub-woofer and desktop 'sticks' is punchy and well balanced, and I could find nothing to pick fault with here. Okay, if you're an audiophile comparing them to really high-end, hi-fi systems costing many times the price, there will doubtless be room for some valid criticisms. But even then, I'd say the Soundsticks could give a lot of more expensive speaker systems a good run for the money, and for a three-way Mac/PC solution at a very fair price for what you get, I rate these speakers as absolutely first class across the board. My only negative point is that, if anything goes wrong or comes loose inside any of the casings, it'll most likely be impossible to fix, because the transparent casings are bonded together permanently rather than screwed, making disassembly near impossible. That's a shame considering they are just so good, and if they were twice the price, I'd say give them a miss. But at just over 100 GBP, they have to be worth every penny. Pros: Great, punchy sound with superb balance and (fixed) tonal range, fantastic looks and at a fair price. Cons: Practically impossible to service if anything comes adrift inside. Hence the four, rather than five, stars from me.

Bon produit, qui offre une qualité très pure pour certains types de musiques. Néanmoins, le plastique cristal est un peu fragile et réagit mal avec le temps, les joints se décollent vite et les câbles sont assez encombrants.