Harman Kardon Sound Bar

[rg200amp]

Just picked up a SB 16 Harman Kardon sound bar with external subwoofer for the downstairs den.

Hooked up to a 55inch Samsung LED, this thing kicks some sound out!

I have had surround sound systems before. Cheap, 300 dollar ones. They stop working after a year or two. And the sound is never really to hot.

Due to the size of the room, and the lack of motivation to do a proper install of a good surround system, I opted for the sound bar.

I played with a lot, and the worst sounding ones IMHO were Samsung, Vizio, and of course Coby.

The Bose sounded very nice. So did a few of the Polks.

But the HK sounded amazing to me. They have a "richer, fuller" sound IMO.

Got it home and watched a few blu rays. Tron Legacy sounded out of this world!

The thing has razor sharp detail. The massive 10" sub turns your stomach insideout, and the clarity of the sound is maintained at ear hurting volumes. You know when you turn the volume up so loud it just sounds bad and distorted? Like the speakers just can't function correctly? This sound bar does not suffer from that at all!

If your in the market for a sound bar, give this one a listen!

 

[Propflux01]

Did you hook this up to an amp or straight off the TV?

 

[HTSS_TR]

My guess is from an external amp, the TV's amp is no more than 10W/ch.

 

[rg200amp]

The bar is hooked up to the TV through a optical audio cable.

The sound bar/sub have enough juice from their internal amps.

An external amp really is not needed as it sort of defeats the point of the simplicity of the sound bar.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I didn't know the Harman Kardon sound bar and sub have internal amps.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
I didn't know the Harman Kardon sound bar and sub have internal amps.


The sound bar has 50watt and the 10inch sub has 100watt.


Does not sound like much, but it is packs a major punch.

 

[bvance554]

Don't all sound bars have internal amps? My Vizio does and i guess I just assumed if it does then they all do. Like the OP said, being able to hook it straight up to the TV is how they were designed to be used. My Vizio sounds pretty good by the way, but its certainly not an HK.

 

[97prizm]

I saw one similar to this at Best Buy, and it did sound great.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: bvance554
Don't all sound bars have internal amps?

Yup. Most of them do. That's the whole idea behind a soundbar to reduce the clutter caused by external components and wiring.

 

[Quattro Pete]

That's nice that it has a 10" sub. Most of the soundbars that I saw/tried in the past had much smaller subs and sounded rather underwhelming as a result. I ended up buying a Polk sub 2 years ago with a 7" sub. It's not bad, and the good thing is that the sub fits under our bed and is therefore completely out of sight - huge WAF!

 

[Vikas]

aarrggg $600; I thought you guys were talking couple of hundreds :-( Probably more than the TV itself :-(

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
aarrggg $600; I thought you guys were talking couple of hundreds :-( Probably more than the TV itself :-(

Unfortunately for a couple of hundred you get something that sounds like poop. Been there, done that.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Vikas
aarrggg $600; I thought you guys were talking couple of hundreds :-( Probably more than the TV itself :-(

Unfortunately for a couple of hundred you get something that sounds like poop. Been there, done that.


+1

The $99 Coby sounded worse than my TV's internal speakers.

The $199-$399 units made by Samsung, Vizio, ect. Sound better, but they still had a "hollow" overall sound.

The $1200+ Bose sound bar sounded very nice, but it lacked a total sound "roundness". It sounded like Bose spent all their energy on the tweeters. The lows and mids were just scratched out.

I really like the Harman Kardon. And the price is really not that bad compared to the costs involved with buying and installing a proper surround sound system.

I mean, it's all relative. $2000 for a great TV for visuals, $600 for great sound is on point.

I actually wanted to buy the Bose. I have the around ear headphones from Bose and I love them. But the sound of their sound bar was just not up to par compared to the Harman Kardon.

I'll post some pics later on. The subwoofer is large and it looks great. I usually like to hide the sub behind a recliner, but this thing looks so nice, I plopped it next to the TV in clear view.

 

[rg200amp]

Here are a few pics of my set up:

My cleaning lady tends to leave cleaning products hidden around the house! lol, Just found a can behind the TV while uploading these photos!

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Vikas
aarrggg $600; I thought you guys were talking couple of hundreds :-( Probably more than the TV itself :-(

Unfortunately for a couple of hundred you get something that sounds like poop. Been there, done that.

I guess it's all relative; at a certain point you need to decide how much is 'good enough'. and for some of us a 'cheap' system still sounds pretty good. besides my 32" LCD was only $200.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Vikas
aarrggg $600; I thought you guys were talking couple of hundreds :-( Probably more than the TV itself :-(

Unfortunately for a couple of hundred you get something that sounds like poop. Been there, done that.

I guess it's all relative; at a certain point you need to decide how much is 'good enough'. and for some of us a 'cheap' system still sounds pretty good. besides my 32" LCD was only $200.


I will +1 that!

Sound is subjective.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Very nice!

Here is our bedroom setup with a Polk bar.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
I guess it's all relative; at a certain point you need to decide how much is 'good enough'. and for some of us a 'cheap' system still sounds pretty good. besides my 32" LCD was only $200.

Well, you can get decent sound for less, but it's not going to be as clean of an install as one of these bars with wireless subs.

The sound coming out of a $200 LCD these days is truly pathetic as thin panels don't allow sufficient room to install proper speakers with adequate enclosures. Heck, even many $2000 TVs have very bad sound for the same reason. For watching news, it may be passable. But if you like to enjoy movies, you'll want something better. But for $100 you can get a set of good sounding computer speakers (2 satellites and a sub like Klipsch ProMedia, for example) that will be a notable improvement over the built-in speakers and even better sounding than most of these $200 soundbars. It won't look sleek and you'll have some extra wires to deal with, but depending on a particular setup, it may be perfectly acceptable.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Very nice!

Here is our bedroom setup with a Polk bar.

Very CLEAN install!

Nice TV too! Lol


I really like Polk speakers. I have two bookshelf Polks and a woofer hooked up to my Yamaha sound system in the livingroom.

I need a new receiver though. It's putting out some light static on a lot of the inputs.

I just don't know if I want to get a new one to go with my old Yamaha cd changer and Yamaha tape deck; or just start from scratch with all new equipment.

I don't really use the cd or tape medium much anymore. . .

But the Polk speakers are here to stay!

 

[doitmyself]

Do these sound bars just provide stereo or do they somehow imitate the surround effects?