Harman Soundsticks 2.1 Speaker System

I have the new Soundstick II's, and bought them to replace a Cambridge Soundworks 4 point surround setup.
The Soundsticks provide a better range of sound, as well as looking far more attractive and modern. The volume is controlled in 2 ways. The subwoofer has a dial on it to adjust the level while the overall volume from the sticks and woofer is controlled by touch sensitive buttons near the base on one of the sticks.
The volume level goes surprisingly high with very little distortion, and I certainly won't be pushing the upper limits of the speakers output as I'd end up with hearing problems.

I'd recommend these speakers, they sound as good as they look. Just make sure you get the new version II's, unles you have to utilise the USB connectivity of the older model.


WARNING!   February 15, 2004
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

I bought these speakers over a year ago and absolutely felt it was the best accessory I bought for my apple computer. That was until they stopped working and only started giving out a hissing sound. No probs I thought, I'll just go through the Harmon Kardon troubleshooting section on their website.

Nothing fixed it though. The dealer who I bought it from wouldn't look at it as it had fallen outside the 1 year warranty. Now you would think such a great sound producing company would have dealers/ service centres based here in the UK. But they don't.

So if anything does go wrong you'll find you are pretty much stuck with a useless piece of plastic. Because of the special design of these speakers to work with an Apple Mac, I managed to work out that it was probably the transformer that had overheated. A replacement is not as easy as you think. The company expects you to ship the speakers to the USA at your own cost (which I worked out to be 60) and on top of that labour and parts charges could amount to the same!

And also they can't ship it back to you unless you hold an american postal address. So another pointless avenue to explore. Their only recommendation was to buy a whole new set of speakers!!!!

I am now a bit more careful as to what speaker products I will be buying in the future. As JBL is also under the same company I am going to steer clear of purchasing their products. Simply for the fact if I can't get something repaired locally here in the UK if all goes wrong, then it's simply not worth paying for.