Home Theater With Shielded Subwoofer

Review by B. Toy : Fantastic upgrade to bundled "theater in a box" systems.

Many, many years ago, I bought a "theater in a box" system from Sony. It came with an amp, 5 satellite speakers and a powered subwoofer pushing (what I thought was a great) 120 watts. About 6 months ago, my Sony receiver died and I bought a Denon to replace it. The Denon receiver puts out 75 watts x 5 channels. After hooking it up to my old Sony speakers and playing some Rock Band to test it out, my first thought was "HOLY COW!!" The audio quality from the extra power alone (The Sony was 40w x 5) was an amazing revelation. Months later and I decide the anemic Sony speakers with a single driver in each unit (including the center channel) wasn't cutting it anymore. I've always been a big fan of Harman sound quality (JBL, Infinity and Harman Kardon) so these were front runners for a replacement set. I considered some other brands like Boston Acoustics (which I use in my car), Polk Audio, Klipsh and some other home audio stalwarts. After watching a movie at my parents' place using JBL speakers, I remembered my love affair with these brands and decided they would be my first choice. After getting them set up and putting on some of my favorite music (mostly rock, alternative & punk), all I can say is "WOW!" For the price, I can't imagine better sound. Having 75 watts pump into these babies with 2 midrange drivers and an honest-to-goodness tweeter is a revelation. My old Sony speakers are junk now compared to these. The subwoofer is leaps and bounds better than what I had before. It's not quite as good as the JBL sub my parents have but my room is smaller and it works great for the type of audio I'll be pumping through it. The imaging on these speakers are fantastic. In truth, they're not like the NHTs that my cousin has, but two of those bookshelf speakers cost as much as this entire system. You may not find a better "bang for the buck" system as you've got right here. Some of the money undoubtedly goes toward the Harman brand name, but their reputation for audio exists for a reason. My only (minor) gripe is that the mounting options aren't very well thought out. The table-top stands are fine if that's what you're gonna use. If you plan on mounting these on a wall or on speaker stands, make sure that they are very solid mounts. The satellites use cheapo plastic mounts and aren't very flexible in how they attach. Even my bargain basement Sony's used a threaded mounting hole. The satellites weigh a couple pounds each so make sure the stands you get are stable enough to carry them. IMHO, these speakers are right at the cusp of "diminishing returns." You could easily spend a few hundred dollars more, but I'm not convinced that the audio quality is appreciably better (remember that I've heard NHTs running through 300 watt power amps). You'll likely have to spend 2-3x more to hear an appreciable difference, but then you'll also have to have a much higher end receiver.

Review by Grimmy "Grimmy" : Great sound, poor mounting design

Well-packaged, and great to look at once unwrapped, with quality construction, and no fabric to worry about. It goes without saying that the sound is an improvement of orders of magnitude over a native TV sound system. You don't realize what you've been missing until you've heard these babies. And then you can't go back. As others have mentioned, this set is marred only by its awkward wall mounting options, which depend on a single screw, which make it difficult to get a precise, level mount without much finagling, especially if you need to use your own, thicker cable. I'm wondering whether to spring the $189.99 for their floor stands. So, great theater sound, but be prepared for some work if you want to wall mount.

Review by Skylark Thibedeau "Semper Memento Audere" : Feels Like you are in a movie theater.

I got these speakers to go with my Home Theater system and I am very pleased. The sound is the same high quality that you get at the Metroplex. We have enjoyed "The Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" recently and the effect of the surround sound is awesome. Its like the old 'Sensaround' feature the Movies like 'Earthquake' and 'Midway' had in the 1970's. It's also a great sound for my CD's and listening to FM Stero radio channels. Each speaker has the right balance of base and treble. The entire system was very easy to install (my 18 year old did it). It was up and running from box to TV in lass than an hour. Beforewarned, there are quite a few wires going this way and that but I am sure everyone has their favorite way of hiding them (mine is thin pvc pipe). A great sound. Great system. Highly reccomended.

Review by twinsmom : 4-1/2 stars- Excellent speaker system

I'm not a technical person so this review won't be technical. However, I can tell you that the sound that comes from these speakers is fantastic! We used to have an "out of the box" surround sound set from Sony and while that sounded good, these sound far superior. The sound is excellent both in digital and analog outputs. There are also a lot of really nice surround sound settings. We listened to the radio, an iPod, watched a movie through our Tivo box and through the PS3- all sounded excellent. My husband hooked up the speaker set and said the hook-ups for the speaker wire are well-designed. The one bad thing about this system are the wall mounts. They are terrible and my husband did quite a lot of complaining (justifiably) while trying to mount these things. Luckily, he only had to mount the front two, as we had shelves on our walls for the back ones already. (The front speakers in our previous system were standing ones.) You can buy stands for these but they cost extra. However, it might not be a bad option. The wall mounts rely on a single screw so it is not sturdy at all. Plus, the bracket totally covers the screw so you can't tighten it once the bracket is on. You have to keep taking the bracket off to make any adjustments. The mounting screws did not come in the package. He had to go to the hardware store to buy them. Some other screws came with, but not everything that was needed for wall-mounting. Other than the mounting issues, overall this is an excellent set of speakers which produce fantastic sound quality. I definitely recommend them.

Review by ringo : HK vs. Bose: Better for movie dialog, too much cowbell

I already owned a Bose Acoustimass 10 speaker system, so when Amazon offered me this for review, I was happy to get out the cube chair and wineglass and make a comparison. I found the Harmon Kardon set to be better for rendering voices, but with some notable deficiencies in other areas. == Satellite speaker response ==For the first evaluation, I checked out the response range of just the satellite speakers, using a pair of the Bose vs. a pair of the HK, and switching back and forth using the A/B switch on my amp (a Yamaha HTR-5760, which will fine-tune itself to speaker positioning, with the speaker pairs 12' apart). Listening to Danse Macabre (a very fussy bit of classical music, in this case at 320 kbps via my Amazon cloud player), I found that the glockenspiel sounded much louder and more front-and-center on the HK, while on the Bose it was merely part of the general (creepy) ambiance of the piece. The opposite was true for the strings, however. On the Bose it sounded like I had a cello in my living room, while for the HK I had a general impression of strings, but without the clear sound image. On softer passages, furthermore, the strings disappeared completely using the HK, overshadowed by the other instruments. I got similar results with some chamber music pieces.I then listened to some Gregorian chants, which are purely a capella, but which have really odd acoustics. The voices really popped when using the HK compared to the Bose, but the acoustics fell back - with the Bose you got an impression of the space, which wasn't true with the HK. Just for grins I then listened to Alice Cooper's Detroit City, and got the same result: using the HK the round tones (voice, bells, etc.) were strong, but the odder waveforms fell back. == Movie response ==Bose offloads some of its midrange to the "bass module," so, to be completely scientific, I did the movie evaluation using the full speaker sets (with the help of some banana plugs). Front speakers were 12' apart, rear/surround speakers were 9' apart, and about 9' from the front speakers and TV (on either side of my couch). Volume was set to a comfortable level.First I watched the first 12 minutes of Star Trek (from the DVD, not streaming), a battle scene noted for sound effects and sound imaging, but also for hard-to-parse dialog. The dialog was noticeably clearer when using the HK speakers, and the imaging was generally impressive. When using the Bose, however, I could hear some very faint background dialog that completely dropped out when using the HK. Further, there was one complicated metallic sound effect (when Nemo opens his weapon) that was clearly audible using the HK, but downright bone-chilling using the Bose. The Bose obviously rendered the echos better.I then watched the Battle of Pelennor Fields scene from The Return of the King (another scene full of sound effects and hard-to-parse dialog). I got essentially the same result - the dialog was easier to understand using the HK, but the Bose had a better response with subtle sounds and sound imaging. == Form Factor ==The HK speakers have a very slick and shiny design, and look downright cool compared to the Bose set. They are also made in China.The satellite speakers are shaped like an Italian bread - about 12" high, with an oval cross section. The four peripheral speakers include both a foot to stand them on, and brackets to mount them on the wall, while the center speaker is designed to be used horizontally, with appropriate hardware included to support this. Unfortunately, the 12" height of the peripheral speakers means they probably won't be usable *in* a bookcase, only *on* a bookcase (there is no way to support them horizontally). The bigger issue is that the wall brackets include a hole in the back to allow you to run the wires through your walls, but that hole is directly below the two holes for the mounting screws (I'm guessing there wasn't an architect on the design team). What were they thinking?The bass module/sub woofer is a shiny black cube, about half the size of the Bose bass module, with a little blue LED light on top to prevent people from mistaking it for an ottoman. It has a bass response knob for fine tuning (as does the Bose), and also a "bass boost" in case you wanted your bass to go to eleven. It can be turned on and off explicitly (which the Bose can't), in addition to being on/off triggered via the amp. My amp has a power socket, so I'm not concerned about energy vampires, but I like the fact that the HK has the option.Overall, I found this to be a decent speaker system for movie watching, especially where dialog is more important than sound effects. I would not recommend it for classical music aficionados.

Review by A* : Great Sound; Annoying Wall Mounts

First thing, I'm taking over this review for my wife. Since I set it up and know a bit more about this stuff than she does. What we had prior to the Harman speakers were a set from Sony, nothing to elaborate, fairly new. They were more than serviceable, so I thought. The Harman's blew those babies out of the water, interms of both looks and sound quality. Like everyone has stated, setting them up were a pain. If you want to wall mount, which is what I had with my Sony's, be prepared for a headache. I don't know what they were thinking but if you have your own wires, be prepared for work. Have some screws handy, maybe some tape, some glue, and a napkin to cry into it. It was nothing more but sheer frustration. The Harmans are made of solid plastic, but to get these suckers up to the point where they were level and sturdy, took some work. And when they were finally up, I took them down and decided to actually build a shelf across the wall to keep them on. That's how much I didn't trust the mounting. But don't let that deter you, if you use what's in the box, you'll be fine. If you want a bump in quality ... that's something else. As for the time it took to set everything up, minus building the shelf, less than half an hour! The sound quality is great! I have heard better, but not for this amount of money. Again, I had a Sony set up before, but it was lacking, especially with its average center channel. Harman has a nice clear, upfront sound. Played Neil Young's Harvest, and it sounded great then I ran through Steve McQueen's Le Mans -- no way was I getting this much richness from my Sony's! Harman's made a great system, with great sound quality and it is very pleasing to the eye. If you can work around the mounting, trust me you will because it is worth it, you will realize that you have spent your money wisely.

Review by Caren H : Aesthetically pleasing and sounds great!

We've had this sound system for a while and love it. Aesthetically: These are very pleasing to the eye. The speakers don't stick out in our decor and the subwoofer is compact enough to be out of the way. There's also no fabric on any of the pieces, including the sub woofer, which is a huge plus for people with kids. (My kids ripped our last sub woofer's fabric). The sound comes out the bottom of the sub woofer also, which is also very nice. I couldn't find a place where my kids could attempt to shove coins either. It's very kid-proof! Soundwise: The sound system has really enhanced movies. We watched 'Star Trek' (Chris Pine version) and it sounded so much better and made the crucial fight scene at the beginning of the movie more realistic. It sounded like we were in the movie. It was almost like being in the theater. It comes with wall mount brackets, which is what we plan to do. Once we get the longer speaker wire, we'll do the final install with them being mounted to the wall. They can sit on stands though if that suits your needs. My husband was the one who did the install and he said it was easy as pie. We also bought our stereo receiver from Amazon to use this system. The only negative I would mention was the length of the speaker wires. We'll have to buy longer wires because of the size of our room. However, I have "great room", which means a really long living room area. I do think that for most people, the length of the wires wouldn't be an issue. If we wanted to leave them down on our end tables, we could probably skate. But we want to mount them on the wall, so we need the extra length. Overall: This system rocks and we couldn't be happier.

Review by Y. R. Wu "The will to win is nothing without ... : Fantastic look, competent sound...mounting is not robust...

Summary: These speakers are all about the design. They look faaaabulous. Sound is decent, but I would find it hard to justify them as an upgrade to existing speakers based on sound quality alone. I was very excited to have the opportunity to review these speakers. Our stereo / video setup is a 10+ year old Sony combination surround sound system with tower front speakers, small rear and center satellites, and a sub. Very decent mainstream quality sound emphasizing power over quality. This system has four satellites with a very small footprint (smaller if you wall mount of course) and a matching center channel. Subwoofer is pretty standard milk crate sized. All executed in a beautiful high gloss piano black. I was excited to think that I'd recover some valuable real estate with this system. Upon opening the box I was greeted with very carefully wrapped contents. While perhaps not the most environmentally friendly, the multiple layers made sure these little jewels were in perfect condition, despite a large ding on the outside of the box, courtesy of UPS. These speakers look even better in person! Very high quality construction. Upon swapping them out with my existing speakers (I didn't use their enclosed wires, I have 12awg oxygen free flat copper to all the existing speakers) I ran a quick sound test. Very decent, but not knocking my socks off. I played "Mars" from Holst (The Planets) then Michael Murray's Telarc recording of Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor. Both were decent, with Mars coming in a little lighter than I'm used to in the midrange. Will need to tweak the eq settings. It wasn't convenient to do an A:B comparison but after comparing a few passages ranging from "Dead Can Dance: The Serpent's Egg" (super low bass from an organ) to OK:Go and Barenaked ladies, I'd rate these at least a full notch over the Sony speakers - clearer crisper high tones with a flatter mid range. I don't have a calibrated sound meter or test disks anymore so I'm basing this on my own perception. Satisfied with the speakers I started to mount the front satellites on the wall. Uh oh. The wall mounts have two issues. First is that they are designed to use the cables that came with it so you can hide them within the mount. My cables are too fat. After a few tries I shave down the insulation and smush the flat wires with some pliers and I'm in business. Sort of. The next problem is that the mounts are designed to go in with two screws - one that you hang the bracket on, then another to secure the bracket. Problem is, there's some play to allow the bracket adjustment. The screw doesn't hold it securely enough to prevent rotation. I ended up adding a serrated lock washer to the drywall screw on the upper attachment to bite into the plastic. Do be careful - if you overtorque this upper screw you are certain to crack the bracket. Finally, the center channel bracket seems an afterthought. On one hand it's better than my existing center which has no wall mount option, however this bracket could really be just a little larger to allow you to ensure that it is straight (like making one of the holes a slot) Also, all of the wall mounts require you to put these metal plates on the bottom with tiny screws. Not convenient. Some sort of snap on or single larger screw design would have been much preferred Overall I give it a 10/10 for appearance, 8/10 for sound quality, 7/10 for mounting convenience and an 8.5/10 for value. I'd definitely get it if I didn't have a set of speakers, but probably would hesitate to upgrade an existing set of speakers. I don't think my father would have considered these true audiophile speakers, but I guess I'm not that much of a purist. They sound good and look fantastic, which is a decent combination for me. Disclosure: I received this item through Amazon Vine, if you have any questions or comments, or if you found this review helpful, please let me know!