Harman Kardon SB16 Soundbar and Wireless 100 Watt Subwoofer (Black) - Best mp3 speakers site, right here

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James E. Jones –

  

I was in the market for a soundbar for the game room in the new home I’m purchasing. After researching all the reviews, I decided to go with the SB 16. First things first: The sound is amazing. The faux surround really is impressive and the shape of the room doesn’t matter. The sub has adjustable crossover and a phase switch, so you can find that perfect sweet spot for your room. $600 sounds steep, but you are getting a lot for your money.

Now for the bad news: I wondered why I never saw any negative reviews for this thing, and I think it is because the system is too new and the problems have not yet been exposed. The sub is wireless so you can place it anywhere in the room. I’ve been reading a lot about these wireless sub systems and didn’t think much of it until I got it home. My apartment is abound with wireless devices: 2 iPhones, a Kindle, Macbook, iMac, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii are all pulling from wifi. I know that’s excessive, but I’m a gadget lover. Well apparently my wifi is interfering with the subwoofer connection. I noticed that every time my wife would switch web pages on the laptop, the sub connection would shut off and back on. There are four channels to choose from, but all experienced interference. This drove us both crazy, and we couldn’t find any documented issues. Even Harman Kardon informed us of getting the unit serviced. I’d only had it 4 days, so I just opted to take it back to Fry’s. Some other inconveniences are that even though the unit connects through an optical cable, it doesn’t recognize the dolby digital signal and all components must be switched to digital stereo. The Harmony 900 doesn’t recognize the unit either. Since it doesn’t come with a remote, I had to program it to my TV remote, which documented in reviews, results in an annoying message popping up on my screen when adjusting the volume. This issue doesn’t seem to occur with newer TVs, but my 3 year old DLP is affected.

I ended up getting a Bose Cinemate II in an even exchange. My ears like the HK better, and I really appreciate the sound field adjustment options versus the Bose’s single subwoofer volume dial, but the Bose wins big in convenience. The sub is wired meaning zero interference, but less placement options. I didn’t plan on setting it in some far corner anyway. The unit automatically detects the source so no having to switch from digital to analog, and the Harmony remote recognizes the unit. The two speaker setup is also better for me in the long run. I’m using the system for my gaming rig, and having a wii sensor or my inevitable Kinect sensor sitting in front of a soundbar just looked weird. When and if these kinks are worked out, I’m sure this system will be awesome, but if you have a bunch of wifi devices, stay away from the HK.

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Pros:
Ease of setup
Excellent sound quality
Simple functionality
Flawless integration

Cons:
No volume indicator
Surround sound (but was expected)

We received our Harman Kardon SB16 last night. Be warned, the box the system is delivered in is HUGE! Once opened, you will find two main boxes, one containing the sound bar and a second containing the subwoofer. In a matter of 15 minutes, we had the system unboxed, powered, and wired directly to our TV via the provided optical cable. There’s an RCA cable and brackets to mount the sound bar, which we didn’t use.

The next step was programming the remote, which was quirky due to (unfortunately) user error. I tried to program our DirecTV remote which was an utter fail (I concluded that this was due to its “Universal” nature). Grabbed our Samsung remote and I had it programmed in about 10 minutes. Once the unit was programmed, it learned the signal from our DirecTV remote. Our TV doesn’t have the “no sound” message that other reviewers commented on, which we knew before hand (thanks reviewers for mentioning that!).

Sound-wise, I am in Heaven! The sounds are so crisp and clear. The bass is perfect (after some fine tuning). We really have no complaints about the sound quality. I have to note that we weren’t expecting great surround sound from this system (it is just a sound bar and subwoofer). The “3D Surround” feature is okay. If you’re looking for a top notch surround system, this is not it.

Also, one tiny quirk that bothered me was not knowing where we were in regards to volume level. It would have been nice to have a display indicating you were on, say volume level 10. I like knowing I have two more clicks before it goes to “zero”. But, this is more of a personal preference.

The quality of the product is better than other units on the market. The sound bar feels very sturdy and looks “clean” on our TV stand. The gloss black finish of the subwoofer makes it easy to place in our living room. Even with its very large size, it doesn’t look awkward or out of place. The wireless feature was a great selling point. Plug it into the wall and you’re good to go. So far we do not have any interference from our wireless router, cell phones, wireless printer, wireless laptops, etc.

Overall, we couldn’t be happier with our purchase. After reading many reviews (the good and the bad) we felt that this system was perfect for what we needed: A simple, high quality sound system, to provide excellent sound quality to fill our average sized apartment living room. Don’t let the price scare you. Spending what we did on the product, I was a bit hesitant and wanted to find anything wrong with it so we could send it back. Needless to say, it’s a keeper!

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Crease in the Page (Hills of Northern California) –

  

Wow. The box was much bigger than I expected. The FedEx guy said, “You really plan to rock out your little house?” Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Took two people to carry it. But once I got it out of the box and hooked it up, it really doesn’t take up much visual space at all. Woofer in the corner between the sofas with a plant on it (happy plant!) and soundbar just under the TV. The selling point for this is the lack of wires and hassle. It really is pretty simple. There are wires for power, but the woofer is wireless, getting it’s signal from the soundbar.

So this morning I tried turning it up to full volume to see how loud it goes… one of my kids ran out of the living room covering her ears, and another came out of her room rubbing her eyes–woke her up. I turned it down… I try to be a good mom.

I plugged it into the TV first, and there was all kinds of static and distortion and the TV was still using it’s own speakers. I couldn’t fix it until I plugged it right into the DVD player. Suddenly it had excellent sound. The woofer picks up the bass perfectly, shakes the floor. It can be adjusted to pick up more of the higher range sounds, too, so it really blends with the soundbar.

This is really quality sound… not one of those systems that just picks up bass and thumps and has a tinny range beyond that… no, this is a truly excellent, full, well-balanced sound. I sing in church and I have a pretty opinionated ear, so…

I’m not totally sold on the surround-sound feature. There’s a sense of sound moving from one point to another, but the soundbar just isn’t big enough to make you feel like, say, something is flying from one side of the room to the other. Maybe if you had the soundbar right behind you and sat dead center. That would work.

Still, there is plenty of volume, excellent sound (when it’s plugged into the DVD player). This gave me the bright idea to hook the speakers up to my computer and share my Pandora selection with my neighbors. They play xxx-rated music for my kids to hear in the backyard, so I thought maybe I could exact my revenge by playing some Bluegrass Gospel or something for them. For some reason when the speakers were plugged into the computer, there was alot of high range white noise. There’s no Hz adjustment anywhere on the speakers, so I couldn’t fix it. The manual says to adjust the track, but that didn’t help, just muffled all sound. My other external computer speakers have no problem with white noise. Don’t know what that was about. I think the wireless signal is getting mixed up with my computer’s wireless internet and wireless keyboard and mouse. Internet is working pretty slowly too. Changing the wireless channel doesn’t fix the problem. But anyway, it was plenty loud and got the neighbors to come out and look around. I have no idea what they were saying–couldn’t hear them over the music. I won’t use these speakers on my computer much because the white noise is annoying, and it doesn’t have that problem with the DVD player. But now I have a weapon to protect my kids when the neighbors turn on their sick music.

I also played some Rossini (opera). Beautiful!!! Our pet cat didn’t like it–he ran away. I think cats sort of sing opera when they want to fight, and I had it pretty loud. He felt threatened. Such feeling and depth coming from the speakers!

If you can get the right connection (I’m going to continue tinkering with the computer connection or get my computer and TV in one… figure something out) you’ll have excellent sound from this system. If you’re really particular about surround sound, you should get a different system and deal with the wires and separate speaker locations. If you have tons of wireless gadgets all over, you might have a problem. But this inconspicuous system will still allow your house to look like a home, while boosting your TV sound and getting you right into the action. The downside: your neighbors and cats will not love you. Maybe that’s okay.

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