Guest Author - Michelle Anne Cope

I wanted to give my laptop a stereo sound. My new Harman Kardon SoundSticks did more than that. I have used them for several months and during that time, I have fallen in love with them.

The Harman Kardon SoundSticks II package contains three pieces – two speakers and a subwoofer. There is a standard speaker jack which makes the system plug-and-play easy with almost any audio device. I use them for my laptop, my portable CD player, my iPod Shuffle and my Napster MP3 player. The sound is incredible and if you like to do voice recordings, you will like the quality playback sound these speakers have to offer. Very crisp and clear and I can hear all the dirt, clicks and clacks I need to remove when editing. That’s often hard to do with some desktop speakers.

*For the technical readers, here are the specifications.
The Specs:
Frequency Response: 44 ~ 20kHz
Power Consumption: 4 W idle, 65 W maximum
Interface: Analog (3.5mm)
SUBWOOFER- (It’s Cool Looking!)
Drivers: (1) 6.0" Woofer
Power: 20 Wrms
Dimensions: 9.15" x 10.16" WT.- 4.93 lbs.
SATELLITES- (The Sticks)
Drivers: (4) 1" full range per channel
Power: 10 Wrms per channel
Dimensions: 2" x 10" WT.- 1.47 lbs.

*For the budget minded - you can find these speakers for under $200 on the web or at several computer/media stores like Micro Center. I originally looked at them on Amazon.com and then later went to visit them in person at Micro Center. I made the final purchase at Amazon.

*For the interior decorator minded - these speakers are such a conversation piece on your desk, your stereo cabinet or kitchen table. They are clear hard durable plastic with little blue lights in the subwoofer and little blue beads on a silver curved wire in each of the sticks. My first thought when I saw them was that they looked like something you would see on a space ship.

For me, these speakers were the perfect choice. The brand is strong and, because I do like the unusual, the look was an added feature to my study.

Visit our MP3/iTunes forum to comment if you have the system or let me know what you are using.


Have a great week!
Chel