Harman Kardon HKTS-18 5.1 Channel Speaker System

I Harman Kardon Speakers are very nice looking and the workmanship appears to be very good. For the price I paid they are a good speaker. The tweeter sound is not as crisp as I would like to see. The surround speakers are very good looking book shelf speakers and very solid built for small speakers.

Making this choice was not easy for me. After months of listening and cranking up systems at various stores (yes, that's me trying to blow the speakers, I love it when the salesmen comes over and is trying to say something but you can't hear him. I like to give them that Blueman Group stare),I found what I was looking for. A sexy looking system, crisp sound, room thundering lows and easy on the pocket. While I was considering a Bose system the price kept turning me off--sounds great, price sucks. The HKTS-18 offers a great sounding system at a realistic price. Thanks to Bose's pricing, it kept me in the game a little longer. Long enough to find this gem from Harman Kardon. Very satisfied. Plus shipping from Amazon was amazing. Received the speakers in two days on standard shipping. Nice surprise.

The HKTS 18 speaker system has been producing magnificent sound in my living room since I installed it about a month ago. It is the most important element among the components I selected after much research to go with the Pioneer PDP-4272HD TV I bought last year. Here's what I've learned from the shopping experience, the set-up and the audio results.

1. Don't skimp on speakers!! Originally I looked at Home Theater in a Box systems, did my homework, and fortunately decided on the HKTS-18s. In a 15'X15' room they sound simply magnificent. These speakers would easily fill a room 20'X20', and perhaps much larger, with distortion-free, crystal-clear sound. The subwoofer will shake any room you put it in when those movie jet aircraft on your DVD fly over. In addition, the surround speakers are artfully shaped, beautifully constructed and perfectly sized. The black finish perfectly matches the TV. The center speaker sits unobtrusively in front of the TV on the television stand. The color-coded speaker wire makes set-up easy and the speaker brackets make wall mounting a breeze where you don't choose to use the supplied leather pads under the speakers on a table or a shelf. To repeat, you can make a BIG difference in the sound of your system by purchasing the BEST speakers you can possibly afford. If you buy cheap or inadequate speakers there is nothing your receiver or DVD player can do to improve the sound. You can't do better for the money than the Harman Kardon HKTS-18s.

2. For your receiver and DVD player (or changer), look for features and price (in light of what your budget will allow after selecting the best speakers you can afford). I selected the SONY STR-DG910 and the Onkyo DV-CP704. Both are performing flawlessly. In my experience, the Amazon reviews of both provided very accurate, helpful information that has been born out in my experience.

3. The HKTS-18 is a 5.1 channel speaker system. I immediately turned it into a 6.1 system by retaining one of my "old" Bose 301 Series IV speakers as the sixth rear speaker. (I decided not to use the other Bose speaker to create a 7.1 system, but that remains an option, though I'm absolutely delighted with the rich surround sound I have with the 6.1 set-up.) The SONY STR-DG910 receiver does a marvelous job of driving the 6.1 surround-sound system in my living-room while simultaneously driving a pair of speakers on the "B" channel wired into my kitchen.

4. A bit of advice on set-up. If you use HDMI cables, be sure to read thoroughly ALL of the instructions for the receiver and the DVD player. You'll need to go through the proper set-up programming to get the HDMI to function properly. A minor problem with the STR-DG910 receiver is the close quarters of the speaker-wire attachment points. Keep this in mind as you plan the sequence of what you attach when in the process and try to avoid making these attachments in close quarters. Poking the speaker wires into those little holes and turning the fittings down tight may try your patience. In regard to the Onkyo DV-CP704, my only temporary difficulty was getting it to play JPG images because I kept getting a "Bad Disc" message when trying to load the discs I had burned. You will get a "Bad Disc" message not ONLY when the disc is dirty (per the manual), but ALSO if the disc is not properly burned per the manual instructions (e.g., folder and file structure) and has been finalized properly using a burn program like Roxio.

5. Finally, Amazon delivery is simply amazing. I had all of my system components within three days of ordering them.

Great speakers. Box came a bit beat up, but the speakers work great. Hooking up was a breeze. Works well with our Sony Receiver and new LCD tv. Speakers are bigger than some competitors out there, but worth it for the sound.

Got a great price just under $400.

I'll just confirm and add a little bit to what everyone else has said about these truly great speakers. They sound great, first and foremost. They feel very solid, like they are made entirely of metal (a good thing!). In fact, while many systems sport satellite speakers weighing around 2 pounds (USA), these weigh closer to 3 pounds.

The image on the Amazon page for these speakers does not do them at all justice! The base speaker is very big, looks like a fine price of furniture, and could possible sub as a side-table (but don't do it...hehe)!

I have mine connected to a Denon AVR-1908 receiver. I mention this because it took me a few days to figure the best setup for these speakers, and I want to mention some pointers. My receiver allows choosing between 'small' and 'large' when it comes to the front, back, and center speakers. For these speakers, set them all to 'small'.

But, most importantly, be sure the sub-woofer is turned on on your receiver! I used the system for a couple of days before I realized the bass speaker was not on! That's because the front speakers were set to 'large', so they took up the task of filling in the missing bass (so it was hard to notice the bass wasn't on). I figured out how to turn the bass on in the receiver, and - WHOA! - the entire room shook!

Which brings me to a special pointer - you can tell if the bass speaker is getting a signal by the COLOR of the light on top! If it is off, there is no power. If it is yellow, it is on, but no signal (or too low a signal to register if low volume). Blue means on and there is a signal!

So, in conclusion, these speakers are awesome for the price! Speaking of which, the price of Amazon fluctuates for this item more than the stock market! I have seen it go up and down on the same day as much as fifty or even two hundred dollars! So monitor the price and strike when it is low (I got mine for LESS than four hundred dollars!).