Harman Kardon HKTS 14 6-Piece Loudspeaker System
By: JBL Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 25
More Information
 On: 2008-04-14
This speaker set is value priced far below what the performance it gives. I was pleasantly suprised.
 On: 2008-04-13
The time had finally come to get a matched set of speakers for home theater use. I had been using a set of Bose Acoustimass 5 Series, a pair of Polk SDA-2, and a Bose VCS-10 center speaker for years. It was finally time to say goodbe to the old speakers.
As we all do, I did my research and my homework and wasnt particularly thrilled by anything in my price range. I was considering the Harman Kardon 18 system but took a look at the HKTS-14. I contacted Polk Customer Service and they said that the only difference between the two systems is that the 14 has a 12" subwoofer instead of the 18s 10". I was sold on the HKTS 14.
After a couple of days of impatient waiting I got the speakers and got them rigged up. I had to readjust the settings on my Sony STR-DE595 receiver and fine tune the volume on the subwoofer - using "The Fellowship of the Ring" opening scenes at a pretty high volume level. I have all the levels where I think they need to be in my apartment and I love these speakers.
Watching movies has become a new experience. The HKTS-14 allow dialogue to be crystal clear while sound effects and score have the right amount of OOOMPH - all without having to turn the receiver volume up and down during a movie. I do a lot of gaming on the XBOX360 and games have taken on a whole new demension. Even just watching baseball on TV has the "you are there" thrill.
These are great speakers - especially if you dont have a suitcase full of money or a dedicated theater in your home.
On: 2007-10-24
After purchasing a new HK receiver I wanted a new 5.1 system. Replacing another 5.1 and 2 tower speakers these sound amazing. The sub seemed to rattle using an rca direct from my ipod, but after using the sub-out from the HK receiver the noise disappeared. I am extremely satisfied with this purchase. I would be willing to compare my home theater system to any high priced set-up.
On: 2007-10-10
MY SYSTEM CONSIST OF Harman Kardon AVR 146 Home Theater Receiver WHICH I PURCHASE DIRECTLY FROM HARMON KARDOM REFURBISH THRU EBAY ( $172.50) , Harman Kardon HKTS 14 6-Piece Loudspeaker System ALSO PURCHASE FROM EBAY HARMON KARDON STORE FOR ( $188.00 )(This is a factory-remanufactured unit carrying the original factory warranty, as do all other items i purchase thru Harmon / kardon Ebay store )
THE FRONT SPEAKERS MOUNTED ON A SET OF Harman Kardon HTFS2 Floor Stands
( WHICH I ORDER FROM B& H PHOTO FOR $69.99 AND THE SURROUND SPEAKERS MOUNTED ON Gallery Noir Wood/glass Speaker Stands ORDER THRU AMAZON FOR $58.99 CONNECTED TO Rocketfish Universal Wireless Rear Speaker Kit BOUGHT AT EBAY FOR A REDICULOUS PRICE OR $39.99 , Harman Kardon FL8385 5-Disc CD Changer ALSO PURCHASE THRU EBAY HARMON / KARDON STORE FOR $64.00 AND A Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player PURCHASE THRU AMAZON FOR A INCREDILE $166.96 ( SPECIAL HD- DVD OFFER AND A WORK RELATED GIFT CERTIFICATED THAT I APPLIED TO THIS PURCHASE ,,,VIDEO BEING SENT TO A SAMSUNG HL-S4666W 46" HIGH DEFINITION REAR PROJECTION DLP TV WHICH WAS THE ONLY THING I PURCHASE LOCALY BUT AT A GREAT PRICE OF $ 899.00 AT REXS. INITIALY I HAD THE REAR SPEAKERS WIRED TO MY RECEIVER ,,,AFTER CONNECTING THEM TO THE WIRELESS UNIT I REALLY CANNOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE IN SOUND FROM THE RECEIVER TO THE ROCKETFISH unit SO I AM VERY PLEASE AND WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS UNIT IT PROVIDED ME WITH A GREAT SOLUTION !!
THE SOUND FROM THE SPEAKER SYSTEM IS INCREDIBLE !!!! IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT BUYING ANYTHING ELSE YOU OWE TO YOUR SELF TO LISTEN TO THIS SPEAKER PKG. I HAVE MINE CONNECTED THRU THE OPTICAL OUTPUT OF MY HD-DVD PLAYER AND CABLE BOX AND THE SOUND ON DTS FROM THE HD - DVD PLAYER IS PURE ECSTASY!!!! THE SUB IS POWERFUL ENOUGHT THAT I CANNOT TURM MINE PAST 1/4 VOLUME IF YOU PURCHASE THESE THE HARMON/KARDON SPEAKER STANDS ARE A MUST I PURCHASE MINE PIANO BLACK INSTEAD OF SILVER ,,,, DID SOME ONE MENTI0N BOSE ???? LIKE I MENTION I GOT MINE FOR $188.00 AND PROUD I DID SO ,,, IS TOO BAD THOSE BOSE GUYS DONT KNOW HOW TO SHOP AROUND !!!
IF THEY HEARD THE Kardon® HKTS 14-Z 5.1 home theater speaker system with a 200-watt powered subwoofer SPEAKER SYSTEM THEY WOULD ALL WISH THE WERE WISER ,,, INSTEAD OF FULL OF MONEY !!!!!,,i am not here to try to convence any one of what to buy if you have plenty of money and like to spend it on a "higher end system " ,,then chose the one you want,,, but like wine more expensive does not always mean a better product !!!!
On: 2007-07-20
Sounds great! Ive never enjoyed watching my DVDs as much as I do now.
 On: 2007-07-05
Have had these for a couple of years now. Work as well as described by others. Problem is whenever I have to go behind the TV, the slightest contact with the front speakers (on stands) causes them to topple over. This had happend several times and now the base of the speakers themselves have separated from the rest of the box. Otherwise ****
On: 2007-03-22
These well finished speakers with real metal grills (a consideration around my grandsons) are a classy looking addition to a room. I do hope the black speaker wires are paintable as they certainly are noticable. The only moderate negative is the fussy wall mounting design, just be patient and take your time. The subwoofer is a solid as a rock piece. My speakers are connected to HK AVR145 receiver and sound quality is everything I had hoped for-- great clarity, powerful and not at all artifical. My room is about 12 X 20 and there is plenty of power with these speakers and the AVR 145. I find the sound to be warm and realistic not the rather brittle, overly digital sounds my ear perceives with the BOSE speakers I listened to. I did have to use HK support for source connectivity configuration, the speaker connections were very easy due to color coded wires fo reach individual speaker. Some of the AVR 145 configurations for various inputs, DVD, satellite were not clear. HK help was patient, thorough and my configuration issues were handled in 10 minutes. My wait time was 1 minute, amazing when compared to so many customer call centers. I have previsouly had excellent luck with HK products, some of which are ten years old at this point. Highly recommended.
On: 2006-11-12
Excellent Bass!! Amazing performance, the coolest thing is the Subwoofer turns to sleep mode when there is no signal from the receiver.
I wish I could have brought one more extra speaker that would let me upgrade to 6.1 sometime in the future.
On: 2006-11-11
I ve done a lot of web research before ordering this one. This is priced very good and plays well. It has crystal clear music and can handle upto 10 db without making any kind of distortion. The bass is good but i guess its little too much for music i hear. I am satisfied and cant ask more.
On: 2006-11-10
Due to a move and resulting space constraints, I needed to replace my full size front JBL speakers, and decided to invest in a new speaker system. My son got the old JBLs and he is thrilled. After some research, I settled on the HKTS14 and have been very satisfied. The satellites are small and stylish so they blend into the decor very nicely. Mounting the speakers on the wall using the supplied brackets was a bit of a PITA, but each sucessive installation became easier. The huge sub fits into the corner of my room and is very unobtrusive. The sound is so realistic that it fools my dog into thinking that he is hearing actual events rather than just the TV. I did have a problem with my 20 yo receiver not dealing with the sub all too well, so I got an HK635 and all is well now. All in all, a great sounding speaker system at a reasonable price.
On: 2006-11-10
Great bass on this system! Love it! However, the rear speakers do not pick up the surround sound as well as my old Bose speakers but the bass is soo much better! It is def worth it to buy these speakers.
On: 2006-11-09
Due to a move and resulting space constraints, I needed to replace my full size front JBL speakers, and decided to invest in a new speaker system. My son got the old JBLs and he is thrilled. After some research, I settled on the HKTS14 and have been very satisfied. The satellites are small and stylish so they blend into the decor very nicely. Mounting the speakers on the wall using the supplied brackets was a bit of a PITA, but each sucessive installation became easier. The huge sub fits into the corner of my room and is very unobtrusive. The sound is so realistic that it fools my dog into thinking that he is hearing actual events rather than just the TV. I did have a problem with my 20 yo receiver not dealing with the sub all too well, so I got an HK635 and all is well now. All in all, a great sounding speaker system at a reasonable price.
On: 2006-08-24
Well I researched HT systems for 3 days and finally decided on the hkts14. I bought a Harman Kardon avr 240 reciever 2 weeks before the speakers so that helped my decision. After I recieved the system I installed it in about 3 hours including the sattelite speaker stand which by the way look awsome. The sound quality that these speakers put out is awsome. Crisp and clear, and the subwoofer all I can say in WOW it is bulky but I can deal with that. This thing rocks the block and I have it turned 1/2 down on the reciever and on the sub. I would insist that anyone who is looking to buy them then do it. This is a great system.
On: 2006-07-19
Another review I read somewhere cited the subwoofer as reason enough to buy these speakers at this price. Spot on. The 10 in. you get (where most HTIB speakers come with subwoofers that are 8 in.) is good sized, so you might do well to prepare those others who will be sharing space with it that it will not tuck neatly away under even a large doily. But, for good reason: it pushes bass like few I heard in investigating the system I ended up buying. Even when you overpower the sound by turning the subwoofer all the way up it doesnt distort or muddy the way the others do. In fact, its just more fun that way. The satellites are excellent and by all means spring for the speaker stands. My wife claims these as her sole and most valuable input to our HT system: they are sleek, very stylish and just class up the joint, nevermind delivering the sound at the same optimal height of your ear on the couch. The pictures here on Amazon dont do the overall effect justice at all. But the speakers themselves provide undistorted clarity and crispness at 20 decibels and that was enough to start peeling some paint and rattling doors in their jambs. I dont think most will have a room sized so that this speaker system would not fill it with a rich, clean, and full range sound expression. And dont let the differentiation some reviewers make between sound reproduction in movies and music detract you: get the right receiver and there will be no issue.
On: 2006-06-17
Sound quality is superb. The sound is very crisp and clear. The surround is very true life. The base is so powerful. We were amazed at how big the subwoofer was for the price. We only use 30% of the base and it sounds like 90%. Center channel also brings the dialog to out. Overall, we are very pleased with this system. We couldnt believe we could own a great system with the money we paid. Originally we wanted the Bose Acoustimass 6 (also 5.1 channel surround sound). However, the price was too high for us. The Harman Kardon HKTS 14 is $200 cheaper. Cnet gave it an 8.0 Excellent rating and it was top four on their editors choices list. And Bose wasnt on the list. With all the good reviews I read, We decided to give it a try.
We live in a one bedroom apartment and this system is more than enough to turn our living room into a small theater. One thing to keep in mind is that the media you watch has to be 5.1 to fully use the surround system. If the media is not 5.1, switching to stereo mode still gives you powerful bass and good sound. Also, in order to bring out the fullness of the system, following the manufactures suggested placement of the speakers is crucial. I dont have any complaint but if I have to pick one, I wish I could boost the base up and rock my entire apartment!! Then again, we wouldnt want to be kicked out for being too loud.
Definitely recommend it.
On: 2006-05-07
I have searched for speakers that would compliment my room. My priorities were price, build quality, connectivity, and thundering bass (yes I said it, most of us dont really care about the fine nuances of sound, all we need is decent speakers and some thundering BASS to make your heart flutter). I am no expert in the art of speaker selection or speaker sound but I have ears and consider myself pretty knowledgeable in the art of hearing (which we all are, so I am nothing special).
Price:
I bought these speakers at less than 350$ and believe me they make every penny count. If you look on Harman Kardons website, this combination is the top of the line. Now, considering Harman Kardons history I was willing to bet that these speakers were decent before I bought them. I was utterly wrong. These are fantastic for the price. I couldnt buy a comparable 12" subwoofer for that much alone if I wanted to.
Build Quality:
These are perfectly well-built, heavy and robust speakers. The accessories though are a little cheap quality. By accessories I mean only the plastic mounts and nothing else. The wires are thick (Sorry, dont know gauge #) and pre-soldered and are ready to go. Installation on their mounts is a little tricky if you have your room already prewired. Exercise caution and you wont break the plastic mounts while you do it. The speakers themselves are heavy and hence if you put too much weight on the speakers (like you hand) while trying to install them on the wall standing precariously on a stool or ladder you might shatter (yes shatter, not crack or break) them. If you want to use the speakers as table mounted they come with a provided attachment for flat surfaces. This was for the 5 satellite speakers. The only thing I would recommend as a upgrade about these satellite speakers is that they have pinch-clips for wire connections and not banana clips. This will not be a major problem if you use the factory provided pre-soldered wires or if you solder the tips of your own wires. Again, this delves in to the territory of good sound and great sound. The center channel speaker is supposed to be place on a flat surface and does not come with any wall mounting accessories. Also, the 4 satellite speaker mounts can only pivot side to side and not up and down so make sure you know how you are going to mount them in a prewired room with the wiring outlets in the ceiling. I wouldnt recommend using the mounts provided for ceiling mounting of speakers. From seeing how flimsy they are I think they are specifically designed to hold up the speakers from the bottom up and not like a cantilever which will be the case if you mount them on the ceiling.
Now comes the sub-woofer. OH BOY!!!! This is what you call a subwoofer. Huge and powerful. You all know by now that it is a downward firing 12" diameter subwoofer housed in almost a 24" high cabinetry. BUILD QUALITY is spelt, enunciated and redefined with this subwoofer.
Connectivity and Features:
The 5 satellite speakers have the usual red and black pinch clips (which again are not bad at all). The subwoofer on the other hand is decked out. It is self powered, so you dont need a receiver where the sub channel is powered. The subwoofer has a filter switch. If you switch it ON, it will automatically filter the high frequency sounds and play only the low frequency ones in the channel. Now that doesnt mean you can connect your satellite speaker channel to it and expect it to work well. That brings me to its next feature which in my case saved me from buying a new receiver. It has a high level output and speaker level input with banana clips. These inputs and outputs basically let you use the left and right front and rear satellite speaker channels of your reciever to connect through your subwoofer so that it can filter out its own subwoofer signal. This is particularly useful in case you own a receiver without a subwoofer out or if your receiver subwoofer out is a pinch clip or banana clip instead of the compatible rca-jack like pin (hereinafter referrred to as a line-out cable). Ive looked in Radioshack and you can build yourself a two wire to line-out cable but dont complain about the sound if you didnt do a good job. So now you know how crappy my receiver is since it doesnt have a regular line-out cable for the subwoofer. (For reference purposes I got this Pioneer receiver from Walmart in a 200$ home theater system package for my apartment. The receiver is pretty good for limited connectivity. It is rated at a 1000 watts output which I highly doubt though.) Ok, coming back to the subwoofer. It has automatic low frequency signal detection circuitry which means that it will not be active when there is no bass in the signal for extended periods which is great for channel flipping on your tv. You really dont need that huge thing to consume energy when you are flipped to a news channel and continue watching for sometime. Oh most importantly, it has its own independent volume konb which allows you to control the maximum the subwoofer could go to without cracking the sound which is generally dependent on the size of your room and the signal from the receiver. So once you set it you can simply adjust your receiver settings for the subwoofer as per your choice. Also, something of minor importance to me but could be an extremely useful feature for someone else. You can reverse the phase in which the subwoofer works. For instance if you have your satellite speakers sound like producing bass at a different note than the subwoofer it could possibly be that your subwoofer is out of phase. Reasons for this happening I dont know. So by flipping the switch you could technically reverse the subwoofer phase and make it sound more coherent with the rest of the sound and video.
Thundering Bass:
I think by now you have it figured that I am total fan of the subwoofer. Well this is where it started. Performance!!! Knowing how crappy my receiver is with no direct connectivity to the subwoofer this piece of equipment is an absolutely heart fluttering bass producing machine. Dont get me wrong on the other satellite speakers. They are very good too but the center of attraction is the subwoofer undoubtedly. Ok let do some justice to the satellite speakers. The four satellite speakers are great. They produce their own little bass and can also produce clear screeching sound that will make you cringe like an airplane landing on the tarmac, loud and majestic sound but when the wheels hit the tarmac the screeching sound is perfectly reproduced. Basically they reproduce sound very very well and truthfully. The center channel speaker is very powerful and priduces clear voice separation and also blends in very well with the other speakers when an action scene comes around (but that also partly depends on your individual speaker volume settings on your receiver). Coming back to my star performer. This subwoofer will rock your apartment, house, walls, furniture, humans, pets, neighbors, and pests...ok the last one I made up. Home movie watching will change after youve heard this beast perform and I dont even have the recommended connections to make it work at optimum so go figure if you have good reciever already.
This is my review. It is obviously my opinion of this system. Do your own research before you buy your own but I thought since it is such a great system it should receive the recognition it deserves and also budget-minded buyers with a good ear for sound will know what this system has to offer and make their decision more wisely. Having said that, if there is anybody doubting my intentions or capability of enjoying a movie at home, I own a 65" toshiba TV (65H85C). I love my movie experience and I wouldnt waste my time writing this long detailed review if the sound didnt compliment the picture, which by the way is freaking huge. Oh by the way my receiver (when I have the money to buy it) will most definately be the Pioneer VSX-1015TX. Look it up. It will blow your mind away without burning a hole in your pocket. Good Bye!!!
On: 2006-05-06
I have searched for speakers that would compliment my room. My priorities were price, build quality, connectivity, and thundering bass (yes I said it, most of us dont really care about the fine nuances of sound, all we need is decent speakers and some thundering BASS to make your heart flutter). I am no expert in the art of speaker selection or speaker sound but I have ears and consider myself pretty knowledgeable in the art of hearing (which we all are, so I am nothing special).
Price:
I bought these speakers at less than 350$ and believe me they make every penny count. If you look on Harman Kardons website, this combination is the top of the line. Now, considering Harman Kardons history I was willing to bet that these speakers were decent before I bought them. I was utterly wrong. These are fantastic for the price. I couldnt buy a comparable 12" subwoofer for that much alone if I wanted to.
Build Quality:
These are perfectly well-built, heavy and robust speakers. The accessories though are a little cheap quality. By accessories I mean only the plastic mounts and nothing else. The wires are thick (Sorry, dont know gauge #) and pre-soldered and are ready to go. Installation on their mounts is a little tricky if you have your room already prewired. Exercise caution and you wont break the plastic mounts while you do it. The speakers themselves are heavy and hence if you put too much weight on the speakers (like you hand) while trying to install them on the wall standing precariously on a stool or ladder you might shatter (yes shatter, not crack or break) them. If you want to use the speakers as table mounted they come with a provided attachment for flat surfaces. This was for the 5 satellite speakers. The only thing I would recommend as a upgrade about these satellite speakers is that they have pinch-clips for wire connections and not banana clips. This will not be a major problem if you use the factory provided pre-soldered wires or if you solder the tips of your own wires. Again, this delves in to the territory of good sound and great sound. The center channel speaker is supposed to be place on a flat surface and does not come with any wall mounting accessories. Also, the 4 satellite speaker mounts can only pivot side to side and not up and down so make sure you know how you are going to mount them in a prewired room with the wiring outlets in the ceiling. I wouldnt recommend using the mounts provided for ceiling mounting of speakers. From seeing how flimsy they are I think they are specifically designed to hold up the speakers from the bottom up and not like a cantilever which will be the case if you mount them on the ceiling.
Now comes the sub-woofer. OH BOY!!!! This is what you call a subwoofer. Huge and powerful. You all know by now that it is a downward firing 12" diameter subwoofer housed in almost a 24" high cabinetry. BUILD QUALITY is spelt, enunciated and redefined with this subwoofer.
Connectivity and Features:
The 5 satellite speakers have the usual red and black pinch clips (which again are not bad at all). The subwoofer on the other hand is decked out. It is self powered, so you dont need a receiver where the sub channel is powered. The subwoofer has a filter switch. If you switch it ON, it will automatically filter the high frequency sounds and play only the low frequency ones in the channel. Now that doesnt mean you can connect your satellite speaker channel to it and expect it to work well. That brings me to its next feature which in my case saved me from buying a new receiver. It has a high level output and speaker level input with banana clips. These inputs and outputs basically let you use the left and right front and rear satellite speaker channels of your reciever to connect through your subwoofer so that it can filter out its own subwoofer signal. This is particularly useful in case you own a receiver without a subwoofer out or if your receiver subwoofer out is a pinch clip or banana clip instead of the compatible rca-jack like pin (hereinafter referrred to as a line-out cable). Ive looked in Radioshack and you can build yourself a two wire to line-out cable but dont complain about the sound if you didnt do a good job. So now you know how crappy my receiver is since it doesnt have a regular line-out cable for the subwoofer. (For reference purposes I got this Pioneer receiver from Walmart in a 200$ home theater system package for my apartment. The receiver is pretty good for limited connectivity. It is rated at a 1000 watts output which I highly doubt though.) Ok, coming back to the subwoofer. It has automatic low frequency signal detection circuitry which means that it will not be active when there is no bass in the signal for extended periods which is great for channel flipping on your tv. You really dont need that huge thing to consume energy when you are flipped to a news channel and continue watching for sometime. Oh most importantly, it has its own independent volume konb which allows you to control the maximum the subwoofer could go to without cracking the sound which is generally dependent on the size of your room and the signal from the receiver. So once you set it you can simply adjust your receiver settings for the subwoofer as per your choice. Also, something of minor importance to me but could be an extremely useful feature for someone else. You can reverse the phase in which the subwoofer works. For instance if you have your satellite speakers sound like producing bass at a different note than the subwoofer it could possibly be that your subwoofer is out of phase. Reasons for this happening I dont know. So by flipping the switch you could technically reverse the subwoofer phase and make it sound more coherent with the rest of the sound and video.
Thundering Bass:
I think by now you have it figured that I am total fan of the subwoofer. Well this is where it started. Performance!!! Knowing how crappy my receiver is with no direct connectivity to the subwoofer this piece of equipment is an absolutely heart fluttering bass producing machine. Dont get me wrong on the other satellite speakers. They are very good too but the center of attraction is the subwoofer undoubtedly. Ok let do some justice to the satellite speakers. The four satellite speakers are great. They produce their own little bass and can also produce clear screeching sound that will make you cringe like an airplane landing on the tarmac, loud and majestic sound but when the wheels hit the tarmac the screeching sound is perfectly reproduced. Basically they reproduce sound very very well and truthfully. The center channel speaker is very powerful and priduces clear voice separation and also blends in very well with the other speakers when an action scene comes around (but that also partly depends on your individual speaker volume settings on your receiver). Coming back to my star performer. This subwoofer will rock your apartment, house, walls, furniture, humans, pets, neighbors, and pests...ok the last one I made up. Home movie watching will change after youve heard this beast perform and I dont even have the recommended connections to make it work at optimum so go figure if you have good reciever already.
This is my review. It is obviously my opinion of this system. Do your own research before you buy your own but I thought since it is such a great system it should receive the recognition it deserves and also budget-minded buyers with a good ear for sound will know what this system has to offer and make their decision more wisely. Having said that, if there is anybody doubting my intentions or capability of enjoying a movie at home, I own a 65" toshiba TV (65H85C). I love my movie experience and I wouldnt waste my time writing this long detailed review if the sound didnt compliment the picture, which by the way is freaking huge. Oh by the way my receiver (when I have the money to buy it) will most definately be the Pioneer VSX-1015TX. Look it up. It will blow your mind away without burning a hole in your pocket. Good Bye!!!
On: 2006-04-08
The system looks great and sounds pretty good for movies, but for music, the speakers suffer from well, just being too small. You cant expect too much from a 3" woofer, even two of them in each speaker, and the system lacks warmth in the midrange even with the sub crossover set at 120hz or higher. On the plus side, the system does look great, but if you want to listen to music, you just frankly need bigger speakers, something which most HTIBs dont have.
On: 2006-03-18
This set is all about the MONSTER sub. The satelites are good quality, nice look and feel. Sound is fantastic. you can,t beat this system for the money. only person that doesnt like it is my neigbors, cause it shakes their house too.
On: 2006-03-15
After countless hours researching speakers for my new surround sound tv/audio system ( My receiver is a Yamaha rx v2500) I finally settled on the HKTS 14s and I am happy I did. I have no real complaints other than the wall speaker mounts. They are a bit challenging and feel flimsy in contrast to what you can buy. Additionally, dont rely on the equally flimsy, but provided speaker wire. If you are going to spend this much money on speakers, break down and buy 14 gauge wire to drive the sound. I love the powered sub, but its absolutely massive. That said, it can really do the trick and will quickly have neighbors looking for thunderstorms with its deep bass. Solid cabinets, high tech look.
On: 2006-02-22
Phenomenal .....
One word I could match to review of HKTS-14. After extensive research and numerous audio test of various HT speakers I zeroed in for HKTS-14 from Harman/Kardon. Key factors I used to select the systems are as follows:
1. Music performance
2. Substantial Bass response
3. If not too much near high power
4. Compact for my apartment living
5. Crisp high end music reproducing capability especially from guitar, sitar
6. Budget conscious and longterm investment
7. Proven industry name
8. Easy setup & calibration
9. Technical Support
In all aspects HKTS-14 stood out. At first I used my own samples of few songs; music excepts and took it to various showrooms to play. I tested it on Polk, Bose, JBL 300.7/200.7, Micra and HKTS-14. These are my observations
Polk -Excellent satellite speakers, but default bass module didnt impress, need to upgrade to other polk sub which are quite expensive when adding both prices and setup is too confusing.
Bose -Forget about it, sales men did not like putting my CD and when I finally made him he wouldnt pay much attention or help me in adjusting any settings. Only thing he allowed to do is to keep repeating ICE AGE movie clips over and over again in AM16 module.
One I did notice, most of dialogs and beats are directional, you can also try this next time you see a BOSE system is playing, just stand directly in line of bass module and slow move left or right you notice that bass is completely directional and all dialogs are actually come from bass module which is either below or side of system rather on center of screen.
JBL 300.7/2007 - Out of both 300.7 flared excellent, but speakers are doesnt look good though design is unique. Bass module is excellent
Micra - Speakers are good and look good but lacks overall puch, I felt that if you between 4 to 6 feet in radius from speakers they are good beyond that, sound weakens
Finally HKTS-14
Speakers are excellent and sharp to look. Coming to most important sound aspect, sound reproduced is close to the way it should be. Bass module is enough power to shake a large room (BTW my room is 19x18). Initially I needed some tweaking with cross over to get the right match between satellites and sub. Other things I have done to fine tune is channel volume using pink noise. Once these basic steps are done, system is all set to rock. Test DVDs I used are Lord of Rings which have enough high/low/mid ranges through the movie. Finally coming to cost whole system I put together i.e receiver+DVD player+HT speakers+ wires hardly touched $800 and I am sure this system will go very long time in my living room for TV/Music/Movie entertainment...next on my list HT projector !-)
Harman/Kardon customer service is excellent by all base lines. I wrote to technical support even before I purchased the product and every time received reply from an actual person rather than automatic reply. All the replies are informative and complete and welcoming for more questions. Of late I have never experienced such a prompt service. Only companies that believe in there products can provide such service
Strengths
Room shaking sub-Excellent High & Mid range capbility of Satellites-Can match any decor especially made for plasma looks-All included kit-Auto signal sensing of Bass module-120 watts for satellites and 200watts for sub
Weakness
Mounting kit supplied is not easy to use-Only HKTS speaker stands can be used -Speakers are all Silver finish, but wires supplied are black.
On: 2006-02-18
After a lot of research I finally chose the Harman over the Bose.
From what I read, the Harman was equal to the Bose at a fraction of the cost, so I took a chance I bought it from JR.com(on sale for $379 plus free shipping). Unit came in TWO DAYS. Awesome service from JR where I also bought my Sony AV receiver. Well, the reviews were correct. The sound is fantastic and I think better than my fathers Bose Lifestyle Sytem. Setup was a breeze and what a nice touch to include the mounting brackets for the sats. The sub is awesome (but huge) be sure you have enough room to accomadate it. If you do, you will not be dissatisfied.
For the money, the most bang for the buck available.
On: 2006-01-24
These were my first surround sound speakers and I had them wired, mounted on the wall and working in less than 2 hours. And they sound great! The subwoofer is big but the sound it puts out is worth the room it takes up. Ive had friends over who cant believe the sound quality from the smallish speakers compared to the larger ones they have at home. Im particularly impressed with the center speaker, DVD audio is now clear as a bell, no more constantly increasing and decreasing the volume to hear what people are saying. Id definitely recommend these speakers to anyone.
On: 2005-12-29
My husband is very technical, so I was surprised he had trouble with installation. He called tech. support and was able to finally get these babies to work. They seem to work pretty good once installation was complete.
 On: 2005-09-28
Speakers worked fine when I first received them. Very good sound. Mounted the surround speakers on the wall. After 2 days, the subwoofer stopped working. After many hours tracking down the problem, I figured out that if I used a different input, or if I pushed the digital "line in" input on the subwoofer to the right and held it there, it would work. Amazon sent a replacement set of speakers immediately, and I was to just replace the subwoofer for convenience. When I received the replacement set, the new subwoofer would power on, but emitted no sound whatever. I tried all of my tricks, but it remained silent. I sent back the replacement. Amazon says I must send back the original set as well (they are not willing to try again), so I now have to unmount everything and try to repack it in the original box. You may know what that is like. I am not yet out any money, but it has been terribly inconvenient. I suspect that Harman Kardon has a design issue with these subwoofers, since I received two in a row that were bad.
On: 2005-01-12
Lets start off by saying that I am not an audiophile. I am in my mid 30s and this is my first home audio system I have purchased since college. Until recently, I had been quite happy with a 2.1 speaker system hooked up to my Sirius satellite radio.
I shopped online and also visited several home electronics stores and listened to their home theater systems. While I could notice the difference between speaker brands while in the theater room and switch back and forth between speakers, I am sure I would have been happy at home with any of those systems I heard. I mean hey, just about anything is better than a set of computer speakers. My goal was to get good quality, something I could add onto later, and something with good aesthetics in my living room.
While I could not find the HKTS14 5.1 speaker system in a local retail store, I did listen to a similar Infinity system (also made by Harman) which sounded good and had really nice brushed aluminum caseings. I already had purchased the Harman Kardon AVR-335, and so I decided to go for the HKTS14, sight unseen.
The arrived yesterday, and here is my impression so far...
The speakers look really nice, though they are made of plastic not brushed aluminim like the Infinity system. The grills are metal however, so that is nice. The sub woofer is large and tall, but it is also very aesthetically pleasing. I had planned to put it under an end table, but it is taller than the end table so maybe my wife will let me keep it in front of the room next to the TV (ideal listening location). I think it looks nice enough. The sub woofer also enables a number of different speaker configurations for older systems that do not have a sub woofer line out. If you hook it to a full audio output, it will actually direct the base frequencies to the woofer and route the higher frequencies to lines out for hooking satellite speakers up to the woofer. If you have a receiver with a seperate sub woofer line out, that is the only connection it needs.
The satellite speakers also look nice, and include both shelf stands and wall mounts. The kit also includes all the color coded wiring you need. It is really nice to get everything needed to be listening to your system in 15 minutes.
So far I have only one complaint about the HKTS14 system. The speakers are designed to mount on the walls, and yet the included wiring is black. Unless you have black walls, this is totally unacceptable.
On: 2005-01-11
Lets start off by saying that I am not an audiophile. I am in my mid 30s and this is my first home audio system I have purchased since college. Until recently, I had been quite happy with a 2.1 speaker system hooked up to my Sirius satellite radio.
I shopped online and also visited several home electronics stores and listened to their home theater systems. While I could notice the difference between speaker brands while in the theater room and switch back and forth between speakers, I am sure I would have been happy at home with any of those systems I heard. I mean hey, just about anything is better than a set of computer speakers. My goal was to get good quality, something I could add onto later, and something with good aesthetics in my living room.
While I could not find the HKTS14 5.1 speaker system in a local retail store, I did listen to a similar Infinity system (also made by Harman) which sounded good and had really nice brushed aluminum caseings. I already had purchased the Harman Kardon AVR-335, and so I decided to go for the HKTS14, sight unseen.
The arrived yesterday, and here is my impression so far...
The speakers look really nice, though they are made of plastic not brushed aluminim like the Infinity system. The grills are metal however, so that is nice. The sub woofer is large and tall, but it is also very aesthetically pleasing. I had planned to put it under an end table, but it is taller than the end table so maybe my wife will let me keep it in front of the room next to the TV (ideal listening location). I think it looks nice enough. The sub woofer also enables a number of different speaker configurations for older systems that do not have a sub woofer line out. If you hook it to a full audio output, it will actually direct the base frequencies to the woofer and route the higher frequencies to lines out for hooking satellite speakers up to the woofer. If you have a receiver with a seperate sub woofer line out, that is the only connection it needs.
The satellite speakers also look nice, and include both shelf stands and wall mounts. The kit also includes all the color coded wiring you need. It is really nice to get everything needed to be listening to your system in 15 minutes.
So far I have only one complaint about the HKTS14 system. The speakers are designed to mount on the walls, and yet the included wiring is black. Unless you have black walls, this is totally unacceptable.
On: 2004-09-30
Ive been through an ungodly amount of home entertainment equipment in the past 4 yrs (e.g. 4 receivers, 3 TVs, 3 DVD players & 2 sets of 5.1 speakers) trying to perfect my home theatre, and have to say the HK 14s have a flawless sound. Mind you, these are being pushed by the Harman Kardon AVR630 receiver connected to their HK DVD22. Im not too well versed on the technical aspects of whether this is due to the receiver or the speakers, but I can hear things via Dolby Pro Logic 5.1 and DTS that other speakers--including Polk--could not produce, regardless of which receiver or DVD player I had hooked up to them. The AVR 630 is a very advanced product, with more digital and analog inputs than most receivers on the market--the only problem with this system is the lapse time it takes for the receiver to recognize an incoming digital signal from the DVD player--this is supposed to be corrected by a software patch that HK will be releasing around 11/1/04, available on their website or CD-ROM, which can be uploaded via PC to the 630 via the 232 port on the back of the receiver. If you are looking for a DVD player that will smoke every other brand on the market (including, through personal experience the Samsungs) hold off on buying the HK dvd22 and wait for the DVD 31, which should also be released between 10/20/04 and 11/10/04. The dvd22 has occasionally had problems with their digital outputs and wont play SACDs, which will be rectified on the dvd31. There is no better sound or picture quality on the DVD market than the DVD 22. And for what its worth, that picture run through a Sony hi-def XBR wide screen CRT television, is the best picture I have ever seen--well over that of a the Samsung plasma I exchanged for the Sony.
On: 2004-09-29
Ive been through an ungodly amount of home entertainment equipment in the past 4 yrs (e.g. 4 receivers, 3 TVs, 3 DVD players & 2 sets of 5.1 speakers) trying to perfect my home theatre, and have to say the HK 14s have a flawless sound. Mind you, these are being pushed by the Harman Kardon AVR630 receiver connected to their HK DVD22. Im not too well versed on the technical aspects of whether this is due to the receiver or the speakers, but I can hear things via Dolby Pro Logic 5.1 and DTS that other speakers--including Polk--could not produce, regardless of which receiver or DVD player I had hooked up to them. The AVR 630 is a very advanced product, with more digital and analog inputs than most receivers on the market--the only problem with this system is the lapse time it takes for the receiver to recognize an incoming digital signal from the DVD player--this is supposed to be corrected by a software patch that HK will be releasing around 11/1/04, available on their website or CD-ROM, which can be uploaded via PC to the 630 via the 232 port on the back of the receiver. If you are looking for a DVD player that will smoke every other brand on the market (including, through personal experience the Samsungs) hold off on buying the HK dvd22 and wait for the DVD 31, which should also be released between 10/20/04 and 11/10/04. The dvd22 has occasionally had problems with their digital outputs and wont play SACDs, which will be rectified on the dvd31. There is no better sound or picture quality on the DVD market than the DVD 22. And for what its worth, that picture run through a Sony hi-def XBR wide screen CRT television, is the best picture I have ever seen--well over that of a the Samsung plasma I exchanged for the Sony.
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