It was founded in the 1950’s by Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon, and since then it continued to grow bigger and bigger and to offer better and better products. It also brought many innovations on the audio market such as the fully color coding of the audio / video receiver’s panel connections (in 2000). The Harman Kardon products are sold all over the world, and you can find all sort of speakers in its offer, such as stereo speakers, home cinema systems, audio components, iPod speakers and many more.

Today we are going to discuss about one of the company’s products and we’ll choose the Harman Kardon HK 695 champagne 2.1 computer speakers.  These are quite advanced speakers that include a lot of the Harman Kardon’s special technologies and features. One of them is the Vmax technology that creates a four speaker sound field from just two speakers, making the sound almost like a surround one. Another technology is the “Harman Multimedia Odyssey I transducer”. And thanks to this one the satellite speakers will sound really good, even though they are so small. The sound will be complex , and the two small speakers will focus on the mid range and high range sounds. And they will be completed by the subwoofer, that will bring the low sound frequencies (the bass).

It is recommended to place the small and thin satellite speakers on your desk in front of you, and the subwoofer under the desk, to enjoy the best sound quality. The 2 speakers are magnetically shielded so you can place them close to the monitor with no interferences. The on and off button is placed on the back of the subwoofer, and each speaker will have a green LED to indicate when they are working. On the top of the right satellite speaker you will find some other controls -  the overall volume and the mute volume. But this is not all…the subwoofer also has some controls: the bass, the treble and the surround, and these are placed on top of it.

The system has a total power of 40 watts RMS, which is divided this way: 28 watts RMS for the subwoofer and 6 watts RMS for each satellite speaker. The total power is quite good considering the small dimensions and the system will sound really good and powerful, especially in a small room. The frequency response goes from 20 Hz to 35.000 Hz, and this is quite good and it means that you can enjoy all the sound ranges (lows, mids and highs). The power consumption is 120 watts. So after all the Harman Kardon HK 695 champagne 2.1 system is quite a good system, that will offer you a nice sound , no matter if you are listening to some music, watching a movie or playing a video game.

In this article we are going to present some of the Harman Kardon speakers. The company offers a wide variety of speakers, from home audio components and systems to computer and ipod speakers, and also devices like receivers, amplifiers, DVD players etc.

-         A/V Sync Delay per Input 180 ms
-         Amplifier Type High-current; ± 35 amps
-         Bandwidth 20 Hz – 20 kHz
-         Digital Audio Inputs (Coax / Optical / USB) Rear panel 2 / 3, front panel 1 / 1 , 0
-         Digital Audio Outputs (Coax / Optical) Rear panel 1 / 0
-         Dimensions (H x W x D) 6-1/2 ” x 17-5/16 ” x 15 ”
-         Direct Audio Inputs 7.1
-         Weight 31.7 lb

Now let’s talk about one of the bookshelf speakers from Harman  Kardon. Like the name says these are pretty small speakers that can be placed on a bookshelf. Of course it is not necessary to put them there, because they can also be placed on a desk, or mounted on a wall. They can be used as a part of a sound system, but they can also be used individually. Some of the bookshelf speakers from Harman Kardon are the HKS 6. They will give you a great audio experience, especially if they are used as satellite speakers in a surround sound system. They can give you the sensation of someone being behind you when watching a movie or playing a video game. This can be quite spooky at the beginning, but you will get used to it. These speakers are quite small, with dimensions of 6-9/16 ” H x 3-15/16 ” W x 3-5/8 ” D. They have a frequency response between 110 Hz and 20.000 Hz, this means they are perfect for mid range and high sounds. When you will  combine them with a subwoofer, you will have the full spectrum of sounds. The recommended amplifier power for the HKS 6 is between 10 and 80 watts, and this is pretty good for speakers of this size. The weight for a speaker is 1.7 lb and the price is around 80 dollars.

There are many kinds of computer speaker systems, depending on the number of their components. You can find stereo (or 2.1) sound systems, which are made out of 2 speakers and a subwoofer, 5.1 systems (5 speakers and a subwoofer) and also 7.1 systems (7 speakers and a subwoofer). But there are also the home cinema systems which are combining one of the systems above, with a CD/DVD player. Harman Kardon is also producing 2.1 multimedia computer speaker systems, and a good example is the “HS 250 Home Cinema System”.

It has a simple and easy to understand menu and commands for both when you are listening to music or watching a movie from DVD. It even has a parental lock function which will enable you to control the discs that can be viewed by your children.

Using the complex remote control you will be able to control many features for the system. First there are the power on / off button and the volume buttons. When watching a movie you will be able to control everything from your remote control. You can add or remove the subtitle, change the aspect ratio and many more. When listening to music you can select any song with the remote control, you can add or remove play lists and also turn the volume up or down, or mute it. Also when watching image files you can control everything from the remote control, you can change images, zoom in or out and also choose the picture in picture option.

If you are interested in the technical details of this system, you should know the Harman Kardon 2.1 multimedia computer speaker system called HS 250 has this specifications: Audio Formats supported – DVD-Audio, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3, WMA1

Compressed-Audio Bit Rates – MP3: 32 kbps – 320 kbps, WMA1: 16 kbps – 192 kbps
Video Formats – DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, VCD, SVCD, DivX
Dimensions (H x W x D) – 80mm x 350mm x 325mm
Fast Play – 2x, 4x, 16x, 100x
Slow Play – 1/2x, 1/4x, 1/8x, 1/16x
JPEG Resolution – 5 Megapixels, 5MB file size
Multichannel Power – 65W x 2
Surround Formats – Dolby® Virtual Speaker
Weight (Excluding Speaker System) – 6.7 kg
Max power consumption – 300 W

These were just some of the specifications, if you want to know all of them you will find them in the owner’s manual.

Today we will talk about one of the most famous products of the company, which are the Harman Kardon HK 695 computer speakers.

As we said before the company brought many innovations to the audio equipment market, and the HK 695 Audio System is one of them. It has combined its audio heritage with continual research to bring its customers unique technologies and sensations with this audio system. These technologies include Vmax which is a audio image processing algorithm that supports two and also four channel sound cards. This audio hologram creates a four speaker sound field from two speakers, through the use of a head related transfer function when used with a four channel sound card. Another cool technology included in the HK 695 is the “Harman Multimedia Odyssey I transducer”. This unique transducer is designed specially for the small and extremely small  speakers, and can bring them a very good sound quality through all the sound ranges: the highs, the mids and the lows. The deep bass is produced mostly by the sub woofer, and will give you thrilling sensations when listening to a powerful house track, or when watching an action movie. The small but high quality two satellites will bring you the rest of the sound spectrum. For example you will hear the mids and the highs in the voices of a character in a movie or a game, or in the voices of a singer in a concert or a song. So even if you might think that these speakers are too small to bring good sound quality, you will find out that this is true. All you have to do is to try them!

As we mentioned before, the system is made out of two speakers and a subwoofer, and you can place them wherever you want, on your desk or on the floor.  Our recommendation is to place the two speakers on the desk, in front of you, and the subwoofer under your desk, in one of the corners. You don’t have to worry about having the speakers near your computer monitor, because they are magnetically shielded to provide protection against monitor image distortion.

The speakers are easy to use and to control. To turn it on or off, all you have to do is press the switch button which is located on the back of the subwoofer. To know when the system is turned on, you must check if all the three green LED’s are illuminating. You will find a green LED on each speaker and subwoofer.

The volume control can be found on top of the right satellite speaker. If you are slowly pressing the volume button on + or – , the volume will slightly increase or decrease, with just 2.0 decibels per step. But if you are holding the button for more than 0.5 seconds, the volume will increase or decrease faster, with a rate of 20 decibels per second. If you want to mute the system, all you have to do is press the left and right buttons on the top of the speaker simultaneously. The system will store the volume setting so that when you turn the speakers back on, it will restore the last volume you used.

You also have three control buttons on top of the subwoofer. These are: the bass, the treble and the surround. The bass button is used to turn up or down the subwoofer level. If you will turn the treble button clockwise you will increase the treble level, and if you will turn it counterclockwise you will decrease the treble. And it’s the same thing with the surround knob.

If you are not a computer specialist, and you are not able to correctly connect your speakers to the computer. Harman Kardon brought you a diagnostic system. To make sure that your speakers are working properly, follow this simple steps. First disconnect all speaker cables from the sound card. To test the front speaker plug the green connector into the diagnostic jack which you will find on the back of the subwoofer. This will generate a test tone which will alternate from the subwoofer to the other speakers and back again. If you want to make a diagnostic test for the rear speaker you have to do the same thing, but this time connect the black connector into the diagnostic jack, instead of the green one you used before. If you heard the test tone on all speakers that means your Harman Kardon HK 695 computer speakers are working properly. If not, you must see the troubleshooting section from the users guide, or contact the shop that sold you the system, or even the producer. After making the test, make sure you disconnect the connectors from the “DIAG” jack, and plug them into the correct place from the sound card.

If you want you can connect the speakers to a laptop or a notebook. If you are interested in the technical details of this product, you should know that it has 40 watts RMS, which are split this way: 6 watts for each satellite and 28 watts for the subwoofer. The crossover frequency of the subwoofer is 180 Hz and the frequency response is 20-35 Hz. If you worry about the power consumption you should know that it has the value of 120 watts.

After all the HK 695 is a good audio 2.1 system, ideal for a crowded office desk or a small room at home. It will give you good sensations when listening to music, playing a game or watching a movie. It is not too powerful to disturb your neighbors, but is enough for you to enjoy a great audio experience.

]]> http://www.hqspeakers.com/harman-kardon-hk695-computer-speakers/feed/ 0 http://www.hqspeakers.com/harmon-kardon-computer-speakers/ http://www.hqspeakers.com/harmon-kardon-computer-speakers/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:16:13 +0000 HqSpeakers http://www.hqspeakers.com/?p=533 An unit of Harman International Industries, Harman Kardon designs and produces audio equipments for consumers and for the cars industry. The company is focusing on the need of its customers and it is trying to bring them the best audio quality, and cool design with its products such as sound systems, speakers, audio/video receivers and many more. It has a big experience behind it, and it was founded in the 1950’s. The founders were Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon, and each one put up 5.000 dollars to form a new company for manufacturing high fidelity machines for music playing at home. The two creators are also the inventors of the receiver, and they combined a tuner and amplifier into a single unit that anyone, not just audio specialists, could use. In time the company had come with many inventions and innovations, from stereo sound to cassette decks, and also a remote control that is automatically calibrating a home cinema system. In the year 2000, Harman Kardon was the first company to simplify audio/video setup by introducing the fully color coding of and A/V receiver’s panel connections.  Harman Kardons’s plans for the future are to bring more innovation and more attention to its customers needs, and to bring everyone high quality sounds in their homes or cars.

Through the large Harman Kardon computer speakers offer you can find anything you like from stereo and home cinema systems to audio components or iPod speakers. First we will talk about the sound systems offered by the company.

The audio systems may have different sizes, depending on the number of speakers they have. You can buy 2.1 system (2 speakers and a subwoofer), 5.1 (5 speakers and a subwoofer) or 7.1 (7 speakers and a subwoofer). One of the coolest sound systems of Harman Kardon is the HS 350 5.1 integrated home theater system. It has a cool and professional design, and it incorporates an audio video controller, a DVD player and a complete 5.1 speaker system. First of all you can connect it to your computer, but you can also us sources such as CD, TV, VCR or MP3 players. Like any other system it includes 4 satellites, one center channel, a subwoofer and a control unit. It is equipped with the latest technologies, and it will bring you a great quality of sound, just like a cinema, when you are watching a movie, or it can bring the club to your own room when you are listening to music.

If you do not wish to buy a whole system, you can always get the exact parts you wish. Harman Kardon is offering you many separate speakers to choose from. . First of all there are the “floor speakers”. As the name tells, these are speakers that are standing on the floor. They can have different sizes, from small ones to much bigger. A specific feature of the  Harman Kardon floor speakers, is their big height and very small thickness. And they are made out of aluminum.

The next category is the “bookshelf speakers”. These are smaller and lighter speakers, that can fit into a bookshelf but the power and the sound quality it’s still very good. They come in different shapes and colors, and of course it’s not necessary to place them in a bookshelf, you can put them anywhere you like in your room. They can be used as satellites in a system, and if they are placed correctly they will give you thrilling sensations, such as someone is attacking you from behind during a video game or  a horror movie.

For your package to be complete you must also get  yourself a subwoofer. This will bring out the lower and deeper sound frequencies, and it will give that clubbing sensation when you are listening to a powerful house track. Harman Kardon does not offer individual subwoofers, but you can always choose one from another producer, and combine it with the satellites and center speakers from Harman Kardon.

After getting all the desired speakers, you will also need a audio/video receiver. The company offers you many to choose from. One of them is the AVR 355 7.1 – Channel A/V Receiver. It includes a full complement of Dolby and DTS processing technologies, and it connects to many digital and analogue sources, as well as to external amps. It can even play, control and charge your iPod.

If you are choosing a stereo system, in this case you will have to get a stereo receiver. Like we mentioned before the creators of Harman Kordon were also the ones who invented the receiver, so you must be sure that the receiver of the company are the bests in the world. They feature high-current, ultra wide bandwidth amplification, and they can deliver all the subtlety of an original musical performance.

The company is also offering some cool Blu-ray Disc, DVD Players, Digital Media Centers, amplifiers and tuners. On the amplifiers and tuners market, Harman Kardon’s are among the best in the world. Combining an elegant new look with time-proven engineering, the HK amplifiers deliver power that is more than a match for even the most demanding loud speaker loads. Actually the first product of the company was not a speaker, but a tuner. The technology improved a lot in the last 50 years and the tuners of HK combine the distortion-free, CD-like sound with informations from RDS FM. It also  has a legible display, and a remote control.

If you are planning to use your audio system in more than one room, Harman Kordon also offers some good multi-room components. One of them is the ABH 4000 Four Zone/Eight Room A-BUS Expansion Hub. You can plug in up to four different input sources and you can easily split your home into four separate entertainment zones.

Other cool products of the company are the “Sound Sticks”, which are including two self powered satellite speakers and a subwoofer. The design of this product is really futuristic and you will easily impress all your friends with these speakers. Harman Kardon also makes car speakers, media controllers for your car, navigation systems or iPod speakers. You can buy the company’s products from it’s many stores all over the world, or from the Internet.