Harman Kardon is one of the biggest audio designers in the world, and it produces audio equipments for the public and for the automotive industry. The company is trying its best to bring its clients the best audio quality, nice design, and it has a wide range of products such as: sound systems, speakers, A/V receivers and others. It was founded long time ago, back in the 1950's, by Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon. Each one of them came with 5000 dollars to build a new company that was specialized in the manufacturing of high fidelity machines for playing music at home. In time the company brought to the public many cool innovations, for example in 2000 Harman Kardon was the first to introduce the fully color coding of and audio /video receiver panel's connections. And this kind of setup really simplified the audio / video setup. The company was expanded all over the world and has a good reputation along the home users. Its plans for the future are to bring more innovations to the audio market, and to satisfy the needs of the most pretentious customers. You will find many products in the company stores or website, such as stereo and home cinema sound systems, audio components, iPod speakers, headphones and also cat speakers.

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 is among the most versatile home cinema systems on the market, and it contains an audio / video controller, a 2.1 speaker system and a DVD player. It incorporates the latest Harman Kardon technologies and you can also use it with sources such as CD, VCR, TV or FM radio. It is even compatible with MP3-s. It has all the history and innovation of the company included in it, and it has been designed to provide all the excitement and detail of movie soundtracks and every nuance of musical selection.   Among its high technology features it includes an advanced 10 bit video digital to analog converter, S-video and RGB video outputs, to make sure that you get all the quality from a DVD. It also includes a HDMI output and progressive scan component video outputs, for optimum playback of DVD-s with compatible high definition display devices. It is also among the first integrated home cinema system which allows mobile connectivity by playing compatible music or images from portable devices, using two USB inputs. If you also have the Harman Kardon Bridge product, you will be able to listen to music directly from your iPod, and it will even charge your iPod.

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.

Even if you used CD players before, it is recommended that when you buy a new DVD player to read the instructions manual, because some of the functions and controls may be different, and is best to read all about it, so you can take advantage of all the great opportunities brought by this system. Now let's make a short listing of all the features and technologies that the system has. First of all there is the wide range of audio and video formats supported, such as: DVD video discs, standard audio CD discs, VCD, CD-R / RW, DVD-R / RW, audio discs and also MP3, WMA or JPEG image files. It also features a high quality video playback and allows video connection to an high definition screen. It allows you to simultaneous play a MP3 and a JPEG file. Like we mentioned be fore it has simple to use on screen navigation system, a USB on-the-go port and it can be connected to Ipods. It also allows parental control, the playback of DivX compressed files and many options for languages, soundtracks and subtitles. You will also receive a ergonomically and efficient remote control for the system. Another advantage of this system is that it has multiple analog and digital inputs and outputs.

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.