Harman Kardon HKTS-18 5.1 Channel Speaker System

First I just want to thank everyone who has submitted a review. I would never make this purchase without your comments. I owned these speakers for a month now and I could not have been happier with my purchase.[...]These HK speakers fill my 20X20 room with no problems. They look and sound great with my Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver. Transformers on Blu-Ray was incredible. For me to get better home theater sound I would have to spend a lot more money which means I'll be hanging on to these HK speakers for a very long time.

Purchased HKTS-18 system on July 30. One satellite speaker died on Sept 10. 10 day runaround from Harmon Kardon to get a replacement. Sent me to Amazon who sent me to Harmon Kardon who sent me to some out of state warranty service who sent me back to Harmon Kardon. This is insane.

These speakers are the greatest! They look absolutely fantastic! They come with all the hardware you will ever need: they include the mounts to screw onto walls, and can also sit on bookshelves/tables. The speaker wire included is very long - I'd estimate at about 100'. The rear speaker wires are 50' long and I think the front are all around 10-20'. The system is a standalone decoder - there are audio RCA jacks on the back of the subwoofer, as well as 5 speaker inputs - so you don't need a surround receiver. The sound is clean, the bass is powerful, and the range dynamic. I am using this set with a Yamaha RX-V663, and I couldn't ask for anything more in a home theater.

I have read lot of reviews about different home theater speaker systems within the price range of 500 - 600 and had bought this one. I have an Onkyo 705 receiver and when I connected HK speakers to my receiver, the sound was really great. I might look for a good center speaker, but overall, I am very much impressed with the speaker system. If you are within the price range of 500-600, this is the best one for you.

I compared these to the Boston Acoustics MCS130's in my apartment and though the Boston's are quiet ugly (especially the subwoofer), they won in terms of sound quality. To test both speaker sets, I first connected them full range to my stereo to test their total capabilities. While the HK's produce clear and detailed, but perhaps too bright sound, any midrange tones sounded as if it were coming from a tin can. This is common for small speakers, but it made the music I chose to test with sound like it was coming from a pair of cheap headphones.

I then set up them up properly, calibrated my Onkyo receiver with it's calibration mic tool and watched key scenes in the following movies: Ronin, Troy, and American Gangster. I also listed to various genres of music from my PS3. Once again, the Boston speakers sounded fuller and produced a more even tone, and didn't sound like they were in a tin can.

On a lighter note, the HK's subwoofer is fantastic. It is very attractive, loud, and clear but keep in mind that it's huge! The Boston MCS130 subwoofer is absolutely the ugliest subwoofer I've ever seen and frankly, for 200-watts, it should have more oomph. I have a feeling the HK subwoofer wins because it's port is up top, firing in the same direction as all the connections, where as the Boston's port fires downward along with the subwoofer speaker itself. So, my carpet ends up absorbing more sound from the Boston than the HK.

The HK's have standard speaker terminals. I read all these reviews about how audiophiles prefer the fancy banana plug connections but in all reality, as long as the wire is fully connected, you're fine. At least at this level of stereo equipment. The Boston's connections are so close together it's actually a pain in the @$$ just to connect the wires. Connecting the HK was a breeze!

If you intend to mount these HK's to anything other than the wall or HK's overpriced stands, you're going to end up having to build a custom mount. I haven't found a universal mount (other than those that you just sit the speaker on) that will safely and securely hold the HK speakers. They use this funny multi-part mounting system that is frankly ridiculous. The HKs look great on the wall, don't get me wrong, but just looking at it, they obviously did it to ensure people bought the HK stands instead of the generics! I hate when companies do that crap. Mounting should be standardized!

I returned the HKs. They just weren't good enough. I think I'm going to return the Bostons too. They sound good enough I think but they are so freakin' ugly and their matte finish doesn't match my glossy Samsung (which, frankly, I wish wasn't glossy but oh well). I didn't think speakers standing out would bother me but man do they!

These are good speakers folks, but be forewarned that they have a limited midrange, and the subwoofer doesn't pick it up.