Harman Kardon Soundsticks 2

Product Survey: 2.0/2.1/3.1 speakers

It's worth pointing out that JBL, harman/kardon and AKG for that matter are all members of the Harman International group. And from the look of their most recent products, it seems that all three brands share a common team of designers and engineers. Even if it was Apple's design studio that was behind the look of the original Soundsticks, there are a lot of things in common between the Soundsticks II and JBL's PC speakers. That isn't necessarily good news for the listener, either. Once again, we found the power switch which also adjusts the bass, hidden amongst the wires at the back of the subwoofer; that's not the best place to put it. There's no control over the treble, and although the fun touch-sensitive buttons are there, they don't allow you to actually switch the speakers off. You don't get an auxiliary input or a headphone jack either. So, while these original-looking speakers will took great in any modern interior, there are still some pretty big usability issues. The satellites on the Soundsticks use an engineering principle that's well known, but relatively little used: combining several smaller speakers in one unit.