Home > Consumer Reviews > Harman Kardon HKTS 5 Home Cinema Speaker System (6-Piece)

Do yourself a favor and spend an extra $200-$300 and get higher-end speakers. You'll be happier in the long run. These are acceptable for watching movies, actually pretty good, but for listening to music, they outright .... I am no audiophile, and I can't stand them. The sound is flat and weak. I don't know how there could be so much of a difference between movies and music, but there is. I don't recommend these speakers to anyone.

Now that the HKTS 6's are out, you can get the 5's for just a fraction of the price even though they are the exact same speakers. They just have different speaker wire set-ups according to Harman Kardon. So factoring in any discount, these speakers are well worth the price. It comes with a great sub, which is the building block of any great sound system. Plus, the satallites are a great buy. However, like the other reviews have stated they are not nearly as crisp as some of the ones that you will hear (Bose, higher end Polk Audio, ect.). However, I did not find anything in this price range that was nearly as good as these speakers and I looked everywhere and listened to a ton of different speakers. So if you can't afford to spend [much more money]on speakers, treat yourself to these affordable and above average speakers. The price you pay is worth the sub alone.

I bought this speaker system along with the AVR 120 receiver. This speaker system is good for watching movie. Sound effect and people's voice coming from the speakers are clean and good; but not great. The subwoofer produces very clean and great powerful bass. However, listening to music is a different story. It is like listening to music from a clock radio. Music is flat coming from the speakers. I mostly listen to New Age music that has alot of bass guitar and saxophone. The 5 tiny satellite speakers just don't have enough power to produce the "bass" from the guitar and saxophone that are in the midrange I guess. The subwoofer can still produce very clean and powerful bass from low frequency. However, that is about it. Loud from low and high frequency but flat in the mid. The music from these speakers is so bad that I cannot stand it anymore. I almost bring them back to the store. But instead, I go out and buy a pair of bookshelf speakers ...to replace the two front speakers.

Conclusion:
Pros:
1) The subwoofer is one of the best
2) watching movie is good (but not great) with these speakers
3) [The price] is reasonable I guess

Cons:
1) The 5 satellite speakers are weak
2) There is no way you can enjoy listening to music with these speakers.

I do not recomment to buy this speaker system.

Well, I can't say that I bought the system, but in Ovation (a great sound/video store) I had them isolate this system and play many different types of music from it.

The tweeters provide a very nice, clear tone backed up my the center channel's slightly more moderate tone and they are both held up by an impressive subwoofer.

The nicest thing about the satellite tweeters is that they are small enough to conceal anywhere; in a corner, in a fake plant, etc. Making it easy to get true 5.1 surround sound.

I'd say its well worth it if you want good sound, but don't really want to buy tower speakers that cost $1,000 apiece!