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by welcometoalville

Question by Dalton: Harman Kardon SoundSticks II versus Bose companion 5 series?
I am looking into finding the absolute best sound quality in computer speakers but I also would like to have a stylish look to them. I have found both of these that I am considering and price is of no matter. Which of these 2 would be the better of the sound quality putting price aside or is there something that would be better than both theHarman Kardon SoundSticks II and the Bose companion 5 series for computer speakers?

Best answer:

Answer by ?
Wow…
If you are looking for the best sound quality + stylish look, then I’ve got a few suggestions for you.
Style / design / looks is subjective – so I can only give you suggestions that would give you the “Best Sound Quality”.
You be the judge of the “looks”.

While the Harman Kardon SoundSticks II is very good for sound, there’s better… Lots better.
Bose Companion 5? – I’ll get to those speakers later… even ignoring its high price.

Take a look at the “Studio Monitor” series of computer/mixing speakers. These are NOT really marketed towards the regular consumers… they are for Professional Recording studios, DJs, Recording Artists- Mixing, etc.
But just because they are not marketed and intended for regular consumers, doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot buy them… it’s just that you may have to look for them at Music Stores: Like Long&McQuade, Guitar Stores, -specialty stores.

All of these Pro Speakers come with RCA jack audio input… this means that you can hook anything up to them with simple RCA adapters.

Let’s just take for example:
The KRK Rokit 5 professional studio monitors.

http://www.krksys.com/product_rokit.php

It is a 2 speaker sytem:
Drivers: Woofer: 5″ Glass Aramid Composite Woofer
Tweeter: 1″ Neodymium Soft Dome Tweeter with Ferro Fluid
Input: XLR (3-pin), RCA & 1/4″ TRS – 10k Ohm, Balanced / Unbalanced
Amplification: HF: 15 Watts/LF: 30 Watts
$ 300 each… but can be found for $ 200 or less each.

This translates to 2 amps each speaker, 4 amps in total.
Everything else has only 1 amp. Harman Kardon, Bose, Logitech, Altec Lansing -streamline consumer products. This one amp powers the tweeters and woofers – using passive crossovers [which work, but depends how well = sound quality].

Also, note the quality of materials used… compare it. For the same price of the Companion 5, you get the above: Carbon [Glass Aramid] woofers, silk dome tweeters, quad-amps, thick MDF [medium density fiberboard] enclosure…
VS.
Bose Companion 5:
Satellites: two small 2″ PAPER woofers in a THIN Abs Plastic enclosure: that handle the Highs,Mids,Lower Mids… THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO TWEETERS PRESENT!
Acoustimass Bass Module: or their version of Subwoofer: is a small 5.25″ paper woofer in an enclosure made of LDF [Low Density Fiberboard-lol].
Then Bose goes and puts in agressive DSP [Digital Signal Processing] effects to FORCE these small drivers to sound good. But it’s a FAIL.

The outcome is bloated, overboosted, fatiguing sound – that they CALL “lifelike sound”.
Do you ever notice that whenever you listen to their demo – that the vocals sound CHESTY and Hissy “s” sounds?? Synthetic Vocals is the product of their cheap design.
I had these speakers for a few weeks – tested with all sorts of music: Techno/GAMES is OK— but pretty much any speaker system with enough power will sound OK… but for music with VOCALS, the vocals sound recessed, lacking, synthetic, with overboosted bass -so the voices sound CHESTY.
The trebble is boosted so much that the mid-trebble is tooo loud- fatiguing to listen to… but the highest range of trebble is just missing… cuz there are NO tweeters.
The Bass sounds monotoned, bloated, and boomy.

There will be people who would defend their $ 400 purchase of sub-standard, cheap componentry, IKEA furniture grade enclosure, bloated sound: and call it Great- because “It is what I like!”…
Sure – fine – if you like it, then good for you!
But—
Remember, LOTS of people like McDonalds Fine Foods, and their great Ambience of their restaurants… But this does not mean that their food is GREAT+Healthy… and is NOT for everyone.
-Hey, McDonalds know how to do business- Marketing, Service, Speed… at a reasonable price.
This is where Bose is not: Reasonable Priced. Their products are overpriced by about 4x… cuz the Bose Companion5 is worth $ 100.00 and that’s it.

Bose gives 30day return policy.
Buy a set, also get a pair of 2.0 speakers from a Music Store [ones that sell musical instruments] or Guitar Store and compare them side by side.
this is the only way to tell what you like and which is better for you.

Hope this helps!
Ps.
While I love the KRK Rokit series speakers… There are better – just an example.
M-audio also makes the Bx5a… they are also quad-amped and are awesome.
Personally, I’m currently running a pair of AudioEngine A2 speakers – which is smaller, more compact and less “industrial” looking. But the Audioengine line of speakers are NOT pro speakers – they are between the PRO and Consumer line speakers.
That’s their NICHE.
They also use MDF cabinets with Carbon-Kevlar woofers and silk dome tweeters.
They are $ 200 each pair. I also have them hooked up to my Yamaha 8″subwoofer to help with the lows.
Check Audioengine out. They also have the larger A5 and available 8″ sub “S8″:

http://audioengineusa.com/

I had my A2 speakers [+sub] set up side by side with the Companion5… and the A2 is better for every type of music, more accurate, better stereo imaging, etc.
And the A2 speakers aren’t that great… it is just that the Bose products are garbage -in comparison.

You CAN compare Bose to logitech or altec lansing… But with Bose, you are spending over 4x more for the same performance.
Peace!

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