Harman/Kardon BDS 700 Home Theatre System - TECH2 REVIEWS

Harman/Kardon is one of the first manufacturers of stereo receivers, if not the first. They have been known for entering into the audio receiver market, well before any other manufacturer. The company continues to set the benchmark, as one of the best producers of AV receivers.

Fast forward to 2011, Harman/Kardon is now a company known world over by audiophiles and even by people who are remotely interested in AV technology. The company has expanded globally and they've now unveiled their brand new BDS 700 Blu-ray disc-enabled Harman/Kardon home entertainment system in India. The system includes BDS-5 Blu-Ray player, AV receiver and the acclaimed HKTS9 5.1 speaker system with active subwoofer.

Stylish front panel and big volume dial

Design and Build Quality
The Harman/Kardon BDS 700 home theatre system, unlike other brands is fitted with stand alone products and for the package is bundled up as one. We have the BDS-5 Blu-ray player cum AV receiver, the HKTS9 5.1 speaker system and a HKTS200SUB/ 230, which can also be purchased separately.

The BDS-5 Blu-ray and receiver is styled like other Harman/ Kardon receivers with a glossy black front and side panels, complete with a brushed silver top panel. This player is very stylish looking, and yet displays a sense of power which Harman/Kardon has been known for in the past few decades. The manufacturer has gone with a minimalistic design while designing the look of this product. There is a slot loader on the left of the front panel for a single disk. The LCD display flushes along the face of the front panel and is done very neatly, so much so that it becomes difficult to distinguish it from the rest of the panel. Like other AV receivers from Harman/Kardon, there is a large dial for adjusting volume and is grey in color. Below the face of the player is a USB slot, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack where a headset or a pair of earphones can be attached. This is seen on most players nowadays. On the top of the player are the circular on/off and eject buttons, which are designed really well and do not compromise the look of the player.

On the rear of the AV receiver is where all the connectors lie. Unlike other players, Harman/Kardon uses gold plated connectors for speakers. The connectors are neatly color coded for connecting to either the front, centre or surround speakers. Interestingly, Harman/Kardon has also added an Ethernet port on the rear thus making it possible to connect the player to the Internet for BD live content. Other connectivity options found at the back are an HDMI port, analog audio, digital audio, as well as a color coded LFE (Low Frequency Effects) subwoofer connector. Apart from HDMI, all these connectors are gold plated, as well.

Gold plated rear connectors

The HKTS9 5.1 speaker system like the player is very stylish looking. The system includes four two way satellite speakers and one centre channel speaker. Each of these speakers include a mid-range driver and a tweeter, which are neatly concealed behind the speaker meshing. The HKTS200SUB/ 230 subwoofer, like the player has a glossy black finish. The woofer has four cone shaped stands, thereby elevating it allowing the woofer to fire downwards. There is a single light on the top of the player for displaying the on/off status of the woofer. The woofer has an on/off switch at the back along with other controls like adjusting the volume level, a toggle switch for turning on bass boost, a toggle switch for phase mode and other connectors for LFE and external trigger input. The BDS 700 remote control is a sleek and stylish looking controller and has its buttons well spaced. The controller features designated buttons for switching between the different modes such as Blu-ray, iPod, etc., which simplifies switching between the different modes.

Overall the design of the BDS 700 is really good and would be a good ‘looking’ option for a home theatre system.

Features
The BDS 700 is primarily a Blu-ray player and a receiver for the bundled 5.1 channel speaker set. This in itself is the standout feature of this kit. The other features of this player include an Ethernet port, but this is restricting as with the cable one can only connect to the Internet to receive BD Live content. One cannot use the Internet facility to stream YouTube videos or even connect to an NAS device for streaming content. In addition to Blu-rays, the player can also play audio and video content from a flash drive using the USB port located at the front. However, the player supports only FAT32 drives so storage options were limited.

The player can support 1080p video playback and can support popular formats such as DivX - AVI, MPEG, and MP4. The BDS-700 supports a wide range of audio formats and can also render them using Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD, which are mostly found on higher end players.

Glossy subwoofer, centre and satellite speakers

The player also has an option called iPod Connect where one can use an iPod or an iPhone by pairing it with a Harman/Kardon Bridge IIIP to play content from the said portable device. However the dock is not included in the BDS 700 bundle and has to be purchased separately.

Performance
The Harman/Kardon BDS 700 was hooked to a Panasonic 65-inch 65VT20 Viera Plasma HDTV via an HDMI cable. The speakers were calibrated, according to the dimensions of our test lab to get the optimum results from the home theatre system. We tested the player using all the out of the box settings with minimal tweaking. We ran our tests using a Blu-ray of How To Train Your Dragon and also standard definition videos, as well as HD videos stored on a flash drive.

Sleek looking remote control

The Blu-ray playback was really good and the video rendered well. There were no issues with video quality and images displayed were crisp. The satellite speakers all fired well and the subtle background tones could be made out well from the rear channels. Voices were very audible through the centre channel and overall there was no issue with video playback through the Blu-ray feature. Playing videos through the USB flash drives was equally good, but it goes without saying that the Blu-ray playback was much better.

The audio playback was quite shallow. We noticed that though the volume was loud, there was a fair amount of emptiness in the form of lacking frequency response noticed. The speakers lacked the thump expected from a brand of their quality. The system needed to be tweaked to get the maximum out of it, and then it was a lot better. Out of the box, the audio playback just does not cut it. After tweaking, the playback was good with all of the deft tones noticed. The speakers having 65 watts per channel fired on all counts except for mids to a mild extent. There was the desired thump emitting from the 200 Watt subwoofer and no other playback issues. The remote control of the home theatre system performed really well even at distances of over 10 feet. There was no need to point it directly at the system. Pointing it in its general and selecting options worked pretty well too.

Glossy black and very visually appealing

Verdict
The BDS 700 is priced at a market operating price of Rs. 59,990, which includes taxes. Though the BDS 700 Blu-ray home theatre system did well in the looks department, as a Blu-ray capable home theater system, the cost is way too high. We see decent features and these are a powerful set of speakers, but out of the box, they lacked the quality expected. Harman/Kardon is in a league of its own and will continue to flourish the way they have been all these years. In this case, they’ve tried to create a package that competes with some of the mainstream brands; the end result isn’t as stunning or as jaw-dropping as it should have been.

Plantronics Brings Out Voyager PRO UC and Calisto 825 Bluetooth Headset

Fairly popular audio communications brand for business and consumer use, Plantronics has rolled out an addition to its Calisto 800 Series – Calisto 825 and Voyager PRO UC Bluetooth headset in the Indian market. The Calisto 800 Series is a debutante in multi-device speakerphone system. The Voyager 'PRO' Plantronics claims that, in addition to the multi-device handsfree connectivity, it also lends visual call management abilities. The Voyager PRO testifies an award winning technology – with the Smart Sensor Technology. It has, according to Plantronics created waves in the mobile phone and PC communications. Additionally, the headset accounts for detecting presence, integrating with PC applications. InstantMeeting, the other feature is a conference calling app specifically for Android and BlackBerry smartphones. The app allows conference calling at the press of a button, a must for business professionals. Calisto 825 The Calisto 825, on the other hand, renders pristine audio quality, Plantronics adds. Both the products have been made available in the market – Plantronics Voyager PRO UC comes with a price tag of Rs. 8,000, whereas the Calisto 825 comes for Rs. 10, 000.

Creative T12 - Small Size, Big Price

A few weeks back, we saw Creative’s Inspire S2 Bluetooth speakers and we felt that they were a little overpriced and the subwoofer that came along with it, was well, underpowered. Now we have the new T12 stereo wireless speakers from Creative. They lack a subwoofer, which was present in the Inspire S2 and though it’s not priced as high as the S2, will it be worth its price? Design and Build Quality The T12’s form factor, as we mentioned before is more suited for desktops and compact settings. Both the speakers are quite slim and will definitely look apt for small rooms. They have a black chrome finish, which gives it an attractive and classy look and feel. The silver volume knob and Bluetooth button in front of the right speaker go well with the black colour of these speakers. Looks attractive and classy The build quality of the T12 is very sturdy from all fronts. The knob moves quite smoothly, the Bluetooth button doesn’t feel cheap and the ports are also well built. While the power chord might feel a little too long, the wire that connects the right speaker to the left is just the right size. The cones of the T12 speakers are somewhat delicate, but they aren’t too bad looking. Since they’re exposed, there’s a risk of them getting damaged. There are four rubber pads at the base of each speaker which help them grip the surface. Features There’s a line-in port behind for tethering the T12 speakers to other media devices and Creative has been thoughtful by placing a headphone jack on the front, which is quite convenient to reach and use. Sleek design makes it apt for desktop PCs You can pair your laptop, mobile phones and PMPs to the speakers. Apple’s devices are not left out either and you can use the Creative BT-D5 Wireless transmitter to connect your iPod touch or iPhone to the T12 speakers. Also, desktop PCs can use the BT-D1 Bluetooth transmitter for connecting wirelessly, although they should have bundled this with the package. Performance The T12 was set through its paces and we played various genres of music which mostly included Rock, but we also played Rap, Hip Hop, Trance and some others, as well. We have to admit that these speakers were quite impressive for their size. There were a few issues here and there, but that didn’t really cloud the T12’s overall performance. No Bass Control present These speakers can get pretty loud if you crank up the volume to maximum. Of course, there is quite a bit of distortion with the volume maxed out, but in terms of loudness the T12 definitely packs quite a punch. The highs usually sound crisp, but in a few instances the shrillness is quite noticeable. While listening to Symptoms of the Universe, we could make out the shrills in an electric guitar sequence. The mids are just about right and don’t sound muddy at all. Now the T12 doesn’t have a subwoofer and we kind of expected the bass response to be pretty bad, but we found the bass to be just about decent for their size. You don’t hear or feel the booming sound that you get from large subwoofers, but the thump is noticeable. The T12 captures most of the details well enough and doesn’t really blend the music. Right from the crash to the slight bass, all of them can be heard. It was a little surprising to see that you can make out the soundstage of a track. This is something at which single speaker units fail. Of course it’s not too prominent, but nevertheless it’s quite impressive for a bunch of 2.0 speakers. On the whole, the performance was decent. Small and convenient, but a little expensive Verdict The T12 speakers are priced at Rs. 5,499 which is quite steep if you look at the average price range for desktop speakers. For that matter, even the D100 is priced lower than this and performs pretty well. The T12 has its own share of problems of shrill high tones and distortion at relatively lower volumes. If you’re looking for a pair of desktop speakers for casual listening and also occasionally streaming music from your phone or notebook, the T12 speakers are worth considering.