[zeller]

Hello all,

I'm weighing the decision of purchasing a set of Harman Champagne SE speakers vs. the Harman Soundsticks. First off, does anyone have any experience with the Champagne speakers? I have been very impressed by the Soundsticks' quaility of sound, but I have not had the chance to hear the Champagnes'. Here are my concerns:

* the Champagne's have only two drivers per satalite, the sticks have four.
* the Champagne's have a smaller size subwoofer driver.

On the other hand,
* I like the way they look, they match my Pismo much better than the Soundsticks do.
* they are analog, so I can use them with a cd player or other audio device
* they are slightly cheaper

Then there is the issue of analog vs. usb audio. I've read comments one way or another in these forums and other sources and I still don't see any serious reason to adopt digital audio over audio.

OK, so any owners of the Champagne's have any input for me? How do they sound? Do you like them?

tia!

Ben
url for Harman: http://www.harmanmultimedia.com/

[tr]

i was trying to make the same decision about 6 months ago. i went with the champagne's (but the normal black ones, not the SE, i can't stand that wood grain look ).

i thought that the champagnes couldn't compare to the soundsticks, since they have 4 transducers instead of 2 per satellite. but if you look at the specs of each model, you will find that they don't use the same transducers. the champagnes (as well as the cheaper JBL Sonnets) use HK Odyssey transducers. also while the soundsticks subwoofer uses a 6" at 20Wms, the champagnes have a Magnum 5.25" with power being 28W. so does this make a difference? actually, i think so.


at the time i was looking for speakers, i happened to be in NYC, and i was just wandering around the city, and i found some computer store that had a pretty decent mac section. and there, i got to compare side by side the soundsticks and the champagnes. they had a brand new quicksilver with champagnes, and an iBook with the soundsticks. i played the same quicktime movies (all the .movs from BMWfilms.com) on each computer and compared sound quality. i found that the soundsticks subwoofer didn't produce as much bass as the champagne unit. also, the sound from the satellites of the champagnes seemed much clearer and cleaner when compared to the soundsticks. i think that the champagne setup has higher quality components than the soundsticks, as evident from the use of the Odyssey and Magnum transducers.


however, if the tranducers' quality/response was not the reason for the difference in sound quality between the two speaker systems, then i'm not sure why i heard a noticeable difference. could it be that USB audio isn't up to snuff yet? i've heard reports here and other forums of people saying that audio from some USB audio devices don't sound that great. i can't really comment on that, since i don't use any USB audio devices.

i picked the champagnes because i didn't want waste a USB port on speakers. i don't see any reason to use USB speakers if i have the ability (i.e. a line out jack on my G4) to use analog speakers. also, i can plug the speakers into my portable MD recorder or CD player.


there are a couple features of the champagnes that are pretty cool. first, the surround setting works pretty well. (when i was comparing the speakers, i turned this setting off). okay, so it's not a full blown 5.1 system, but it really expands the stereo field. also, if you have a soundcard with surround, you can plug that output into the champagnes.

second, the champagnes have a nifty diagnostic jack that outputs a sweeping test signal. you just plug the champagnes into this jack to see if your speakers are responding properly.


overall, i'm very pleased with the champagnes. i hear all this talk about promedias, monsoons, etc. and how great they sound. maybe people should take a look at these. i think for the price, the HK champagnes are excellent speakers. they sound great, and are really well designed and very attractive.

tr

[zeller]

thanks, tr!