Harman Kardon SoundSticks 5 -2.1 active speakers tested – A design classic for the modern era
A design classic for the modern era
Harman Kardon SoundSticks are one of the longest-lasting audio products, with a basic design that has remained recognizable for decades.
The series traces its roots back to 1999, when Apple and Harman Kardon introduced the transparent iSub subwoofer for the iMac. The actual SoundSticks were released the following year, in July 2000, at Macworld. The original SoundSticks were a 2.1 speaker system that, as the name suggests, featured two narrow, rod-like “sound sticks” as satellite speakers and a separate iSub subwoofer.
The transparent structure fit into the same visual world as the iMac computers of the era, and the iSub later ended up in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The design and basic idea of the SoundSticks have remained largely the same, although the technology has been updated several times. The SoundSticks II introduced a 3,5mm analog input in 2004 to replace the original USB connection, the SoundSticks Wireless added Bluetooth in 2012, and the SoundSticks 4 was the first major external update to the lineup in 2020.
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