New Soundsticks and iSub

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Has anyone else heard news of the new harmon/kardon soundsticks. They will use phono rather than USB. They are supposed to be coming out in February. Anyone know anything else, like how much they will cost, and if there are any other differences.



I heard something about touch sensitive controls as well.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Good news. USBAudio blows.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by segovius

    Apparently there are new Creatures too. I heard they look pretty much the same.



    i got myself a set of refurb creature speakers for US$60. they have been working great for the past six months!
  • Reply 3 of 10
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Yeah, there are new Creature II speakers out. They were announced at MWSF two weeks ago. They come in white and gray (not silver), and they dropped that blue color.



    They're cheaper now ($99 versus $129) AND have green glowing lights under the satellites rather than the blue from the first generation Creatures.



    From Harman Multimedia's site:



    Quote:

    What is the Difference between the Creature and Creature II speakers?

    - The Creature II White has green downfiring LED's instead of the blue on the original Creatures White.

    - The Creature II comes in gray. The silver metallic Creatures are no longer produced.

    - The new manufacturing process and material changes, enables the lower price point for the Creature II speakers.

    - The performance of Creature II is the same as the original Creature.



    That's great. I'm getting them. White. Apple stores don't seem to have them in stock yet, however. Might just order them.



    And that's good news about the SoundSticks no longer being USB-based! Those sound good too, but they're $199...



  • Reply 4 of 10
    othelloothello Posts: 1,054member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacCrazy

    Has anyone else heard news of the new harmon/kardon soundsticks. They will use phono rather than USB.



    mmmmm, so i could use them with my ipod?
  • Reply 5 of 10
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    Good news. USBAudio blows.



    The Fricking SoundSticks don't play audio from an external input. Plugged my MD into the PB Andio-In: wouldn't play. B*tch! My Cambridge soundwrks Audio line out speakers don't have this problem. With Apple working with HK, you'd think they would have made this work, even all those years ago
  • Reply 6 of 10
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    Good news. USBAudio blows.



    What's wrong with USB audio? The only difference between using USB audio and having a line-level input is where the D/A conversion takes place -- inside the speaker system, or inside your computer.



    Line level inputs are more flexible, because more devices offer line level outputs, but many audio outputs built into computers are noisy, and putting D/A into the speaker system gives you a chance to avoid that noise.



    What would really be nice is having both options, and it shouldn't be that expensive to offer both choices.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Snap. Crackle. Pop. Fine, USBAudio on a USB 1.1 bus blows.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pscates

    They're cheaper now ($99 versus $129) AND have green glowing lights under the satellites rather than the blue from the first generation Creatures.



    btw, my first gen silver creatures have green led's under the satellites.



    also, those led's are nothing to really write home about. now if you had an option to pulse them like my powermate, or in tune with music, THAT would be cool. but as it is, they're just kinda, well, there.



    edit: another nice thing about getting a non-usb audio speaker set-up (and one of the main things that got me to choose the creatures) is that you can hook an ipod directly to them without any interceding computer. pretty darn cool to be able to set up a party mix from just your ipod and creature speakers, rather than haul the who cpu around the apartment (unless you're someone lucky enough to have a laptop, but i don't trust my drunk friends to not spill a pint into my keyboard while messing with itunes visuals...hmph).
  • Reply 9 of 10
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Upon another reading of the Creature II FAQs, it looks as though the WHITE Creature II speakers have the green, whereas they had the blue before.



    And yes, I know it's nothing "earth shattering" or special. I was just relaying the changes THEY (Harman/JBL) listed.







    I don't know...a nice little nightlight in my bedroom. That's pretty cool.
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