“Home theatre installations typically involve five loudspeakers, a subwoofer or two, and lots of speaker wire. Not every room can accommodate so many components, and not every homeowner wants to live with them,” said Geoff Matthews, Managing Director of Harman Kardon distributor Convoy International.

“Harman Kardon’s new SB 16 soundbar offers a single, elegant amplified loudspeaker unit which can connect directly to your television, DVD player or game console, and a single wireless subwoofer offering flexible placement options. It’s an incredibly simple solution which will ensure you get the most out of your home entertainment.”

Offering traditional stereo playback or realistic 3-D surround-sound processing, the new soundbar delivers true Harman Kardon performance with the absolute minimum number of components, and with no wires in (or out of) sight.

With free-to-air television now broadcast in a multichannel, digital format and advanced sound decoding technology a standard feature of Bluray and DVD movies, the shortcomings of even the most advanced TV’s tiny built-in speakers are more obvious than ever. As each generation of TVs gets thinner, quality in-built sound gets ever more difficult to achieve. The SB 16 has been developed to overcome the inadequate sound of flat screen TV speakers.

The SB 16 delivers exceptional sonic performance that can flood a room with a lush and detailed surround-sound experience from just one speaker. It features two-way, dual-driver, left and right soundbar speaker channels, each with two audiophile grade 75mm (3-inch) drivers and a 19mm (3/4-inch) soft dome tweeter.

The soundbar amplifier power is a generous 25W x 2 into 8 ohms (20Hz to 20kHz, at <0.07% THD, both channels driven simultaneously). State-of-the-art Harman Kardon sound-processing technology includes a 3-D virtual speaker surround mode that creates a complete surround-sound experience without any extra speakers or wires. The matching wireless subwoofer is driven by 100 watts of power and boasts a 250mm (10-inch) long-throw, high power driver within a ported enclosure. This unit requires only a connection to 240v and can be placed in a convenient location within the listening room, synching automatically via its high-quality wireless connection with the soundbar when a signal is sensed. For greater convenience the new soundbar is programmable to integrate with your TV’s existing remote control for volume, power and source commands, enabling a single remote to control your whole home theatre system. Rounding out this cleverly designed system, the SB 16 also comes with an EQ switch that lets you adjust the bar’s bass for wall mounting or table mounting to deliver the most natural-sound in any installation and an auto turn-on circuit automatically switches the subwoofer from ’standby’ to ‘on’ when an audio signal is present.