The Harman Kardon SB30 is an undeniably alluring product. The shiny soundbar can be positioned either on a shelf using the rubber feet or mounted on the wall using the supplied brackets.
The equally shiny wireless subwoofer, meanwhile, can be positioned anywhere you like without the need for connections beyond to the mains.
Harman Kardon SB30: Sound quality
Fed the soundtrack to Chronicle via its digital coaxial input, the SB30 impresses with its hefty and spacious delivery.
It won’t go so far as to actually surround you with sound, but in ‘virtual’ mode the sound is spread wide enough to offer a significant improvement on the sound of your TV.
It’s tonally convincing and nicely varied, and remains poised even at antisocial volumes.
Big dynamic shifts pose no problems, and midrange fidelity is excellent. Voices sound detailed and immediate, and remain distinct and defined even at the height of the audio mayhem.
Harman Kardon SB30: Smooth sub integration
The subwoofer integrates very smoothly indeed with the soundbar, and its wireless connection was unshakeable even when we moved it into a different room to the soundbar.
In absolute terms it’s just a touch flabby, with a little give on the entry into and the exit from bass notes – but this trait is slight, and really only discernible with music.
Where full-on action movies are concerned it’s powerfully punchy.
Harman Kardon SB30: Verdict
This, though, is a product of both haves and have-nots.
In the ‘haves’ column we’ll put those many positive attributes we’ve discussed above.
The ‘have-nots’ column cost this soundbar a fair bit, however. The list includes: no HDMI input/output; no high-definition audio; a nasty little remote with buttons on one side and explanatory notes on the other.
For our £700 we’d like some HDMI switching as a minimum on a product such as this, and corresponding high-def decoding would be nice as well.
Having said that, what the Harman Kardon SB30 does, it does to a very high standard.
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