HARMAN KARDON HD DVD LCD TV HOME CINEMA THEATRE SYSTEM

System Overview
Many of us appreciate great sound and vision; the problem with component based home cinema separates is the complexity - choosing the right matching equipment, the nightmare to set it all up, masses of remotes to operate it all, speakers everywhere - on paper it might look great but in practice it's not cohesive or easy enough to use for everyday lounge usage. Digital Lounge is designed to address this demand - every piece of this package was selected & specifically designed to work together as an integrated system, still allowing full user control. The entire system can be operated from ONE small remote control. The system ships with another, large and comprehensive single remote which allows full setup facilities.

With a gorgeous 102cm (41" but described nominally as a 40" for simplicity and comparison) full-HD flat-screen TV, a full-function DVD player / receiver an elegant speaker package, these 2.1-channel Digital Lounge systems are compact enough to go nearly anywhere. Yet with Dolby® Virtual Speaker technology, they perform like their 5.1-channel counterparts. Digital Lounge stereo systems surround you with the finest high-performance components to create a totally captivating entertainment experience from virtually any source. With brilliant, high-resolution flat-screen video displays, sophisticated system electronics and compact-but-muscular multi-channel speaker packages, every integrated Digital Lounge system connects you to the present and future of home entertainment with unmatched ease of setup and use. They also just happen to set an award-winning new standard in industrial design.

OK it looks and sounds amazing but what do I actually get if I buy one?
The package consists of -

1 x 40" Harman Kardon television / LCD flat panel display finished in gloss black
1 x Harman Kardon tabletop LCD stand finished in gloss black
1 x Harman Kardon HS250DL 2.1 amplifier / DVD player finished in gloss black
1 x pair of gloss black Harman Kardon HKTS2 stereo speakers
1 x pair of Harman Kardon HTFS2 gloss black speaker tower stands
1 x Harman Hardon HKTS2 10" subwoofer unit and integrated amplifier finished in gloss black
1 x Harman Kardon Digital Lounge accessory pack comprising of a pair of remote controls, cables, batteries, easy setup DVD guide (excellent), wall mount templates for display, handling gloves, manuals, 3D glasses, cleaning kit etc…

Sounds fantastic - how long is the warranty?
Harman Kardon offer a 2 year manufacturers warranty. As an internationally renowned home theatre manufacturer Harman Kardon realise the importance of peace of mind. In the UK service is dealt with by an authorised Harman Kardon partner, who will arrange collection, service and redelivery of components in a professional way. As your retailer we are also committed to good service and for the first twelve months we are happy to arrange warranty service directly. For international clients warranty service is to be arranged on an Ad Hoc basis with the likelihood that you would be responsible for the cost of carriage back to the United Kingdom and vice versa.

I've never heard of a Harman Kardon TV before - how do I know it's any good?
There are only a handful of companies with the ability to manufacture an LCD panel. In this case the LCD display was built for Harman Kardon by Samsung to include their own design brief and then integrated into the bespoke Harman Kardon chassis. This is your peace of mind that you have the best of all available worlds with technology leaders Samsung manufacturing the display and Theatre experts Harman Kardon running the design brief. Just to reiterate this point - this is NOT a Samsung unit - it's a proper 100% Harman Kardon component that has had input from Samsung.

While we're at it, forget the picture quality we are being subjected to by the high street multiples. Yes, it is possible to buy a 40" LCD TV for £400 but the blacks are grey, the viewing angles are narrow and the colours are oversaturated and blotchy. That's before we get to build quality and features - it's an interesting development in the TV world that even experts Pioneer have decided to call it a day and close their factory due to pressure on the price caused by these cheap, poor quality 'alternatives.' There will soon be no more Pioneer TV's which is a shame indeed. Anyway - suffice it to say that in the same way that the Digital Lounge is a TV compared to these cheap units in the same way that the Burj Al Arab is a hotel compared to your local seafront B&B. The picture is outstanding in every way and resolves all the material we have auditioned beautifully.

That's brilliant - I want one - I suppose you'd have to order it in for me?
NO - We have physical stock in store ready for collection* or dispatch. In many cases we can get the product to you NEXT DAY**!

*Please note that items paid for with Paypal cannot be collected in person from the store.
**Next day delivery is mainland UK only and does not include weekends or bank holidays. We cannot guarantee next day delivery if the driver has a problem finding you, you are out, or in the event of other courier issues, lost parcels or acts of God.

The Look
Forget a collection of slightly different coloured boxes and a dozen remote controls to lose. Think gloss black surfaces, sharp lines and no space wasted. Although there are masses of great features on this package - if you want to simply plug it in - pop a film in and be stunned by the quality just using the standard settings - you can! As you will hopefully be able to see from the pictures it is a very elegant setup and I have included a snap of my own lounge complete with Digital Lounge system for your interest as well as the main brochure pics. Please note that my large glass equipment stand shown in that shot is obviously not included with your new system!

The Screen
Harman Kardon's 40" LCD TV is a masterpiece of stunning visual image and high end build quality, the screen is specially constructed to give an extremely wide angle viewing range to ensure maximum high definition visibility in challenging positions - a common problem with many LCD's on the market. A DVB-T tuner for the reception of high-quality TV signals is integrated. Four HDMITM inputs (2 x 1080p, 2 x 1080i), as well as four digital inputs (3 x coaxial, 1 x optical), ensure that the highest quality signal available can be processed from a wide range of source products. Picture in picture with all analogue inputs is a nice touch and allows you to quickly select the best of whats on offer. If you prefer to wall mount your display then integrated hangers are designed thoughtfully into the back of the body - nothing extra to buy. The display also offers RS232 computer connection.

The DVD Receiver
One of the most intelligent products ever developed - the combination DVD player / receiver uses Dolby Virtual speaker technology to give the full effect of 5.1 Surround sound - without having to have rear speakers at all! Harman Kardon EzSet / EQTM system allows the speakers to be easily adapted, even by home theatre novices, to the existing room acoustics. The systems are iPod-ready, and with "The Bridge" available from Harman Kardon, it's simple to connect, control and charge docking-capable iPod models. Other multimedia devices such as MP3 players, cameras or games consoles can also be connected instantly, thanks to USB-On-the-Go.

The Speakers
The award winning HKTS 2 home cinema speaker system combines a 10-inch, 200-watt pre-amplified subwoofer with magnetically shielded left and right speakers. Advanced features include a line-level Sub/LFE input, music-sensing on/ off and a multicolour LED power indicator. This would not be complete without mentioning the sound quality and the theory behind Dolby® Virtual Speaker technology.

If you are shy of technicalities then, briefly - the sound performance of the Digital Lounge system is astonishing. Highs are crisp and detailed and the bass is warm, smooth and as well resolved as you would expect from a full ten inch woofer. I would add that the subwoofer amplifier is clearly more than well up to the job, delivering sledgehammer hard bass when the music or film calls for it. What I would also like to add is that the midbass - and therefore the overall musicality - is astounding. On a traditional 5.1 system with small satellites it is always this that disappoints because the satellites are not quite big enough and because the amplification is spread across multiple channels. Also, playing stereo music on a home theatre has always been a disappointment. In stereo mode with a music CD in the Digital Lounge is a convincing stereo home hifi with no caveats except the obvious positioning issue with the subwoofer for the audiophile, which demands a location as close to the satellites as possible for the absolute ultimate best possible stereo result.

As promised, however, here is a brief technical description of the 5.1 to 2.1 conversion. On a music CD there are left and right channels that recorded the music in the studio. When you play this on the Digital Lounge or any other Stereo the system replays this to the left and right speakers. Simple, obviously. Please remember that the vast majority of TV broadcasts ( and 99% of older films ) are still recorded in ordinary Stereo with NO rear channel information. For Digital Lounge this is native, once again, and the system simply replays the data directly. This explains the Digital Lounge's superior music and TV performance. This explains how most of the time your carefully installed rear and centre speakers sit there dormant whilst your inadequate left and right satellites struggle with the information. When it comes to modern films, we all know that they are recorded in '5.1' (or even more) channel format. What does this actually mean? Well it simply refers to the number of microphones used to record the information 'on set' in the first place. With Dolby® Virtual Speaker technology the system mixes this information and uses time alignment and phasing cleverness to project the sound out of the stereo channels to give the effect of rear speakers. It also does the same for the centre channe but to be honest the stereo centre image is so incredibly strong anyway that it is largely unnecessary unless you have had to locate your speakers badly off axis/centre from the display panel. The whole effect works simply brilliantly with any of the films we tested - effects like the aeroplanes in 'Pearl Harbour' or gunfire in 'Ronin' coming across loud and clear from seemingly behind the sofa. It's quite disconcerting at first as you know that there are no speakers physically there but your brain is telling you that you can hear them !

DL 240HD / 232EX Digital Lounge technical specifications

Additional Video Inputs
HDMI 1 (1080p), HDMI 2 (1080p), HDMI 3 (1080i), DVI-I: analog RGB digital DVI 1.0 HDCP (HDTV) YUV (CVBS), CVBS, Y/C, SCART 1, SCART 2

Air Humidity
20% to 85% (noncondensating) @ 35°C

Audio Formats
CD, CD-R/RW, MP3, WMA

Colour Display
16.7 Million colors

Compressed-Audio Bit Rates
MP3: 32kbps – 320kbps; WMA: 16kbps – 192kbps

Description
2.1-Channel Home Theater System

Digital Audio Inputs
(Coax/Optical) 3/1

Display Weight (Excluding Source and Speaker System)
24.0kg

Display With Stand (H x W x D)
727mm x 1031mm x 280mm

Display Without Stand (H x W x D)
626mm x 1031mm x 113mm

DMP The Bridge Input
Yes

DVD Player Progressive Scan Formats
4:3, 16:9 (top), 14:9 (top), panorama, full screen

HD-Ready
Yes, Full HD

JPEG Resolution
5 Megapixels, 5MB file size

Picture-in-Picture
With all analog video sources

Power Consumption
270W typical, <3W in standby mode

Resolution
1920 x 1080 Pixels

Screen
40" LCD Screen Size, Diagonal 102cm, 16:9 Format

Speaker System
HKTS 2

Still-Image Formats
JPEG

Surround Formats
Dolby Virtual Speaker System

A/V Connection
HDMI™ (video) and coax digital (audio)

Teletext
Yes

Temperature
+5°C to +35°C (in operation), –20°C to +60°C (storage)

Tuner
FM RDS, 30 presets

TV Tuner
DVB-T, PAL (BG, DK, I)/SECAM (BG, DK, L), 47 – 861MHz (VHF, UHF, Hyperband)

Upscaling
720p and 1080i

USB Input
(Side/Rear) 1/1

Video
PAL/SECAM/NTSC

Video Formats
DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, VCD, SVCD, DivX

Viewing Angle
178° Typical