Citation Bar

Overview

The Citation Bar is the soundbar of the Harman Kardon Citation series, announced at IFA 2018. It is 1148 mm wide, 58 mm high and 93 mm deep, and the owner's manual describes wall mounting with the included brackets. The cover is a wool-blend fabric made by Kvadrat.

Harman Kardon lists three 20 mm tweeters and six 100 x 50 mm racetrack woofers, with 150 W RMS of output power.

The TV connects over HDMI ARC or the optical input. The back panel also has three HDMI inputs, a 3.5 mm aux input, an Ethernet port and an IR repeater connector, and the bar has Bluetooth 4.2 and dual-band Wi-Fi. Setup runs through the Google Home app on iOS or Android. Chromecast built-in streams music from phone apps, and the Google Assistant is built in for voice control; its microphones can be switched off. The top has a full-colour touch display, and the box also contains a remote control, an HDMI cable, the IR repeater and the wall-mount brackets.

What the specs mean

• 3.0 speaker setup: three main channels and no subwoofer or height channels in the bar. The Citation Sub and a pair of Citation Surround speakers connect wirelessly; Harman Kardon describes the bar with the Surrounds as 5.0 and with the Sub as well as 5.1. The Citation Tower is also listed as an add-on.
• HDMI ARC, not eARC: the Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over one HDMI cable, and with HDMI-CEC the TV remote can control the bar's volume. The newer eARC also carries high-bitrate formats such as Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Atmos.
• 4K HDMI passthrough: a console or streaming box plugs into one of the three HDMI inputs, and the video goes on to a 4K TV. HDR10 passthrough is listed.
• Audio formats: Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround. Night mode turns down loud sounds in Dolby Digital and DTS tracks, and the Virtual Surround mode creates a surround effect when the bar is used on its own.
• No room correction: Harman Kardon lists no automatic room calibration for the Citation Bar.