HK SB20

Overview

The SB 20 is a compact Harman Kardon soundbar with a wireless subwoofer, announced at IFA 2016. The bar is 1008 mm wide, 97 mm high and 54 mm deep, comes in black, and a wall-mount accessory is in the box.

The bar has four 56 mm midrange drivers and two 32 mm high-frequency drivers. The wireless subwoofer has a 165 mm down-firing driver in a bass-reflex enclosure. Harman Kardon lists 300 W of maximum amplifier power for the system.

The TV connects over HDMI ARC or the optical input. The bar also has a stereo analog input and Bluetooth 3.0 for streaming from a phone or tablet. It has no Wi-Fi and no HDMI input. Harman Volume keeps the level steady when programmes and commercials change. The box contains the remote with its battery, HDMI and optical cables, and power cables for the bar and the subwoofer.

What the specs mean

• 2.1 speaker setup: two main channels (left and right) and one subwoofer channel; the ".1" is the wireless subwoofer in the box. The Harman Display Surround mode creates a virtual surround effect without extra speakers, and no surround speakers can be added.
• HDMI ARC: the Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over one HDMI cable.
• No HDMI passthrough: the SB 20 has no HDMI input, so a console or streaming box connects to the TV, and the TV sends the sound on to the bar over HDMI ARC.
• Audio formats: Dolby Digital.