[SOLVED] Harmon Kardon HKTS 5 peak power/RMS questions?

[jkk45]

https://eu.harmankardon.com/HKTS+5.html

^^^^ Is the link with relevant information

I bought this a while ago, and have been struggling to work out the RMS figures for the satellite speakers. Away from this, I know that the included subwoofer (model: 160SUB/230) produces 60w RMS, as this is well documented elsewhere.

On the Harmon-Kardon product information webpage (link above) it gives the following information:

'The HKTS5 consists of the CEN TS5, SAT TS5 & SUB TS5 components, and brings home the thrill and excitement of your favorite movies. Its four identical 2-way satellites and voice-matched, dual-driver center, all video-shielded, can handle more power than ever - up to 70 watts'.....

I presume that the 'up to 70 watts' refers to the peak sound power figure. I spoke to customer service on the phone and they said they would be able to calculate the RMS figure from the said peak figure, and the RMS was calculated at 56 watts.

Firstly, is this calculation correct? I'd be interested to know of the formula they might have used....

Secondly, really stupid question: I think/hope it means 70w peak per speaker, not the total combined output of all the satellite speakers

Thirdly if the RMS figure of the subwoofer is 60w, then what is the peak power figure?

LASTLY: I have been told on Reddit, that this is a 'Home Theatre in a Box' type 5.1 system, and therefore RMS/peak wattage figures are therefore meaningless, what are your thoughts on this? If I was to re-do my home cinema setup, would it be better to buy separate speakers from different brands, rather than buy an set of 5.1 speakers, all manufactured by the same brand?

 

[RealBeast]

I have to agree with the Reddit post on the issue of RMS, as RMS is a voltage measure not wattage (power). So an RMS power value is really meaningless, but there is a long history of confusion by audio manufacturers (much like wireless speed claims for computer wireless). See THIS and THIS.

Power = Voltage^2/R So, to do the calculation you need to know the RMS voltage value and the resistance of the speakers, which in this case is 8 ohms. RMS voltage is .707 times peak voltage of a sine wave, then you can calculate the power. Perhaps the tech support had more information but I don't see how it would be correctly calculated from the few scraps in the linked product page.

Your second question: generally companies give peak power per speaker, and that is about twice their average.

The bottom line to all of this is that I find it best to actually go somewhere and listen to a system of the components to make decisions. As long as your current system works well for you then all is well. I've used sets and individual components and been happy with both. Good luck.

 

[jkk45]

I have to agree with the Reddit post on the issue of RMS, as RMS is a voltage measure not wattage (power). So an RMS power value is really meaningless, but there is a long history of confusion by audio manufacturers (much like wireless speed claims for computer wireless). See THIS and THIS.

Power = Voltage^2/R So, to do the calculation you need to know the RMS voltage value and the resistance of the speakers, which in this case is 8 ohms. RMS voltage is .707 times peak voltage of a sine wave, then you can calculate the power. Perhaps the tech support had more information but I don't see how it would be correctly calculated from the few scraps in the linked product page.

Your second question: generally companies give peak power per speaker, and that is about twice their average.

The bottom line to all of this is that I find it best to actually go somewhere and listen to a system of the components to make decisions. As long as your current system works well for you then all is well. I've used sets and individual components and been happy with both. Good luck.

Great thanks. Reason why I'm asking is that I have quite bad depression at the moment, so all my senses are rather dulled (including rather muffled hearing) so its hard to judge what my 5.1 HTKS5 sounds like. I thought getting some official RMS/peak statistics might help me judge better and put me more at ease.

 

[RealBeast]

Great thanks. Reason why I'm asking is that I have quite bad depression at the moment, so all my senses are rather dulled (including rather muffled hearing) so its hard to judge what my 5.1 HTKS5 sounds like. I thought getting some official RMS/peak statistics might help me judge better and put me more at ease.

Try to concentrate on the good moments each day, don't let anything outside of you push you down. I've been stuck at home off work since the end of February and the summer was tough. Then I forced myself to just start fixing things and after a while that really started to help. Hang in there!

 

[hang-the-9]

Great thanks. Reason why I'm asking is that I have quite bad depression at the moment, so all my senses are rather dulled (including rather muffled hearing) so its hard to judge what my 5.1 HTKS5 sounds like. I thought getting some official RMS/peak statistics might help me judge better and put me more at ease.

The power rating on the amp or speakers won't help you figure out how the setup actually sounds. It's like trying to find out how good a meal will be by reading and measuring the ingredients before cooking, there are many amazing sounding amps and speakers that have low power rating or high distortion rating or something that on paper would make it sound like they would be crap when they are actually considered one of the best. Here is an amp that costs what a used car does, with 40-50 watts of power https://www.lineartubeaudio.com/products/zotl-40-reference-amplifier. Your setup won't sound any worse than it did when you bought it a while ago. Harmon-Kardon has a good reputation for audio equipment, I don't know of anything they made that was bad quality.

 

[jkk45]

Cool thanks guys. Do you have any other advice on how to better get in touch with what my 5.1 sounds like, whilst I have dulled hearing?

 

[hang-the-9]

Cool thanks guys. Do you have any other advice on how to better get in touch with what my 5.1 sounds like, whilst I have dulled hearing?

Have some friends listen to it. You can only hear what you hear.