Harman Kardon SoundSticks III

Pros: Pretty to look at. Make a good first impression. The looks enhance the sound, which is quite lovely if not striking (lacking a rich mid-range). The common mini-plug for the whole unit is handy.

Cons: User inaccessible parts. Delicate wiring that shorts out in a few months, leaving you with one satellite speaker or worse. Delicate tiny 4-pin connector for one of the satellites. Pointless "touch" volume control (and impractical). Good for playing on

Summary: Ultimately, these are going to lead to Harman Industries shooting itself in the foot. The first impression, infatuation has worn out, and consumers are unlikely to keep coming back and buying these (at ever inflated prices) as frequently as some replace their Apple gadgets. But Harman keeps raising the price without attending to durability and practical issues. I refuse to be seduced into buying a 3rd pair, and I've never ended up with a unit worth trying to sell to someone. You'll get the same sound from Harman's ugly but much less expensive JBL Creature speakers. But you'd do better to pick up Cyber-Acoustics ]3:1 computer speakers n the $30-40 range.