harman/kardon - Onyx Studio 3 Portable Bluetooth Speaker - Black

I am serious about audio quality when it comes to music and movies. I looked carefully at many Bluetooth speakers and finally decided on this one. I will try to be as thorough as possible with my review so you have the most information possible before making a decision. Obviously I will start off with the most important thing: Quality of sound: This speaker handles lows, and mids with power and clarity. The built-in sub woofer provides enough bass to handle the most bassy songs on your playlist. This speaker packs enough of a punch to shake the floors in my house at high volumes. There is a minor downside to a speaker that puts all of it's power into the sub woofer. The high's are unfortunately compromised as a result of this. Don't get me wrong, compared to most speakers on the market the highs still perform well above standard. It will only be noticeable to a very sensitive ear. Sound output: This speaker is rated at 60 watts. This is ONLY when the speaker is plugged into the AC outlet. In order to prolong the battery the speaker wattage is reduced to 30 watts when unplugged. Since I primarily use this speaker at home, this has not proven to be an issue for me but it may for some. Build Quality: This speaker is built to last. The front of the speaker has a really great woven texture that makes it look extremely sleek. Embedded in the middle of the front is the harmon/kardon logo. It is simple and classy. The back of the speaker has a very nice leathery texture. In the middle of the back is where the sub woofer is. The sub woofer is a round silver metal cap with smoothly beveled edges. The logo is also printed on the sub woofer. Right beneath the sub woofer are the: power socket for the AC adapter, input for an auxiliary cable, and a micro USB input for software updates. The back also features 2 sturdy legs with rubber feet to ensure the speaker stands securely without slipping. Lastly, the top of the speaker has buttons for power, volume control, a call button, and Bluetooth mode. Extras: This speaker does have a built-in microphone for in-call use. I admit, it does feel a bit weird shouting at my speaker in a call, so I do not use it often. The speaker's microphone is average. Some people I called using the speaker noted that it can sound quite muffled at times on the other end. Another extra is that this speaker does have the capability to pair with other Onyx Studio 3 speakers. This is very useful when you want surround sound, or you want to place multiple speakers around your home. So here is the question: Should you spend the money on this speaker? My answer is absolutely! The price paid for this speaker is definitely worth the quality sound that comes out of it. The Bluetooth capabilities are fantastic for wireless use and the ability to pair it with other Onyx Studio 3 speakers is incredible.

When I walked into best buy I was looking for a blue tooth speaker for our boardroom. I ran across this Harman/kardon - Onyx on the recommend of a Best Buy employee. The board room is about 45-50 feet by 25 feet. When staff would watch a training webinar or anything that used the pc system in that room the sound was terrible. plugging in speakers did not help..plus one member of management hates wires. We put this speaker on a book shelf in the room, pressed the bluetooth button and connected it o the PC system. With the speaker turned up about halfway and the volume on the system about half way we played Lady GaGA's new song through it (it was the very first thing that popped up on Google music). This speaker not only filled the room it fill the lobby, we are a bank, with sound. At half volume this thing pushed out of the open door of the board room through two more hallways and doors and blasted the lobby. I had people on the other side of 4 foot thick brick walls jumping out of their chairs as soon as Lady Gaga blasted into their office. Maybe I should have picked something more mellow to test with. Oh and it looks stylish on the book shelf. You don't really notice it is a speaker. I am just glad I did not have the thing turned up all the way. You can also long press the Bluetooth button and if you have more than one of these they will chain together.

I recently purchased an Amazon Echo (the small puck) and was looking for a Bluetooth speaker system to pair with it. I had specific criteria: 1) connect wirelessly via Bluetooth, 2) the ability to wirelessly pair 2 speakers for stereo sound, and 3) good quality sound. THE HARMON KARDON ONYX WAS THE ONLY SPEAKER SYSTEM THAT WORKED. I spent 3 weeks trying to find a pair of speakers that would work. First, I tried the BOSE SoundTouch 10. The Bose has deeper BASS but the high and mids are better on the Onyx. Unfortunately, the BOSE are not suitable for use with an Amazon Echo because they timeout and go to sleep after 20 minutes of non-use. This means anytime you don't use your Amazon Alexa for 20 minutes you have to manually turn the Bose back on. An odd defect, but BOSE tech support confirmed there was not way to disable the auto shutoff. Also, when I paired 2 BOSE speakers together to use with my Echo, there was a noticeable lag, which felt like the Echo was not as quick to respond with answers to basic questions, like "Alexa, what time is it?". This was a bummer since the BOSE had the deepest sound with its bass. I also tried the JBL Flip 3. Definitely a cool speaker, but the sound was not as good as the ONYX or the Bose. However, when I paired 2 of them together to have stereo sound, there was a lag. Every time Alexa speaks for the first time to you, there is a half second lag and you miss the first things she says. This only happens when you pair 2 JBL speakers together to produce a stereo sound. The Harmon Kardon Onyx was the only speaker that did not have any of these issues and works perfectly with my Amazon Echo. They do not time-out and always stay on. Two of them pair together and work in stereo and work exactly as they should. I have one Onyx Studio 3 paired with one Onyx mini. They sound great and I am very satisfied. If you are looking to pair two wireless speakers together to have stereo sound and use them with an Amazon Echo, this is the only product I found that works.

For the size and weight it's very difficult to beat this Bluetooth speaker on pure sound quality. It uses a total of 4 drivers and two passive radiators mounted in a rather odd (but effective) design. The bass does feel a little boosted, however, this makes music more lively in my opinion, and it's impressive how full this speaker sounds. It is important to mention that this speaker only outputs its stated power when it is plugged in (When operating on battery power the speaker outputs at 50% maximum... The volume slider still adjusts from 0-100%, however, 100% on battery is actually 50% of plugged in, 50% on battery is actually 25% plugged in and so on...), and that the battery life could certainly be better. For those technical folks out there, the unit uses one 18650...and that's it. There's certainly room for at least 4 cells, so it's surprising they didn't add a larger battery / keep the volume levels the same whether it is plugged in or on battery. Certainly an area that could be improved in a future version If you connect to a second Bluetooth device while you are playing music it may cut out / stop working. A little annoying, however, if playing from a single source from 25ft or less I had no problems over many hours of music. I also tried the speakerphone function with my iPhone and it worked well in my testing with no echo. Remember, this is a speaker first and a speakerphone second, so don't buy it to ONLY be used as a speakerphone as there are better options out there for the money if this is your objective. The legs are sturdier on this 3rd iteration, and don't seem as likely to break off. The rest of the shell is plastic / rubber and feels quite sturdy and well put together (just don't drop it obviously, as the case could crack) Overall I'm quite satisfied with the speaker and would recommend it to those in the market for a speaker that is bluetooth / portable, however, will also be plugged in for at least some of the planned usage cases.

Harman/Kardon - Onyx Studio 3 Portable Bluetooth Speaker - Black The Onyx Studio 3 is a black disc that measures 11 inches in diameter and is shaped like a convex lens approximately five inches thick at its widest point. It stands on two metal legs built into its body that let it sit at a slight angle. It features a black cloth grille bearing the Harman Kardon logo on the front and a rubber passive radiator with a metal disc (also with the Harman Kardon logo) on the back. Above the radiator, a large grip makes the 4.6-pound speaker easy to carry when moving it around. However, its battery only lasts 4.5 to 5 hours meaning it's not suitable for long periods away from an electrical outlet.……. For a one-piece Bluetooth speaker, the Onyx Studio 3 puts out some impressive sound. It sports two 3-inch woofers, two 3/4-inch tweeters, and two passive radiators, with 15 watts going to each active driver for a total power level of 60 watts. Harman Kardon claims the speaker boasts a frequency response of 60Hz to 20kHz, and the bass response seems to confirm that. The speaker reaches deep enough into the low end to offer an appreciable sense of rumble, and handled the sub-bass synth hits at full volume with plenty of force and no distortion.

These have simply amazing sound for their size. If you close your eyes you will certainly believe that there are larger speakers and possibly more of them. The sound is of a very high quality also. Why only 4 stars then? Well that is simple, and it is the price. Retail on these is $449 each! Now I bought my pair on sale here for $149 each, which certainly makes them much more appealing. Even then though, I decided to return them as I just felt like I could get better sound for my purposes, and there was a usability issue specific to my circumstances that I will outline in a moment, as it is related to a great feature that I want to make mention of. A very cool feature of these is that you can pair 2 of these through Bluetooth and get true stereo sound. Please keep in mind though that each time these are powered on you will need to pair the 2 speakers together by pressing and holding the Bluetooth button on each for 5 seconds. This became a problem for my set up as I wanted one in each back corner of my room, so since I am not Gumby I would always need a partner in crime, or move one over to the other each time. That was the deal breaker for me, so I returned these, but if you can live with their limitations and find these on a killer sale I can honestly recommend them to you even though I decided that they weren't for me.

I wanted a speaker, for my daughter's beach wedding, that would not need power cords, that sounded great, and that had enough oomph for the occasion. Well, this was it. It worked great for the wedding and the reception. This speaker goes everywhere with me, almost. I purchased two more on another website for a great price, but when I received them they were not the same. Same brand, they look the same, they sound good, but they don't have the oomph that this model has. For the cost, they sound good, but they don't have the bass like the Onyx Studio 3 model, and they don't have the ability to be used as a microphone, for example, the wedding when we wanted the guest to hear what was being said. This model, the Onyx Studio 3, is exactly what I wanted! FYI, when you are listening to it and it sounds like it's skipping or a little jumpy, make sure other phones around have their bluetooth off because it seems to want to connect to them causing that skip. Found that out the hard way, during the wedding.

I was comparing these to the 360 Bose units which can be great in certain acoustic environments like in a corner or where walls can compact the sound but ONYX 3 are clearly the best sounding very clean warm tones especially for drums and guitar and a nice tight meaty bass response trust me I even ordered other units like the Riva turbo etc. based on other review sites lol - that just made me go out and get another one of these HK units which are loud especially when plugged in and paired to each other The battery life isn't as good as others but they charge fast and obviously they aren't that portable as far as I'm concerned HK stands for HAPPY KUSTOMER Get a couple of these bad boys now ! OMG under $200 and priced at $150 i'll take a dozen my Christmas shopping is done The speakers made me even enjoy hip-hop ! ROCK ON ! GOOD PEOPLE !