Harman Kardon Citation 100
This bass-heavy smart speaker likes to party.
$tbc, www.harmonkardon.com.au
Basic economic theory says that competition promotes innovation, however the rapid growth of smart speakers has seen their design narrow to an almost standard template. Simple fabric-covered looks are the flavour of the month.
The Citation 100 doesn’t stray much from the standard design. Its wool blend fabric grilles are a little darker than most, but there are plenty of stylistic similarities between this and a Google Home Max, including the array of LEDs under the front fabric that let you know the built-in Google Assistant is listening.
The Citation has no aux input and no USB port to charge other devices. It’s one of the speaker’s key weaknesses. This is not just a digital assistant speaker, though. It also has Bluetooth, handy for streaming from apps that do not support Google Cast.
The speaker is otherwise totally subsumed by the Google Home wireless system. Set-up is done via the Google Home app, which also manages its multi-room features.
It can be grouped with other Google Home speakers.
Google Assistant lives inside the Citation 100, and uses a mic array to listen out for your voice. It’s unclear how many mics there are, though – six is the norm for a smart speaker, but only two are visible here. Harman Kardon’s documentation doesn’t reveal whether there are any others hidden behind the grille.
For the most part, the array works well. The Citation 100 picks up your voice at normal volume, and the mics are sensitive enough to let you speak away from the unit. However, it does seem more susceptible to cutting out with weaker Wi-Fi signals than most Alexa smart speakers.
For better or for worse, bass is the Citation 100’s defining feature. The low frequencies are extremely powerful, and bass depth is excellent for a compact unit. But this speaker isn’t just for playing bass-heavy electronic music – this power also lends weight and richness to the plodding tuba of
For better or for worse, bass is the Citation 100’s defining feature. The low frequencies are extremely powerful, and bass depth is excellent for a compact unit.