Harman Kardon's Go and Play iPod boombox

Hurrah. Another iPod boombox hits the market. Ok, we shouldn't be so cynical, Harman Kardon's Go and Play, unlike the rest, docks your iPod near-horizontally, reducing the chances that it'll jump out and take off, as it so often does. Besides the stainless steel handle, RF remote, d-cell or AC power playback, and S-Video out, you can also expect the Go and Play to feature a €349 (about $450) deduction in the bank accounts of its takers.

[samtsai @ Sep 4th 2006 4:35AM]

That looks very big, though....

[narco @ Sep 4th 2006 5:25AM]

It also looks like that BBQ grill I always see on late-night informercials. I believe it's called "The Q." Or a Foreman grill. I think of food when I see this.

Fishes,
narco.

[Patrick @ Aug 27th 2007 11:35AM]

tried it today. Its pretty damn good. Almost as good as a Bose. Posibily better. ooo. Its got four speakers, and although not the best looking thing, you could put it on the ground and have it blasting. Nobody would know where the bass and sound is coming from. I shall buy this soon.

[renae the GPS expert @ Sep 4th 2006 5:53AM]

it's a great looking product, liking the s-video output. and h-k usually have exceptional quality speakers. has anyone tried this yet?

[Aaron @ Sep 4th 2006 10:04AM]

Looks spiffy, but the price is ridiculous. I have an Altec Lansing thing that was less than half that, and it sounds great. It, too, has s-video output, which is a pretty worthless feature, I have to say. Sounds good in theory, until you plug the cord in and realize you have to position this stupid thing like 5 feet from the back of your TV somehow. Most likely on the floor.

I don't know exactly what to call them, but those cheap cords that come with camcorders will do the trick just fine if you need video output that badly. It's composite instead of s-video, but you won't notice a difference. It's kind of tricky because Apple really wants you to pay $100 for their "special" cord, but all you do is plug the red end into the yellow hole on your TV, the yellow into the white, and the yellow into the red, and the other end into the iPod headphone jack, and it'll work just fine.

[Jorge Miguel Gomes @ Dec 11th 2007 4:35PM]

My ipod classic 80Gb's video output doesn't work with im9 so I'm thinking buying this speakers because they are compatible with my ipod. Plus, I've tried my ipod in a Apple Universal Dock and it wouldn't work either, tried on Curry's where they tested it in different Tv sets and got the refund imediatly despite the fact that in Apple store's website they say it's compatible. I bought the video cable in Currys as well.
I don't know if this product includes the cable but I wish the composite video output could work with mine because I need to make presentations in big flat screens with my ipod. Anybody tried the same with ipod classic 80 Gb ? please tell me how it went.
tnkx

[Chris @ Sep 4th 2006 2:55PM]

lotsa pix are here: http://www.ipod-fun.de/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,109/
(click on "JBL auf der IFA")

The sound of the Go + Play was impressive, I could play around with it. They also showed crazy new Sound Systems from JBL and a nice line of JBL iPod headphones, pictures via the link above.

[roman @ Jan 6th 2007 11:39AM]

just bought one/compared to other ipod docks hk is unbelievable!! the sound is crisp clean with good bass/ Sounds much better than the Hi ipod!! Well worth the money

[Brian @ Jan 12th 2007 12:07AM]

Correction, the go+play is $349 US, not $450.

[barry Johnson @ Mar 18th 2007 11:00AM]

Love the sound quality, however..... Mine shuts off about every 3 songs. Am curious if anyone else has had this problem ,or if it is my Ipod mini on it's last legs(battery)

Someone drop a reply please

[Len @ Mar 25th 2007 11:53AM]

I bought a Go+Play last week and got it home two days ago. The same problem is happening with mine, shutting itself off every few songs.
It's not the iPod, mine is brand new. I got mine on the Apple website and am getting jerked around by them about returning/exchanging it. Also spoke to Harmoan Kardon who say I should exchange it with Apple. So far no help from anyone.
I read other comments online of the same issue with this product. Sounds like a defect that is effecting several of these models.
I will continue to try to exchange mine until I have one that works.

[bill meyle @ Jun 2nd 2007 3:23PM]

Barry just bought the unit great for 3 songs , then shuts down, any ideas before I take it back for the apple hi fi, not cool at the BBG today

[La-Wun @ Jun 9th 2007 9:25AM]

Hi! I just bought mine today and am having the same problem. I also went to apple.com to read the reveiws and someone else has posted the same issue. Have you found a solution?

[Fred @ Jun 10th 2007 5:07AM]

Same here. Bought it today. I'm using a iPod nano. There is no difference in using the line in or the iPod connector.
After 10 minutes the Harman kardon shuts down.

So I dont think it is related to the iPod, but to the HK go&play.

[Fred @ Jun 10th 2007 5:24AM]

The HK go+play plays only for 10 minutes.
It looks like the battery saving function it should have also is activated when on mains. It could also that is does not detect that there is an iPod connected.

Things I've tested and didn't help in finding a solution:
Connecting the iPod on the line in
Turning the iPod on when docked (instead off on when docking)
no device connected at all resulted also in a shut down.

I bought it yesterday and will return it on Monday to the shop.
Hoping that the next one won't have the same problem.

Does anyone know how to cancel the battery saving option???

[eric @ Jun 11th 2007 1:38PM]

I just received this radio as a gift. I have a bose wave radio, the jbl creature. The sound is far superior with bumping lows and crisp highs. I bought this mainly to bump waveform into strangers' ears at the beach. It is by far the loudest boombox i have ever owned with four speakers pointed in great directions providing good acoustic. It is perfect for outdoor barbecues and the beach where the crashing waves are loud (If I stand 30 yards away, I can still cleanly hear the vocal). I keep it normally in my family room hooked up with 1/8 to my turntables through vestax 05pro/ipod which has been excellent for hosting cocktail parties. Overall, I cannot be happier. The only downside is that it takes 8 D cell batteries. I guess there is a price to pay for being so portable. However, don't be deterred. I just bought a rack of rechargeables.

[Fred @ Jun 28th 2007 2:06AM]

Hello eric. This hardly a radio.
You say: "The sound is far superior with bumping lows and crisp highs."
do you mean that the Go+play is superior or the bose?
I take it that your boombox is not shutting down every 10 minutes?

[Bill @ Jun 19th 2007 2:04PM]

We just bought this at Costco for $239 US.

Haven't tried it with batteries yet, but plugged into the wall we played it for 4 1/2 hours with no problem at all.

The bass is amazing, in fact I feel it may have TOO MUCH bass. I have to look at the iPod to see if we can adjust the bass lower.

[Chyloe Healy @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:59AM]

Okay i just got the go + play and i have the silver 2GB nano brand new and to hear music i have to connect aux-in cable to headphone jack now it won't rest in the compartment is this the only way???????

[surge @ Jul 8th 2007 11:41PM]

i decided on iHifi and tested tested HK for fun. got the Hk instead cos the sound is really far superior of the apple. am able to play continously for hours without shutdown problem.
at higher vol, find that its sounds better w EQ at bass reducer. the bass is VERY VERY heavy at higher vol. sound is so clear and good that when i played a song w prelude of ppl walking into the room, my cats actually woke up from their sleep and stared at the speakers. lovely speakers

[Johnny @ Oct 16th 2007 9:30PM]

Wow! The bass is booming and sound is crisp and very clear! I too have a Bose and this out-performs it hands down! My ipod rests in the cradle very well and the remote control is off the chain! its the best!

[Cecil @ Oct 19th 2007 8:38PM]

I have this thing and it's phenomenal!!!

I am VERY sorry to the people who may have a defective model that shuts off every 8 minutes or so. I do not know why that is happening to you, but it must be VERY bitter sweet to own such a phenomenal sounding dock that shuts off all the time!

I have NEVER had that problem and I have owned this since March 2007 (10/19/07 today).

Bellow is a REALLY LONG review I posted on Amazon.com.
Good luck reading it.

Pros:

Best sounding ipod dock under $500. PERIOD!!!!!

Phenomenally deep and **REFINED** bass for something the size of a toaster.

Bass is definitely NOT the only thing this does well. It's performance on the full audio spectrum (yes, that's midrange too) is also best in it's class!

It's portable!!

(*Cons listed at the end... where they belong)


First off I have to address the price issue. I, for the most part, think that the "made for Ipod" logo is license to over price. Almost no Ipod dock is truly worth it's price and I believe for what they do and what they sound like, the are **ALL** over-priced.

That being said, amongst the myriad of overpriced ipod docks, this one is THE ***MOST WORTHY*** OF IT'S PRICE TAG.

Compared to all of the other premium ipod docks this one is amazing. I can say that with confidence because I shopped around for MONTHS before I settled on this one. The only dock that sounds better in this price range is the Geneva Lab Model M which cost $499 (also worth it), which is NOT portable. (little do most consumers know, there are ipod docks that now cost up to $5,000 and more!!!)

The sound out of this thing is so very refined and robust when compared to any ipod dock you would find at the Apple store or any bigbox retailer. They only way you can find anything better is to look at items sold on-line (Geneva Lab) or at very High-End retailers. There probably is no other 'portable' dock that sounds any better. But don't let the word 'portable' fool you. It sounds the best when compared to ANY dock.

I was very surprised at how great this sounds in a noisy Apple store, but wait until you get it home!

WARNING: If you plan on using this thing in a small room with four walls it's Bass may be a bit too strong for you! DO NOT mistake this for BOOMY bass. There's just A LOT of strong deep bass, and BOY IS IT WAAAAYYYY DEEP for something that is about the size of a large toaster!!! Instead of boomy crappy bass, in a small room, this just sounds like you have a nice expensive subwoofer in a very nice home theater set turned up a bit too high. This is NOT a problem if you like a lot of bass, as it isn't for me.

What separates the Go + Play from other docks is that it's not just good at Bass (it's better than all of the others at that, by the way), but it's great at the full audio spectrum. It actually has a strong midrange presentation and really nice highs/treble as well. So many other ipod docks (as well the entire BOSE product line) impress consumers with large amounts of bass (notice I didn't say good bass) and simply decent performance on the rest of the audio spectrum. By the way, this is probably the only dock that actually gets up to 20,000 Hz (20kHz), for those of you who know what this means. Do not expect that out of the Bose, Altech Lansing or Apple docks.

I would definitely say that this is the Audiophile's Ipod Dock in this price range for sure!!!! (if an audiophile would ever, first of all use an ipod and then use an 'ipod sound dock' at all).

I must mention a con or two.

#1 - YOu will not get the same amazing sound with this is operating on it's battery power. This is VERY VERY loud when plugged in, but the volume is limited when unplugged (still no distortion, however). The bass extension and quantity is also, noticeably, cut by about 1/2. I am sure this is done in order to have it last 18 hours on the 8 D batteries as advertise (it actually does last a very long time by the way). Make no mistake though, you still get a ton of bass for something you can carry around in your hand anywhere. You're peers will still be impressed . Note that nothing else is lost. It's treble and midrange performance remains the same.

#2 Your ipod faces up when docked in this dock and you cannot see the screen from afar. This is not a problem me, but may be for others. I tend to just make large play lists and have play in "shuffle" mode anyway.

#3. The remote is fragile.

[Jim @ Nov 21st 2007 8:23PM]

Tested several HK Go+Play at a local big box retailer. They all had the same issue, no bass sound coming from one of the back sub-woofers. Has anyone else come across this issue or is this a case of bad batch, due to poor QC at the factory?

[Dan @ Jan 16th 2008 3:28PM]

I have also noticed that there is no bass coming out of one of the subs at the back. I checked 3-4 units and it was the same. Are they all like that?

[Terry @ Dec 27th 2007 1:14PM]

Bought a HK Go+Play today. The sound is impressive enough for such a little box, BUT I am concerned with how wobbly it sits. The unit rests on four legs, THREE of which are one length while the fourth (back leg)is considerably longer with a completely different end piece. This can't be intentional?? Could it be a factory defect... ie the assembler put on one wrong foot?

Also, the recessed remote compartment is nearly impossible to open. The clicking/locking mechanism appears to be defective.

I'm going to return it to Best Buy tomorrow and see if another one has better QC.

[Charlie @ Jan 3rd 2008 1:46PM]

Hi there,

Mine has the same problem with the feet. Did you get yours sorted out?

Charlie

[Charlie @ Jan 4th 2008 8:35AM]

Terry,

I was wondering if you sorted the feet thing out mine is the same?

Charlie

[matt @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:32PM]

The one leg on your HK is adjustable. Once you find the appropriate tool, it will unscrew and can be set to your specific height.

[Terry @ Jan 6th 2008 12:14AM]

Thanks for the advise on how to adjust the back leg. I will give this a try. I decided not to return the unit because of how a good a price I got it for ($199 vs the regular price $399). It is a very nice little ipod-boom box.

[emc3 @ Jan 10th 2008 6:03AM]

Please, may you tell me if with the remote you can have full-navigation of your iPod menu?

I mean, with the remote, do you have full access to your iPod?

Can you change tracks, browse libraries, adjust settings, and scroll through extras.

Or you can also change Playlist like with the Bose one?

Thank you very much!

[Paul @ Jan 21st 2008 12:02PM]

To Jim and Dan who posted above that there is no bass coming out of one of the two grills on the back of th HK Go + Play.

Here is the response I received from HK Customer Support on this issue:

"There are no speakers on the back of the HKGOPLAYBLK. The two grilles you see are decorative.

One of them covers a port tube that helps make the HKGOPLAYBLK's bass output more efficient. The other grille is strictly decorative and you will hear no
sound output."

I hope this addresses your concerns.

[Ezajur Rahman @ Jan 24th 2008 3:47AM]

Hi. I finally bought an ipod this week after 4 years of dithering. Entering my 2nd midlife crisis at the age 40 I decided to inject my favourite songs into my brain wherever and whenever I wanted to. So price be damned, I bought the Classic and the Go+Play. And I love them both. However when I got the Go+Play home I spent 3 hours going nuts trying to get it to start. Bordering on a breakdown I feared I was entering my 3rd mid life crisis.

Going back to the the store we discovered that the problem was the power cable! The green light of the power supply box is on. Power gets to the box but not from the box to the Go+Play! If you take your device back to the store and use another power cable it will work! The jack of the faulty power cable also does not fit comfortably into the Go+Play socket.

So please don't rage against the machine - just take it to the store and change your power cable!

And then blast some real Rage Against The Machine!

Kirk Out

[Rick Golding @ Jan 26th 2008 6:11PM]

My wife bought me the HK Go + Play for Christmas and I've been using it to listen to my Sansa 1 Gig MP3 player and it sounds great . I've decided to replace my Sansa with an Apple Ipod 80 gig Classic so I can carry all my music with me . My only question is does anyone know if the new 80 Gig Classic will fit into the HK Go + Play docking station .

[Brian @ Jan 30th 2008 4:18PM]

The auto shut off thing happened to me, but only when I ran a mono line to the unit. If the audio was in stereo it would work just fine. And by the way, this thing sounds fantastic!

[Aladdin @ Apr 6th 2008 10:08AM]

Uh, just bought this device today, and i think its sound is very good, really

But like ppl above, seem to be im having HK GO+PLAY auto shut down after play few songs, around 8-10 minutes, and dont know how to fix it right now, so anybody get any ideas ?

[Kuba @ May 14th 2008 10:31AM]

Hello :):)
can somebody telll me please.. Is the ipod touch 16gb fully compatible with the go+play harman kardon speakers?

[bodyboarder725 @ Jun 22nd 2008 10:58PM]

Yea it is, I just got this a few days ago and it has no interference with my iPhone and it works totally fine with the phone, much less the ipod touch which will work just as good as any other ipod... anyways this is such an amazing system, seriously just think about the sound that one of those loudspeakers make, the ones they put on stands and stages and auditoriums with 15 inch subwoofers, the subwoofers of this GO+PLAY sound exactly the same and they can go to like half the volume of those big loudspeakers with no distortion and very very clear and different from the rest bass, the bass for every song sounds different and its so clear, of course the tweeters are really good and clear but the bass is better than than the subwoofer of many home theater systems seriously

[jack @ Jul 27th 2008 8:40PM]

there are two modes. press the bottom left button and you will see the light change blue or orange. do not play music in orange. it will shut off as this is ipod mode. it says in the manual. this orange mode allows you to navigate through menus on the ipod anywhere while music plays. fn cool!!!

hands down amazing sound and bass. all other boxes need to take a closer look at this baby. hope this helps those with shutoff problems. play in blue. navigate in orange. enjoy

[Schuler @ Aug 29th 2008 6:13AM]

Go & Play with ipod nano 3G worked fine for a couple of weeks but now when I put the nano in I will not be able to navigate the ipod any longer.
Tried with another ipod classic and it works fine.
The ipod nano out of the Harman Kardon works fine as well - any idea?

[john violette @ May 7th 2009 11:39PM]

The H.K. defintaly sounded great. I also compared it to the Bose. The Bose sounded good. But let me tell you, I am into sound quality #1. And I tried several different brands of Ipod boom boxes. Most all of them suck. The great thing about the HK is the sound first, and then the fact it is totally portable. Go to the beach or the pool and play whatever you want, no cords. Also Bose is a little overpriced compared to other products out there. The only problem I've had with mine is that the remote does not work according to what it is supposed to control on my 32 gig Ipod touch. Example I hit volume and it changes songs or I hit fast forward and it does something else. Anybody else have this problem?

[Timmie @ Jun 25th 2009 12:57AM]

We've just started using the Go & Play with a new Ipod Touch 2G - and love the sound, but can't adjust the volume using the remote. We get the orange navigation light, but no blue light. Any suggestions?