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REAR PANEL CONNECTIONS  5

 Line-Level Subwoofer (SUB) Input: Con-
nect the subwoofer output of a receiver with
digital surround sound decoding, such as Dolby*
Digital or DTS

®

, to this input. This input bypasses

the SUB-TS’s internal crossover circuitry, and
should only be used with a filtered signal. If your
receiver does not have digital decoding, you
should use the Line-Level Full-Range Inputs
 instead.
 Line-Level Full-Range Inputs: Connect
the line-level subwoofer output or preamp out-
put(s) of your receiver or amplifier to these
inputs. If your receiver does not have a separate
subwoofer output, use a Y-adapter (not supplied)
to bridge the receiver’s preamp output to the
main amp input for that channel, and connect
the long end of the adapter to the correspon-
ding line-level input on the SUB-TS. If your
receiver has only a single subwoofer output, you
may connect it to either the left or right line-
level input on the SUB-TS, and no Y-adapter is
needed.

 Speaker-Level Outputs: If you are using
the Speaker-Level Inputs

 on the SUB-TS,

you should connect these binding-post terminals
to your front left and right speakers, remember-
ing to maintain polarity by connecting the (+)
terminal on the SUB-TS subwoofer to the (+)
terminal on the speaker, and the (–) terminal on
the SUB-TS subwoofer to the (–) terminal on the
speaker. If you are not using the Speaker-Level
Inputs

, then connect your front left and

right speakers directly to your receiver or amplifi-
er. See pages 9 through 12 for further informa-
tion on speaker connections.

 Speaker-Level Inputs: Connect these
binding-post terminals to the main left and right
speaker terminals of your receiver or amplifier, if
your receiver or amplifier does not have a line-
level subwoofer output. Remember to maintain
polarity by connecting the (+) terminal on the
receiver/amplifier to the (+) terminal on the
SUB-TS subwoofer, and the (–) terminal on the
receiver/amplifier to the (–) terminal on the 
SUB-TS subwoofer.

 Master Power Switch: Place this switch in
the “•” position to power-on the SUB-TS sub-
woofer. The SUB-TS will then be either in the
Standby mode or completely on, depending on
the position of the Music-Sense On/Off
Switch

.

 AC Power Cord: Make sure to plug this 
cord into an active, unswitched electrical outlet
for proper operation of the SUB-TS.
The cord should not be plugged into the
accessory outlets found on some audio
components.

6 SPEAKER PLACEMENT

The HKTS 8 uses the channel color-coding
system established by the Consumer Electronics
Association to make setting up your home
theater speaker system as easy as possible. Your
system includes a set of colored stickers that
may be placed near the speaker terminals of
each of the five satellite speakers according to
the key below. It doesn’t matter which satellite
speaker is used for any of the front or rear
positions. (The center speaker and powered
subwoofer are already color-coded for you.)

The front speakers should be placed the same
distance from each other as they are from the
listening position. They should be placed at
about the same height from the floor as the
listeners’ ears will be, or they may be angled
toward the listeners.

The center channel speaker should be placed
slightly behind the front left and right speakers,
and no more than two feet above or below the
tweeters of the left and right speakers. It is often
convenient to set the center speaker on top of
the television set, as shown in the drawing.

The low-frequency material reproduced by the
subwoofer is mostly omnidirectional, and this
speaker may be placed in a convenient location
in the room. However, the best reproduction of
bass will be heard when the subwoofer is placed
in a corner along the same wall as the front
speakers. Experiment with subwoofer placement
by temporarily placing the subwoofer in the
listening position and moving around the room
until the bass reproduction is best. Place the
subwoofer in that location.

The two surround speakers should be placed
slightly behind the listening position and, ideally,
should face each other and be at a level higher
than the listeners’ ears. If that is not possible,
they may be placed on a wall behind the
listening position, facing forward. Place the sur-
round back speaker, centered, on the rear wall.
The surround speakers should not call attention
to themselves. Experiment with their placement
until you hear a diffuse, ambient sound accom-
panying the main-program material heard in the
front speakers.

The satellite speakers may be placed on a shelf.

They may be wall-mounted using the supplied
brackets.

White

Red

Blue

Gray

Green

White

Red Purple

White

Red

Front Left

White

Front Right

Red

Center

Green

Surround Left

Blue

Surround Right

Gray

Subwoofer (LFE)

Purple

Surround Back

Brown

MOUNTING OPTIONS  7

Unscrew the bolt that attaches the black shelf
stand to the bottom of the speaker. Store the
stand and bolt in a safe place in case they are
needed for a future installation.

Mount the wall-bracket attachment plate on the
wall in the desired location.

If possible, position the speakers so that the
mounting screws (not included; use size #8) may
be installed directly into a wooden wall stud.
If that is not possible, use optional wall anchors
that are rated to support at least twenty-five
pounds. The customer is responsible for
proper selection and use of mounting
hardware, available through hardware
stores, to properly and safely wall-mount
the speakers.

Referring to the speaker connection instructions
on pages 8 through 11, thread the appropriate
speaker cable through the opening in the
bottom of the attachment plate, and then
through the back of the bracket as shown in the
diagram.

The bracket has two openings on top: a round
screw hole, and an arc-shaped opening in front
of it. The speaker cable should be threaded
through the arc-shaped opening, not the screw
hole.

Attach the bracket to the wall plate by inserting
the tab at the top of the attachment plate into
the slot on top of the bracket and snapping the
bracket onto the attachment plate.

Thread the cable through the round opening in
the terminal cover, and then insert the speaker
wires into the terminals on the underside of the
speaker, remembering to observe the correct
polarity (see page 8).

Place the terminal cover over the opening on the
underside of the speaker so that it fits flush
against the speaker and covers the terminals,
with its round opening exposing the threaded
insert. The bracket fits through the round open-
ing in the terminal cover.

Insert the supplied bracket bolt up through the
bottom of the bracket and terminal cover, and
screw it into the threaded insert on the under-
side of the speaker. The bolt should be snug, but
not so tight as to prevent the bracket from
pivoting.

The wall-mounted speaker may be pivoted from
side to side; however, the bracket is not
designed to tilt up or down, and attempting to
tilt it will damage the bracket and possibly the
wall, which would not be covered by your
warranty.

8 SPEAKER CONNECTIONS

IMPORTANT NOTE: Before making speaker
connections, be certain that your receiver or
audio power amplifier is turned off and prefer-
ably unplugged from its AC power source.
The SUB-TS subwoofer should not be connected
to an AC power source until all speaker wire
connections have been made.

Speakers and electronics terminals have
corresponding (+) and (–) terminals. Most man-
ufacturers of speakers and electronics, including
Harman Kardon, use red to denote the (+)
terminal and black for the (–) terminal.

Newer Harman Kardon receivers conform to the
CEA standard and therefore use a color other
than red or black for the (+) terminal to indicate
some speaker positions: e.g., surround left.
Although the HKTS system has red and black
collars on the individual speaker terminals to
denote the positive and negative connections,
your system includes a colored band on the
positive lead at both ends of every speaker cable
and a matching colored sticker for each of the
five satellite speakers, conforming to the key on
page 6. The center speaker has a green (+)
terminal, and the subwoofer has a purple SUB
input jack. This system is intended to help you
ensure that the speaker in each location is
connected to the correct terminals on your
receiver or amplifier.

The (+) lead of the speaker wire is indicated
with a stripe and has the colored band
corresponding to the speaker’s position. It is
important to connect all speakers identically: (+)
on the speaker to (+) on the amplifier and (–) on
the speaker to (–) on the amplifier. Wiring “out
of phase” results in thin sound, weak bass and a
poor stereo image.

With the advent of multichannel surround-sound
systems, connecting all of the speakers in your
system with the correct polarity remains equally
important in order to preserve the proper
ambience and directionality of the program
material.

To connect the supplied speaker wires to the
satellite and center speaker terminals located on
the bottom of each speaker, press the red or
black tab, insert the bare end of the wire into
the hole, and release the tab. Gently tug on the
wire to make sure that it is fully inserted.

For the best performance, Harman Kardon
recommends that the subwoofer be connected
using either the Line-Level Subwoofer (SUB)
Input

 or the Line-Level Full-Range

. However, if the application requires

the use of the speaker-level connections for the
subwoofer, unscrew the binding-post collar until
the pass-through hole in the center post is
visible under the collar. Insert the bare end of
the wire through this hole; then screw the collar
down until the connection is tight. The hole in
the center of each collar is intended for use with
banana-type connectors.