JBL Bar 5.1 – Soundbar with Built-in Virtual Surround, 4K and 10″ Wireless Subwoofer
$599.95
Description
JBL bar 5. 1 surround is a sleek 5. 1 Channel sound bar with panoramic sound. Featuring 550W of power and a 10″ Wireless subwoofer for ground-shaking bass delivering an epic Movie viewing experience. Music streaming fans will also appreciate the built-in Wi-Fi that allows seamlessly integrated with Chromecast and airplay 2 to effortlessly work with Google Home and Home pod. This full-featured sound bar doesn’t stop there. In addition to JBL proprietary beamforming technology that delivers room filing cinematic sound, The JBL bar 5. 1 surround is also compatible with your 4K Ultra high definition video and conveniently allows for Blu-ray Disc player, gaming console and mobile device connections.
Specification
Additional information
| Asin | B07WFXNWZM |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 15.04 x 43.5 x 19.21 inches |
| Weight | 29.7 pounds |
| Manufacturer | JBL |
by Patrick
Great quality bass is decent but for the 650$ I paid for it wasn’t so impressed. Also wasn’t a fan on how I bought it then not less than 12 hours later they mark the price down to 450$
by Trevor Melton
I purchased this soundbar based on a couple weeks of investigation and review reading. My former 2.1 system just up and failed after about 5 years of usage and I needed a budget and compact replacement. This soundbar seemed to check off all the boxes for me.
I’ve owned this for about a month now and I’m extremely happy with it. The setup (calibration) was really easy, and I’m being blown away by the sound quality for a product in this price range. I’m also impressed by the built-in subwoofer. My old system had a satellite woofer that seemed to get in the way.
I did have a minor scare when I connected the soundbar to my network the first time. The soundbar updated its firmware and it almost felt like it was ‘bricked’. I just wasn’t patient enough. It updated and
by L. Kotila
I bought to enhance the sound. I’m not tech savvy so I’m sure there’s things I’m not using to it’s full potential. It does work well and paired with the TV remote without me doing anything. I have an Amazon TV.
by Tiger
Firstly this sound bar is a killer soundbar at the price point (usually around $349 on sale in Amazon). It’s hard to find a good 5.1 soundbar with good subwoofer at this price.
I got this on prime early access deal (2nd prime day) for $288, and it was a no brainer at this price! Without prime sale, it’s usually around 299-349, still a great price.
Now let’s talk sound quality:
I watched Andrew Robinson’s review about this sound bar (please watch it, it’s the only good technical review available from a proven audiophile YouTuber). He praised it well and recommended it and called it the budget sound bar king, even better than the klipsch 600.
I was waiting for prime day sale to buy it…
Once I got it in, set up was simple. For all iOS users, download the “JBL Bar set up” app, to add the sound bar to Wi-Fi. It’s very simple that way!
Subwoofer was pre paired (it should be from factory, don’t know why some people are saying it was not paired!! But it’s easy to pair).
Connected the tv input (Sony x900f for me) and it was up and running.
Next make sure to do the calibration, it steps up the sound quality considerably. I made sure “smart mode” was “on”, this mode applies JBL sound processing and smartly and effectively turns any stereo input to 5.1
I was surprised! The smart mode actually sounds very good, it widens the sound stage, and you actually feel the surround sound effect. For my room, I actually get the bouncing effect from the side firing tweeters pretty well, nevertheless, sound stage is pretty wide, and you won’t feel like listening to a 2.1 channel sound.
Bass was adequate, I tried between 3 and 4, ended up at 3 since it’s pretty balanced there.
The sound bar has 5 front firing full range drivers, no tweeter pairs, but I was surprised: there was good and clear treble in the sound and midrange was also very manageable (clear). Dialogues are nice and clear and clearly seems like it comes from the center driver (mimicking the center channel), even at Smart mode ON.
People complain that there are no adjustment options, to be honest you don’t need any! Bass can be adjusted from 1-5, and that’s all you need. The eq settings are nicely tuned from factory and to be very honest, I don’t feel like I have to make any changes.
I do own a full Sonos Arc set up (5.2.2) and feel like this JBL bar is pretty good at what it does: providing simple 5.1 sound at a reasonable price without offering gimmick features.
I also heard people complaining about longevity, so I also got the 3 year plan from Amazon for $33, totally worth it! Peace of mind. Recommend everyone getting it cause you never know when electronics fail. $33 is a bargain.
I ordered the soundbar 600 before, returned it cause it clearly sounded a 2.1 sound bar even with surround option “on” and loudness was not adequate. This JBL, which is cheaper, sounds day and night better and I love it! It’s nice and loud, sound stage is wide, and everything is perfectly pre tuned from factory.
To sum up, don’t read the negatives, no one can guarantee you anything when it comes to electronics. The sound bar is actually very good, and you won’t be disappointed. But do recommend the 3 year plan ($33), for peace of mind. Even with the added pan, total price is very good and lower than other gimmick sound bars… great job JBL, and thanks Andrew Robinson for an honest video! Check his review out, you will get the real picture…
by sharon saranovic
I made the mistake I have a Sharp HDMI 65 inch Aquas TV 11 years old so I saw HDMI figured that was the connector we needed and it came with one. Well if your TV doesn’t have and HDMI ARC port you probably need an optical connector. I learned the hard way tried frustrated for over 3 hours to figure out how to connect it and support had closed as it was a Sunday. I googled, I U-tubed, I tried it all. I finally gave up and tried connecting to my 32 inch newer Kitchen Viesio TV hmm 5 minutes were were done…… It had a clear HDMI ARC port so easy connect. I was like wow do I have to BUY a NEW TV ??? I don’t need a sound bar in my kitchen. I called support the following day and a very nice fellow Paul tried for 90 minutes everything he could think of and nothing worked. Then he asked if I could locate an optical port, yes I did. So no optical connector though so I needed to get one. Paul shipped me one free and said once it arrives he will help connect it and be sure it was working. My conformation said 4- 7 business day on the free cord. I am not a patient woman.I went on Amazon had one next day for 10.00. Connected it myself in 3 minutes and we are Good to go. You just need the right stuff just know your TV and check before you buy what you need to be compatible. Lesson learned. Great sound Bar very pleased and most awesome JBL customer service on the planet. I will have an extra optical cord and I truly appreciated the gesture as well as the support. I definitely recommend this sound bar. Truly is a 10 minute out of the box if you know what connector you need. Enjoying so many movies with a whole different experience and love playing music now on Saturday cleaning day!
by Brian C.
The default “Smart Mode” is brilliant when it works, but limiting when it doesn’t. There should be other easily selectable sound profiles that you can choose. As it is, all you can is temporarily turn off the Smart Mode (it turns itself back on by default when the soundbar goes into standby), and when it is turned off, it sounds merely “okay.” You can also adjust the bass level, and there is an ATMOS button that gives an even broader soundstage—works okay for loud movies (action and sci-fi), but destroys dialogue on regular programming. The ATMOS button really should be a “MODE” button that cycles through sound modes, and the one you pick, for any given input, should stay active until you change it (very annoying that it reverts). Maybe there could also be a “VOICE” button, that punches up the dialogue channel regardless of the sound mode (similar to increasing the gain on the center channel on a 5.1 system).
As for setup, the ARC connection with my TV (Sony Bravia) works perfectly—TV recognizes the bar, turns it on, and even my Roku remote controls the volume. I had a bit of trouble with the Chromecast setup, as the Google Home app would not see the bar, but the Alexa app did see it, and once I used that to get it on my wi-fi, the Chromecast worked as well. Both Alexa and Chromecast work well, and are solid.
I did initially have an audio/video sync problem that could not be solved by adjusting the sync on the bar, as it only goes one way, and I needed it to go the other. I finally found a fairly hidden setting in my TV that was auto syncing external inputs, and when I turned that off, it was resolved, so if you are using ARC and have a sync issue, check your TV settings first.
Here is what you can adjust:
– SMART MODE: As mentioned above, you can temporarily disable the “Smart Mode.” To change the mode, the manual says to hold the mute button (below the volume rocker) for “more than three seconds,” then press the volume up button (plus symbol). I initially thought this feature was broken, as I could not get it to work, but what I finally figured out is that what you need to do is hold the mute button for EXACTLY FOUR seconds—no more, no less—then hit the volume up button. If you hit the volume up button, and the volume goes up, then you missed the timing, and have to try again. Truly annoying—none of the other adjustments are this finicky, and this seems like the adjustment you would want to make the most.
– BASS: There are 5 bass levels. The default is 3. To change the level, press and hold the “TV” button on the remote for “more than three seconds”, then press the volume down button (the minus symbol). This will bring up a readout that says “LVL 3” (or whatever level you have it on at the time), and from there you can use the volume up or down button to change it.
– AUDIO SYNC: You can only change the audio sync one direction (not sure if it is advance or delay), which was actually a problem in my situation, as I needed it to go the other way. To change the sync, press and hold the “TV” button for “more than three seconds,” then press the volume up button (the plus symbol). This will bring up a “SYNC” message on the bar, which quickly changes to the current delay setting in milliseconds—the default is “0 MS”. Use the volume up button to increase the delay—each press is 10 MS. I called tech support, and they confirmed it only adjusts one direction, at least for now.
– SOUND CALIBRATION: Press and hold the HDMI button on the remote until “CALIBRATION” is displayed on the bar. The bar will go into an auto calibration mode (beware—loud sonic sounds will be emitted for a several minutes). I did not like the results of the calibration at all—sounded terrible, so I started over with a factory reset:
– RESTORE FACTORY SETTINGS: On the soundbar itself, press and hold the power and input buttons at the same time for 10 seconds until the display shows “RESET.”
by Rosebud
Was easy to connect to my tv using an optical connection. Was easy to find the owners manual on their website. Wasn’t so easy to register because of the stickers and labels placed on the manufacturer’s box by Amazon, so I called JBL support and they registered the warranty for me. Finally got the volume to work with my FIOS remotes buttons because we didn’t want to have to use the tv remote and the sound bar remote. I like this sound bar! Nicer than the VIZIO inexpensive one I was previously using. Just watching HD tv shows, I don’t hear much base though, but the sound is good. It’s a heavy duty model. I didn’t hang it on the wall, although everything to do that was included in the package – instead I have it sitting below the tv on my tv table. It seems HDMI is the preferred connection method. Was kind of hot while I was programming it, but not as hot with regular use. This is my first JBL product. My husband uses wireless headphones in the morning while I am still sleeping and exchanging sound bars on the tv made those not work anymore – but I’m working on it. Hopefully we will get the headphones to work with this sound bar.
by twinkie7
Must install properly for Great Sound. Do Not place on a shelf, use brackets provided and place on wall.
There are speakers on top and below Sound Bar.
by ARobinson
I went thru two Samsung 3.1 based systems at this price point or slightly less and returned them as they weren’t WiFi/BT/smart app capable and then stumbled upon this 5.1 sound bar system that easily is WiFi/BT and smart app capable. Audio is great for the price and features. Highly recommend, easy setup. Have it connected to a Samsung Frame TV, which controls the volume so I only require the TV remote, not two remotes.
by Shannon
Was to install, purchased for my parents and they use every day.