JBL Bar 5.1 - Channel 4K Ultra HD Soundbar with True Wireless Surround Speakers

Pros: 1. Easy to set up 2. Truly wireless 3. Amazing subwoofer - shakes the couch/house Cons: 1. Nothing really Summary: We have a large open living room that's open to the kitchen, almost 900 sqft. With a space this large, the built in speakers on the TV are about adequate for listening to the news, and not really good for much else, especially watching movies. Ideally we should have a receiver and multi speaker setup, and maybe one day I'll do that, but I just don't want to spend the money and time running and hiding wires and trying to find surround speakers that I can hide so it's not so obtrusive and obvious. The wife agrees that she wants the surround sound experience, but isn't interested in having speakers all over the living room. We've tried various 2.1 systems that simulate surround sound, but those aren't all that great. And anyways, it's hard to find a soundbar system that can fill this space. We've tried some others, but they've been OK at best. I found this JBL system accidentally and after reading the reviews, I thought I'd give it a shot. The thing that sold me was the wireless battery powered surround speakers. Since we would only use it during movies, for the most part it wouldn't be cluttering up the living room area. We have other JBL wireless speakers that we use via bluetooth when we're outside that work quite well, so I figured these speakers would also perform well. Especially in an indoor setting. I will tell you that if you're on the fence about this system, to give it a shot as you will be pleasantly surprised. The sound quality is absolutely amazing. it's loud and clear and fills our giant living room very well. Some of the other soundbars that I've tried get loud, but the sound gets muddy and distorted. The detachable surround speakers work well, also have great sound, and simply works. They connect automatically without a problem to the main unit, the speaker levels are adjustable on the fly, and you can place them wherever you want. This soundbar system also comes with a calibration speaker, which takes just a minute to balance the sound levels for the exact spot that you'll be sitting. Most impressive is the 10 in subwoofer. It's well designed and does a good job trying to hide into the background with its monolithic simplistic design. However, the sound that comes out of it is nothing short of amazing. We have the volume set at 2/3 of max, and it will shake the couch we're sitting on and rattle the walls. The soundbar also has a night mode, which helps reduce the subwoofer setting and bump up the midrange so I can hear the dialogue and i'm not waking the kids when watching something with lots of explosions and booms. I'm quite happy with the sound quality and loudness, wife is happy that the surround speakers are not permanently sitting around and can be put back on the soundbar, and my bank account is happy that this system only cost $500.

I have to start off by saying I'm not a tech-savvy guy... like not at all. Despite my disability with technology, I was able to have this up and running within minutes. I wanted to summarize my experience with the setup in the hopes it helps you guys out. I should mention I plugged this system into a Samsung TV, which apparently makes the process easier, especially when it comes to your TV remote being able to control the volume on the soundbar. For me, this happened automatically. My TV remote started controlling the JBL soundbar on its own. Awesome! The system includes some hardware to hang your soundbar and also to hang your small rear speakers, which I thought was really cool. Everything was literally plug-and-play. I powered on the soundbar, powered on the subwoofer and they both automatically communicated with each other and paired up without me doing anything else. My biggest complaint about the setup process was the difficulty I had trying to plug in the power cord into the back of the soundbar. The angle is very awkward, but I got it done. There are four HDMI plugs in the back of the soundbar, one of them is labeled HDMI ARC. This is the one you're supposed to use with your TV (Took a while for me to figure that out). I'm also using an optical cable that is also plugged into the back of the soundbar and goes to the TV. Unfortunately, when you turn off the TV and go to turn everything back on, the soundbar defaults back to HDMI ARC, so I had to manually change the source on the soundbar back to OPT. The only fix I saw was to unplug the HDMI ARC and only leave the Optical cable plugged in. This seemed to do the job. Why would I need both sources anyhow? The reason I wanted to go with the Optical cable is because I heard a YouTuber mention that the HDMI signal was not as good for surround sound. In my opinion, the Optical cable sounded crisper. Which every cable you decide to use, just make sure you plug it all the way into the back of the soundbar. Mine looked like it was all the way in, but it wasn't. The other step you have to take is to go into your TV's sound settings and change the source of your sound from TV speakers to either HDMI sound or Optical. For the calibration process, make sure your surround speakers are where you'll want them when you watch TV. Also, make sure your subwoofer is turned on. There is a small calibration speaker with a pin connection that comes in the box. This "calibration speaker" (my term for it) is used to calibrate your speaker's sound for an optimum surround sound experience OR to use as a starting point to then manually improve the settings on your own if you're so inclined. Here is another goof-up I did. Do NOT plug in the pin to the back of the soundbar. It will fit perfectly, but this is NOT where the calibration speaker goes. You'll find the pin connection on the end of the right side of the soundbar. It's hard to see, but it's there. Once I had the calibration speaker plugged in, I placed it in the center of my living room. Using the JBL remote control, press the "calibration" button (the remote labeled it "calibration") for three seconds. WARNING, do NOT do this at night when your family is asleep. My wife wasn't happy when I did my calibration at midnight and she was even less impressed that I was about four vodka and sodas in. Once the calibration starts, you'll hear each speaker individually make an ear-piercing static sound. The calibration only takes a few seconds, but definitely makes a difference with the surround sound performance. I unplugged the calibration speaker and stowed it away in the event I ever have to reset my setting or I decide to move my speakers to a different location. Hope this helped.

Excelente producto que excedió mis expectativas. Increíble que haya muy pocas opciones en equipos con bocinas inalámbricas, y las que hay son de varias veces el precio o no son realmente 5.1 al usar la opción inalámbrica. Otros están descontinuados. Excelente sonido con una modulación muy diferenciada y adecuada entre películas y música. Muy fácil de instalar y muy rápido. Cargar las baterías de las bocinas traseras pensé que serían una molestia, pero dura bastante la carga y es rápida. Ha hecho de mi sala de estar un lugar muy acogedor. Muy recomendable!!!!!!

Well built and sounds great, I highly recommend it

Excellent sound. Problem is the wireless speakers don’t hold up a charge for long. I wish there was a way to plug them into power and still be usable. Remote suuuuuucks. The volume button fights me so much and often just doesn’t work. Regardless, these are just annoyances rather than problems. Great system if you get a good deal.

El producto está empacado en una caja algo extraña, pero fuera de ello superó por mucho mis expectativas. El sonido es excelente y las bocinas al desprenderse duran lo suficiente para un maratón de películas. El Sub buffer produce tanta vibración que me he vuelto la pesadilla de mis vecinos, cada vez que pongo hip hop. (Recomiendo money trees, de Kendrick Lamar ) En resumen, excelente producto calidad y precio

It delivers what is intended for. Very good 5.1. immersive sound.