JBL - 9.1-Channel Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Dolby Atmos/DTS:X - Black

TL;DR – This bar is amazing. If it’s not working, this might be why... 5 stars The Good - Supported Formats – Audio pass-through via HDMI ARC - Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS. If you have an eARC capable TV, you can also get DTS:X, DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, and 5.1 PCM. Of course the full HDMI In port can do it all. Completely Wireless - First of all, this is the only actual (not virtual) Dolby Atmos soundbar with truly wireless, battery powered surround speakers. Lots of bars advertise ‘wireless’ sub-woofers and/or surrounds, but all subs need a power cord, and the ‘wireless’ satellites are connected to either the sub or an amplifier. Except these. Atmos/DTS:X - Dolby Atmos gives you the 3D effect. With regular surround sound, a helicopter flying past you sounds like it’s passing next to you. With Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, it sounds like it’s flying past you, but literally passing over your head. JBL Bar 9.1 handles both protocols, and has actual up-firing speakers on both the main bar, and the satellites. High Quality - The bar is very well made. It’s fairly heavy, and even the surround speakers have a good weighty, quality feel to them. There are nice rubber pads under all three of the pieces, keeping them from vibrating off your table. The grates are a metal, so they’re easy to clean dust off of, as opposed to cloth coverings. Readout - There is a scrolling readout on the front of the bar that’s big and bright and easy to read. Our seating is approximately 15 feet from the bar, and it’s still easy to read. Changing any input or setting via remote is reflected on the bar’s readout. And every time there’s a change in audio coding, you’ll get the info. So for example if you’re watching a TV program with Dolby DD, and you go to a commercial that doesn’t have it, when the show starts again you’ll see Dolby DD again. After that, the lights go off so they’re not a distraction. Sub-woofer – Wow. This has a 10” speaker, and it’s… awesome. The bass is spectacular. The settings go from Level 1 to Level 5 using the remote, and show on the bar’s readout as you’re changing. Sync between the bar, the satellites, and the sub is perfect, so you don’t really hear the sound coming specifically from the sub. It’s just there. Satellites - I don’t know exactly how long the satellite speakers will last before a charge. I keep the surround speakers attached to the main bar, so they’re charged up and ready to deploy when we want to watch a movie. Then I just pop them free of their magnetic bonds, and place them on the table next to us. They work beautifully and you can also plug them into a power source while they’re deployed (usb micro). When they’re attached to the main bar, they work up there too. I have had no problems with popping noises when I change inputs, no disconnects (15 feet away from bar), no nothing. Room Correction – I love that it has this, although I almost put it in the ‘Bad’ category. When I used it, the system made my satellite speaker very low compared to the one by my wife. After doing the room correction three times, it was the same. But when I put them both together at the distance they would be, everything worked perfectly. Apparently since my room is more open on my side, it was throwing off the calibration. In any case, it’s real, and it does change things. Wireless Play – It has Bluetooth, WiFi, Chromecast, Apple AirPlay built in. There is no Al&xa or Googl& voice assistant built in, but I prefer it that way. I find those things creepy. Music – Very nice. Bluetooth your phone, or use Appl& AirPlay or Wifi. Music sounds great. Movies – Super. I was blown away by the sound coming from such a small piece of equipment. Dialog – There is no specific Dialog Enhancement as some other systems have, but I’ve found dialog to be super clear and crisp. There is a ‘secret’ combination of button presses to turn off the 5.1 upmixing, which some have said results in even clearer voice for some news programs. (Mute button 3 seconds, then vol up. Resets to Smart Mode when turned off.) The Bad User Manual – There was nothing but a quick setup guide in my box, but you can download a user manual online that’s much more comprehensive. Inputs. There is only one TV out HDMI, and one HDMI input for devices. I would have liked to have 3 or even 4 inputs so I could use it for a receiver, and make my TV a ‘monitor’ to cut down on remotes. The remote. The remote is not back-lit, which bugs me more than I thought it would. It’s also IR instead of Bluetooth, so you have to actually aim it at the bar. But once you do, it does work well. It initially wouldn’t connect via HDMI. The instructions were of no help in solving the problem, nor was three hours of internet searching. The bar was recognized by my S@msung TV, but only until I plugged in my Comc@st cable box. Then it reverted back to TV speakers. The only way I could use it was via Bluetooth to my TV, even though I have ARC (but not eARC). I tried everything. Plugging and unplugging, inserting HDMI cables in different orders to get a proper ‘handshake’, turning on and off settings and protocols on both the TV and the Cable box. No joy. I discovered that one of the HDMI pins runs CEC, which can control other connected devices. Hmm… pin 13 on an HDMI connector runs CEC, so I dissected an old HDMI cable, and cut that wire. I connected my cable box with that modified cable and VOILA!!! Instantly everything worked as advertised. (After I modified my HDMI cable, I found a bluerigger company that makes adapters that block CEC. If you’re having problems with this soundbar, this will probably save the day for about 12 bucks.) Bottom Line – This is the best sound bar I’ve ever heard.

I bought this JBL set after trying out two Atmos LG sets that just weren’t delivering the sound I was looking for. I am very happy with the sound and quality of this set. The bass is very good and resonates well throughout the room. It can shake the windows/blinds/shutters when turned up which I really like. I keep it between level 3 and 4 when watching a movie. 5 is good for listening to some music. The Atmos music available on TIDAL is very cool with this Soundbar! I recommend trying that out. There’s a decent selection on tracks available on that service to try it out. The rear speakers last a good two days for me without charging and they are very nice quality. They are pretty heavy and the wireless signal is constant to them as long as they aren’t super far from the Soundbar. I did have some connection issues with it and my wifi at first but I switched my wifi from 5ghz to 2.4ghz and that seemed to solve it. Although it is all made from plastic, the quality is high end and it doesn’t look cheap as it does in some of the stock photos. The sound bar does get very hot after prolonged use so I would be careful about placement over any plastic or sensitive surfaces. It fits very nicely below my LG 50” tv. Slips Just under the bottom bezel of my tv. It is super long when you have the rear speakers attached to the ends of the Soundbar for charging. Some folks commented on the missing caps for the North American market but it doesn’t look bad. The bar blends in well especially on a black console table like mine. The rear speakers look great without the end caps. I mounted mine on some inexpensive stands I bought on Amazon. They are heavy speakers but they aren’t too heavy for the stands to support. Night mode on the speaker doesn’t really do anything. I just turn the bass level down to 1 instead at night. I actually really like that there aren’t many adjustments to make on the speaker levels. The remote is simple and easy to use. The buttons on the bar itself are also nice and rubberized but also mechanically click when you press them. The price was up there but I think this sounds as great as you can get for sub $1k price range. The sound is BIG and makes movies and music more immersive and enjoyable. The rear speakers are loud enough when they need to be like when a spaceship is flying in on screen. But they fade out just enough to provide extra sound in the rear during dialog where it helps you hear but doesn’t take away from the front where the sound should be coming from. You can turn these bad boys up and they do not sound distorted any either. The only thing I do notice occasionally is that the sound will go out while watching an Atmos movie on D+. I don’t notice it when watching Atmos movies or shows on Netflix however so I think it’s the D+ app or my Apple TV that are creating the issue. I also have heard the speakers get garbled twice after pausing and resuming an Atmos movie on both Netflix and D+. A quick exit out of the movie and back in fixes it though. The auto Power off doesn’t always work with my TV but I think that’s because of my actual TV that doesn’t support eArc. It all powers on together just fine however. Lastly, I wish the rears would power themselves on when starting the Soundbar or at least when switching to Atmos or Dolby content. They have done it occasionally but I haven’t figured out why it doesn’t always do it. And the constant reminder to dock/charge speakers/turn on rears on the screen is a little annoying since it won’t go away until you do the said action. Those are my pros and cons, but the pros far outweigh the minor annoyances. I highly recommend this Soundbar to anyone who doesn’t have a full on dedicated high end theater in their house. This is more than enough for all other applications guaranteed.

So this has been an adventure for me to find a Dolby Atmos soundbar system to my liking. I’ll start by saying I purchased the LG SK9Y from the very pressuring sales person to go with the lg because they are the only brand to “offer” true atmos experience. I had it for 2 days and had I wasn’t impressed at all... so I returned it. Did my looking and went with the Samsung HW-900T to pair with the Samsung Q90T I recently got. Setup and loved how it synced with the tv but..... with the not so great sound quality and terrible bass, I once again found myself in edge about my purchase. I decided to take it back snd give a Atmos soundbar one last try before I gave up. I looked at just about every brand and setup of soundbars even the Q90r soundbar from Samsung and then I came across the JBL 9.1 True Wireless Soundbar. It was $799 at the time of purchase being it was on sale and I took the last one my Best Buy had in stock. At first I didn’t know what to think, but once I got everything hooked up and mounted I was absolutely blown away. I had not even taken the wireless satellite speakers off the sound bar yet and I cranked the volume up on a Atmos movie and I could hear everything around me, and the bass is absolutely incredible!! I then performed the calibration for the wireless speakers and set them behind the couch and went for round 2. When I tell you this I mean it you will not find a better soundbar than the JBL 9.1 at this time! Out of all the soundbars I’ve tried nothing has come close to the 3D all around expectations I had for this so called Dolby Atmos and man they got it right!! The wireless speakers have lasted me as long as I could watch tv before falling asleep so don’t worry about the battery life! They also have a usb you can buy and permanently mount then and plug into a wall behind a couch is you desire but being able to set it right next to your head is mind blowing!! So if you’re like me struggling to find the soundbar of your dreams GO WITH THE JBL 9.1!!!! All they do is audio don’t forget that!!! That is all! I was I no way paid to try this I just am that happy with my purchase.

Very great at home sound system without the need to run cords. The detachable speakers provide a great experience via dolby atmos, whether it is TV, games, movies or music. The soundbar is loud, crisp and all around impressive. The bass sometimes will overpower the dialogue in movies, but with music the bass rattles my home. I've shown this to a few people and I have seen some Jaws drop. Very happy with my purchase, and a year in and I am still impressed.

This is a fantastic soundbar and it rivals my nakamichi shockwafe ultra 9.2.4 in sound but not build quality. I really like the removable rears, but wish the battery lasted longer. I use this in the bedroom as my pc sound. Yes it is a bit much for a bedroom setup, but when your running a Sony Bravia 55 inch for a monitor with an Alienware Aurora why not you know.