Customer Ratings & Reviews

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.

So I did a TON of research looking for a new soundbar setup and landed on the JBL Bar 9.1 as the winner. Check RTINGS or other professional reviews online for the details, but bottom line, there is no other soundbar on the market with a quality 10" sub, INCLUDED wireless Atmos surrounds and AirPlay/Google built in. Icing on the cake was eventually finding it as and Open-Box special at my local Best Buy saving me $350 off retail. I have mine hooked up via eARC to my new 65" Sony A8H OLED and the sound is IMPRESSIVE! The unit turns on and is controlled with the TV remote, turning the TV off puts it into standby mode. I've yet to even mount my rear surrounds, but even docked up front I'm super impressed with the dialogue clarity and bass response. Normal listening volume we have been in the 8-10 range (it goes to 40!) and have the sub set at level 3 (goes up to 5), so yeah it will shake the walls if you want it to. Had no real issues with setup, the prompts on the bars display kinda walks you through things and the full manual is available for download online for all the little details. *For reference, Shown on top of a 65" console below my 65" TV. Look no further, get the Bar 9.1 and rock out in Atmos style!!!

This is a nice system. Easy to setup and connect to the TV. You can control the bass with the remote control. However I would like to add additional bass. I love this wireless audio system. I researched several different options and i came back to this system. My only issue is that the soundbar does not fit in my TV mount bracket

I have owned the Sonos ark with the rear speakers and the subwoofer, the Sony HD 5000, the Bose 900 smart soundbar with the subwoofer, and this is right up there with any of those when it comes to sound and filling the room. It doesn't get as loud as those other ones, but it gets plenty loud. I'm a movie watcher, and I like to watch him really loud. And this gets plenty loud for me. And the satellite speakers are awesome, I have a small living room so I can't leave the rear speakers up all the time or else one would be like by my front door and get hit by the door. But with this setup I can just put the rear speakers up only when I watch movies. Then I can put it right back down and connect them to the sound bar and has a great sound stage when they're connected up there. And that's detachment and put them back on little shelves that are you know inconvenient areas when I'm watching movies. It's a really fantastic setup

Love the sound, speakers, base, everything about this speaker. No delay when playing audio unlike some sound bars especially when pausing shows. Very happy with this purchase.

I’ve had mine for a little less than a year so I’ve had plenty of time to discover all that’s good and bad about this soundbar. If I would have written a review within the first 3 months of having it I definitely would have given it 5 stars. I’ll start with the good: there’s only one good thing… the sound quality is very good. Definitely above average in my opinion. This thing can rock our house. And for the first 3-4 months I loved the detachable back speakers. It made a big difference. Now for the bad: Inconsistent function. Starting about month 3 the speaker began to randomly stop working. It would say that it’s connected, it would show volume adjustments on both the tv and soundbar but no sound would come out. Ours is connected via an eARC cable. We paid for the total tech membership so we called and they walked through some troubleshooting over the phone which didn’t work and then they sent the geek squad to our house. They couldn’t figure it out. Both the tv and soundbar were up to date and it still wouldn’t work. We tried new cables and a lot of other things with no luck. They told me to call JBL to follow up on a warranty but JBL also wasn’t any help and wanted me to send my soundbar to them. So the total tech membership provided zero benefit to me. I finally figured out that if I unplug the power, plug it back in, switch to tv speakers, then switch back to soundbar that it will work. It takes a minute to reboot so this process takes about 5 minutes. Not the end of the world but very annoying. About the same time I started noticing the battery life on the detachable speakers was declining rapidly. About the 6 month mark they wouldn’t even last a full movie. They were awesome while they lasted but not worth the extra money…. So due to the inconsistency and battery life issues this soundbar is average at best, but do to price I would say it’s worse than other soundbar sim it’s price range. I’m actually a big JBL fan so I’m disappointed to have to write this review. I have a lot of JBL products but that may change going forward. If they could fix these 2 issues this soundbar could quickly go from 1 to 5 stars. But until then, I would say you would be better off spending your money on a different one.

Great sound bar. Love the feature of removable surround sound. Subwoofer is more than adequate.

Its wonderful JBL perfect bass perfect sound best quality

For just a sound bar and a bass box. It kicks good. The sound and bass was something I didn’t expect to come out of this

I have been using it for 6 months now. Sound is on par. Bass system is too good for my place.

The sound is great and good quality bass , i have had it for a month it has worked very well,

REVIEW: JBL BAR 9.1 - WIRELESS DOLBY ATMOS SOUNDBAR NOT IMPRESSED FOR THE PRICE Sound equipment is very very very subjective. But for almost $1000 list price, I truly expected to be blown away and I was not. You should test it out for yourself, but for me a $200 bar and $200 woofer ran circles around the JBL Bar 9.1 based on my audio preferences. I tested every day TV shows as well as 5.1 surround and properly configured ATMOS movies. I could detect no ATMOS effects (nothing coming from above), and the detachable speakers unfortunately were barely a mumble even at full volume. I am convinced, now more than ever, that if you want ATMOS there are no shortcuts on cost or deployment. You need lots of discrete WIRED speakers and a dedicated AV receiver. If like me you wanted to declutter your main family room of giant speakers, then for now, I think you need to give up on ATMOS and just get a solid all around performing Soundbar and Subwoofer and call it a day. The next step up in soundbars will run you $2000 for the bar, sub, and surrounds. I’m not willing to spend that on a bar system, when I can do much better with a full new sound system in that price range. It is not a bad bar, which is why I suggest you try it yourself. It was just not what I had hoped for in immersive ATMOS sound. Which, is shame as I really like the idea of detachable rear speakers for listening to movies. BEST FEATURES - 2 HDMI Ports - Solid Build Quality - Large Subwoofer - Can get very loud if wanted - Visual Display on the Bar SETUP (see tips at end of review) I read a ton of reviews prior to setup, and they all made clear you need to get the latest firmware before you do anything. In theory this should be easy. Connect it to a wired ethernet cable or use Google Home to connect to it. First I plugged in a wired connection and nothing happened (should be messages on the bar updating, etc) Then, I forced it to tell me the firmware on the bar, but it scrolled so fast I could not write it down. I even did a factory reset and tried again. Finally, I gave up and installed Google home and tried to add the bar. The directions were very unhelpful. “Load Google Home and follow the directions in the App” – Thanks JBL, big help – not. No matter what I tried I could not get Google home to see the bar. Fine, you can also update the firmware with a USB drive. JBL problem number 2, I can’t find the firmware version or file to download anywhere, just instructions on how to do it. Thanks JBL for your help again – not. I was about to give up when I decided to pull the power cord on the bar and do another reboot. This time Google Home was able to see the bar. Now I could see the firmware version. But did I have the latest? Who knows, there is nothing I could find on the JBL site, so I found some forums on other sites that matched my firmware version. OK, on with the setup. After fully charging the speakers, I continued on with the setup process for calibration, and this worked well. Next onto testing. TESTING I was happy that the JBL Bar 9.1 display would tell me what kind sound it was processing. This made testing really easy. I could tell when it was getting TRUE HD ATMOS or Compressed or 5.1 Surround. This let me validate that all my devices were properly passing sound to the bar. (A big worry at first). My Environment (everyone is different) 10x20 Room, (open on 1 side - no wall). 55 inch TV middle of 20’ wall (wall mounted). Sofa opposite wall of the TV. Soundbar on a shelf under the TV. Low Ceilings maybe 7’5”. Satellite speakers on either side of sofa. My Equipment Older Sony TV. New Sony UHD 4K Player directly plugged into BAR (HDMI 1), and TiVo Edge / Roku Ultra plugged into TV with ARC passthrough connected to the bar. As mentioned, the display on the bar easily allowed me to know when I was passing TRUE HD ATMOS to the bar. I tried 3 movies (all that I had with ATMOS at this time), Mockingjay Part 1, 2, and Terminator Genisys. Overall, the room was full of sound, but the sound was pretty flat (without life). There was sound everywhere, but very little directional separation. The vocals were pretty clear (one worry I had was lack of voice enhancement feature but it was good). Even with Height at Max and Rear Sound at Max, and Bass at Medium, the sound was only just OK. I never felt immersed in the sound. My 15 year old 5.1 Receiver was far superior in every way, this was not even close. As to ATMOS I never once heard jets or fighters flying overhead or rain falling from the sky. I put my ear next to the surrounds to make sure they were on, and they were, but the sound was muffled. This is like when you can hear someone in the room next to you, but you can’t make out what they are saying. I would occasionally hear “surround noise” from these speakers, but it was just noise not anything clear or targeted. WATCHING TV TV was fine, but too much bass and echo even with everything set to low or off. MUSIC Not tested, gave up and returned the unit. SUMMARY / CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATION I can’t say it is a bad sound bar, it is not. It is sturdy, well build, and should last a long time. For me, the sound experience was not what I expected at this price point. Maybe my expectations are off. Anything sound related that you are interested in, I suggest you get it, test, and return as needed. I went through at least 4 sets of speakers until I found ones that I really enjoyed (and still use 20 years later). I assume my sound bar journey will be much the same. JBL 9.1 SOUNDBAR SETUP 1. Put Something to Raise the Soundbar off the surface due to reports of overheating 2. Plug in Satellite speakers to the bar leave alone 3+ hours (unit off and not connected to anything) so they can recharge 3. Plug in physical Ethernet and Turn On (should auto update) (or Connect to Google Home) a. Look for “update found” on display b. Look for “updating” on display c. Look for “done” on display 4. Turn Off Unit 5. Un Plug the Unit from Power 6. Remove Detachable Speakers 7. Plug in / Turn on the Soundbar 8. Turn on the Sub 9. Dock Detachable Speakers 10. Look for a solid white light on Sub 11. Look for a solid white light on Speakers 12. Place the Speakers next to you the couch (pay attention to LR orientation) 13. Press and Hold HDMI until 1-CALIBRATION is displayed (Calibrating…BEEPS..Done….) 14. Place the Speakers when you would use them when watching a movie 15. Press and hold HDMI until 2-CALIBRATION is displayed (Calibrating….BEEPS...Done….) 16. Set “Rear” to High and test away SYSTEM SETUP Give careful thought to how you are going to get ATMOS signals to the Bar. All Devices in your “chain” have to support ATMOS or at least be able to pass through signals from other devices. You also should have a relatively recent (high end) HDMI cable to minimal signal loss and drop out effect. Look for 8K rated cables just to be safe. I had TiVo and Roku connected to the TV and my UHD Blu Ray player connected both to the TV and the Soundbar (I have 2 outputs). Then the TV ARC is connected to Soundbar ARC. Next you need to go to each device and tell it to output Dolby or True Dolby HD or ATMOS instead of “surround or PCM”. Finally, if you are playing a disc you need to make sure to select the ATMOS soundtrack, if it has one. Somehow my 7 year TV was able to pass ATMOS from all of my devices to the bar even though the TV does not support ATMOS and is only ARC instead of eARC. (Sony!). OTHER COMMANDS ON REMOTE OR BAR SMART MODE ON/OFF = Mute +3 seconds (on remote) SELECT MODE (Smart, Standard or Night modes) = Mute + 5 seconds FACTORY RESET = Power+Source + 10 seconds (on the bar) SUB RE-CONNECT = Sub POWER button until flashing, bass +5 Seconds CHECK BATTERY= Mute button+ five seconds, then pressing the Atmos button CHECK FIRMWARE = Hold down the source and volume down buttons (on the bar) simultaneously for 10 seconds and it'll appear on the bar's display.

Awesome! This is the soundbar I’ve been searching for! Just having the two rear speakers attached to the sound bar is amazing. Put the two rear speakers behind you and it gets even better! Movie theater quality! Easy set up just a simple calibration that takes about one minute. Thank you JBL for such a great product!

Absolutely amazing sound for the price. Sound is full and sounds absolutely natural with a 65” TV (replacing a smaller Polk bar that sounded amazing but was to “narrow” sounding for a 65” (it worked well for a 55” just wasn’t up to the task of a larger TV) my only complaint is the bar does hum when it is receiving a signal but has no audio to play, such as switching channels or flipping through next Flix. And the base, this thing absolutely hits hard. It will fully display any movie you can throw at it. It will never be a 2000w component system but it is by far the best plug and play bar I have ever used (even better then Sonos). Especially when it is half the price of buying a full Sonos setup.

Omg! This surround sound is amazing. I literally had to rewatch every movie. Has really great bass and I love that you can place the other speakers behind you for true surround sound feel. I recommend this one to anyone out there looking for an awsome experience.

The Good: The battery powered rear speakers are perfect for our use case. We have an open floor plan, which makes permanent rear speakers a challenge, but we have a kitchen island right behind our couch we can set these on. We leave them attached to the bar most of the time (bonus: they work as front speakers when attached, widening the sound stage) and pop them off when we want to watch a movie or whatever. That flexibility is exactly why we bought this bar. The 10" sub is an absolute BEAST. Between Dolby Atmos and the subwoofer, movies with thunderstorm scenes have quickly become my favorite thing to listen to on this bar. True to form for JBL, this bar does amazingly well for music. The Bad: No voice enhancement for TV, no app, and limited EQ presets and adjustments. Hopefully the next version addresses these complaints (bonus if JBL finds a way to bring them to this soundbar via an update.)