Customer Ratings & Reviews

This is the absolute best all in one package available! Fantastic sound quality and Dolby Atmos is jaw dropping!

Great speakers but slightly over priced. They work well but battery like on the little side speakers is too short and doesnt come with cords to charge them. You have to put them back.... which is a pain sometimes. Love the sound quality

This thing sounds great loving it.... and the fact that you can detach the sound around and put them where you want behind you for a good experience..ps the rear speakers are Wireless they have a strong magnet to put back on base for charging

(4.5/5 - I rounded up due to how happy I am with it.) I'll start by saying I am extremely impressed with the overall sound quality of this system especially for it's small form factor. It really brings the "theater" into "home theater", complete with couch-vibrating bass. It's listed as a 9.1 Channel system, though it only consists of four components: the sound bar, 2 rear speakers, and a subwoofer. Their 9.1 claim is achieved by each component providing multi-directional sound. The sound bar has speakers on the front and top of the sound bar, and the rear speakers have sound output on the front, side, and top of each speaker. So, while the configuration is only made up of 4 pieces, you are effectively getting sound from 9 directions. My previous setup consisted of a sound bar, subwoofer, and 2 rear speakers as well, but the speakers were all single direction. JBL's integration of multi-directional speakers within each speaker unit provides a significantly improved experience over the single direction speakers I've used previously. Let's talk sound quality a bit more. The amount of sound JBL is able to get out of a 4 piece system is astounding. I don't have a full traditional 9.1 setup to compare it to, but it blows my previous 5.1 system out of the water by a mile. I might one day have the space, budget, and patience to install overhead speakers to provide a true 9.1 setup, but until then, this JBL system is absolutely close enough. The fact that there are only 2 rear speakers to mount + a sound bar instead of mounting 9 separate speakers is a game changer. I mentioned before these speakers put the "theater" in "home theater", but it's really underselling just how great these are. When I first connected these speakers, I pulled up a YouTube video to test the multi-directional sound, and of course an ad popped up. I normally can't wait to skip ads, but instead I found myself with a stupid grin on my face, because even the ad sounded amazing with these JBL speakers. I'm not saying the sound quality is life-changing... but at the same time I'm not not saying that. It's made TV and movies more enjoyable and prompted some extra "movie popcorn snuggle" family time with my kids, so in that regard maybe it does have the potential to be somewhat life changing. I cannot speak highly enough of the sound quality JBL has achieved in this small package. To clarify, the subwoofer is a beast and I love it -- but to achieve this amount of sound with only 4 speakers is quite an achievement and I applaud JBL for that. How about streaming audio quality? -- Also amazing. Whether streaming through the supported Airplay, or playing directly from my connected streaming media player, the sound is amazing. I love that you can feel the bass, and not just the "thump thump" that lesser quality speakers provide, but it provides a tangible feeling for the audio being created. I have a couple other high end speakers in the same room I use for sound normally, but found myself switching to this JBL system instead when playing music. Mounting Options -- JBL includes mounting brackets for the sound bar, as well as rear speakers. I'm still figuring out optimal placement height so I haven't mounted them yet, but all the components are there and the system seems fairly intuitive. What's with the rechargeable speakers? -- The rear speakers contain a battery and can provide a truly wireless experience. The design itself is actually really neat and well thought out. They charge by sliding into the sides of the sound bar, and magnetically align into place so there's no hassle at all connecting them, and no concern about them not being fully connected to charge. While connected to the sound bar, they still act as speakers and you effectively get an extra long sound bar with additional output ability while they are connected and charging. I've not run allowed them to completely run out of battery yet -- what I've found is moving them back to the sound bar to charge every couple days ensures I don't run into any issues. I find myself leaving them connected to the sound bar to stay charged while I'm just watching TV shows that don't really benefit as much from surround sound, then disconnecting them and moving the speakers to the rear when watching movies, or anything that's action-filled. I'm still a little terrified of the rear speakers running out of battery halfway through Lord of the Rings if they weren't charged in a couple days, so that's why I leave them connected to the sound bar to stay charged more than I need to. I'm not sure I'm sold on this 'back and forth' method of docking and undocking the rear speakers to charge them, but it's an interesting idea to be sure. JBL also included micro-usb ports on the rear speakers so you do have the option of a more long term, less wireless option if you want to just mount the rear speakers and keep them charged. Connectivity -- I've had a couple connectivity issues I *think* are related to line of sight problems between the rear speakers and the sound bar. Since I haven't yet mounted my rear speakers, I have had them elevated on side tables on either side of my couch. My left rear speaker after some time will occasionally start cutting out. It seems to resolve when I move the speaker on top of a book case where it has better line of sight to the sound bar. However, this hasn't occurred within the first few hours of using the speakers after a full charge, so I'm not sure if it's potentially related to weakening connectivity as the battery runs lower. I'll need to test this more fully over a longer period of time to be sure, but it doesn't seem to have an issue when it does have good line of sight so it's likely to be a non-issue for most people. Recommended? -- Absolutely I especially recommend this system if you're looking for a more compact setup, where you only have to worry about mounting 2 rear speakers but still want a more full surround experience. The true wireless speakers are very well designed and an interesting feature option, and you can always hardwire them if desired.

Good Soundbar System. Perfect for Surround Sound Experience, but not much with the Dolby Atmos Experience. Advantage is that it supports AirPlay & DTS:X, but hopefully they'll have a dedicated mobile app to conveniently adjust the system (equalizer).

Amazing and the detachable rears are great! Highly recommend calibrating as soon as you get the setup and buy chargers for the rears so you don’t have to move back and forth

I absolutely LOVE & approve of this purchase. It definitely has some great sound. The sound effects are amazing, my living room is a movie theater with this sound bar!

Plays relatively loud and good quality sound. My wife and kids can’t always figure out the input and functions but it’s otherwise a good buy

The sound is great sleek design this system will give Bose a run for it’s money and for the price it wins I love it

No remote control but still ok. Great addition to 86' TV, great deal

Movie theater sound quality in your home! Looks great being wireless and easy to use!

The sound is fantastic it’s all a person would want in a theater system

Easy setup, Very nice sound, pairs well with our Samsung TV

Love detachable speakers and the sound quality is clear

We can’t believe the equality of sound this compact unit produces.

Very good sounds bar , I recomend this equipment for every one .

I purchased for my husband he Loved it, great sound, definitely recommended.

I love the sound quality and the look is fantastic

This is probably my most favorite soundbar made to date. Reason being is that I like to keep things very minimal in my entertainment area at home. So yes, a 65” OLED and a soundbar to match. That’s it. But I didn’t expect these to sound amazing coming from a soundbar solution. For a little while, I resisted installing surround sound speakers due to running wires around. The best solution to that before these JBLs came through were “wireless” speakers, but had to be attached to some external receiver. Still had wires though. But I bought them anyway to complement my current soundbar. I didn’t like the look of cord covers running along my walls. The JBL solves this problem with truly wireless detachable speakers. For sound quality, I was impressed with the tones right after calibration. Calibration is a two-step process to determine how far you are sitting from the TV and how far the detachable speakers are relative to the soundbar. From here, you get to experience sound as the JBL engineers designed them to be. That’s partly why you don’t have a whole lot of EQ customization; I think they want to keep things as simple as possible for the user. You’re only dealt with 5 levels of bass, 3 levels of ATMOS and 3 levels of rear surround with respect to the soundbar. Maybe I could have used some treble or center channel knobs, but that has yet to be seen. But I’m not mad at JBL for that. It’s a soundbar, which by design was meant to make all-things-sound easy. Just note that if you raise the ATMOS and rear surround sound levels, you do drown out the center channel dialog. This might lead a lot of people (like me) to believe that the center channel is not loud enough. The soundbar has two HDMI connections, one input and one output/ARC. The way I run my soundbar is just a single connection from the TV using ARC (audio return channel). So any input into the TV (HDMI or streaming apps) will automatically forward all sound data to the soundbar. The ARC connection successfully receives ATMOS or DTS:X data, depending on the movie source. And it sounds pretty darn good too. Films like “1917”, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” and “Avengers: End Game” truly highlight how well it handles ATMOS and DTS:X sound, to name a few. The soundbar is relatively large as well. I think a minimum of 55” TV or larger will help match the length of this soundbar, which is about 3 feet long with speakers attached. Software updates! Yes, you’re going to want to connect this soundbar to wifi to get OTA updates. Why? Because out-of-the-box I was having some serious issues with wireless connectivity to the surround sound speakers. So if you’re reading this and later on decide to buy this soundbar only to find out that the soundbar wireless connection sucks, remember me. Now what I found very unusual with JBL is the lack of a native wifi connection wizard through a JBL app. You must depend on Google Home or Apple Airplay to attain wifi connectivity. Once you’ve done that, the soundbar has a mind of its own and begins to fix itself. It did run an update and fixed the very spotty wireless connection problem. But It still does get a little spotty every now and then (and you can definitely hear the sub and surround sound speakers cut out) and can ruin the mood of a movie. I must admit, it does get annoying sometimes. Another software update on the way? Have to take a star off for that. So how do I use them? Well, most of the time I keep them attached to the soundbar. No need to have surround sound while I watch the morning news. I only detach them when I’m ready to watch my movies in full ATMOS or DTS-X, COVID-19 free. Wireless speaker run times are 10 hours from full charge. I only spend 2-3 hours in a day with them detached for a movie and I connect them right back to the soundbar, where they begin charging again. So you’ll have to think about your own use case. I think my use case is right in line with what the soundbar was intended for. Obviously if you’re looking for a more permanent solution, you’re probably better off bringing the wires out.

The JBL 9.1 Soundbar appears to be a good product so far, but there are a few things I'm not completely in love with. The product has a very modern/sleek look, and the initial setup was quite simple, although I had to go online to reference the complete manual when I got ready to set up the wireless internet. In order to complete that portion of the setup, I had to install Google Home, which I'd rather not have to do; Google is in too many places as it is. I also ran into trouble when I tried to calibrate the surround speakers. I have an older Sony surround system that uses a detachable mic for calibration, but this JBL soundbar has a built-in mic (which means there's yet another mic in my house that I have no control over). Anyway, the calibration is done in two passes. The first pass went off without a hitch, but I could never get the second pass to complete. I finally gave up. I plan on contacting JBL about this problem, but I haven't had the time to devote to it. Even without the calibration, the sound from the system is quite impressive. Since the surround speakers are truly wireless, they can be conveniently placed just about anywhere to provide a good surround effect. However, I've noticed that they run out of power WELL before the 10 hours you're supposed to get out of a charge; I'm getting more like 4-6 hours. The subwoofer provides all the bass you could possibly want, and the 820 watts of total power will easily let you rattle your windows. I did notice in the online manual that some regions evidently get end caps for the soundbar and the surround speakers... I assume the U.S. isn't one of those regions, which is surprising. If you're paying almost $1000 for a product like this, something as simple as end caps should be included. Overall, this soundbar provides impressive sound with the convenience of truly wireless surround speakers. Although there are several things I'm not completely satisfied with, I'd still give it a 4 out of 5 just based on the sound.