Customer Ratings & Reviews

Not the best. This sound bar has had lots of little issues. The sound is great but I liked my 5.1 better. The sound becomes delayed from the picture and the only fix is to unplug the unit and restart. Dolby atmos will kick out and back in mid movie. If you’re going to have it on for a long time the satellite speakers will die and they only charge when the unit is off despite being connected to the main bar. Knowing what I know now I wish I would’ve bought something different.

I never write reviews but over the past 2 months I've had a long journey trying out different soundbar systems from BestBuy. This one was my 4th exchange at BestBuy so I figured my review could help atleast one person. I had been eyeing the JBL 9.1 since the start of my journey but didn't want to fork up the $999 price tag if there was comparable systems for less. -My journey started with buying the $599 Polk 5.1 Magnify Max soundbar system. I loved the sound from this system. The rear speakers and subwoofer were loud and rich and I could hear people's voices in movies and video games perfectly. The system started to have issues with the subwoofer making a loud popping sound a lot and the rears randomly making a scratching sound for about 10 seconds every hour. Loved the sound but exchanged it for the $499 Samsung - 7.1-Channel Soundbar with Dolby 5.1/DTS Virtual:X. - The $499 Samsung - 7.1-Channel Soundbar with Dolby 5.1/DTS Virtual:X sounded great through the mids, highs, and lows but the subwoofer was not hitting as hard as the Polk system I had prior. I really wanted loud bass. I then chose the following weekend to exchange this system for the $799 Samsung - Q850t 5.1.2-Channel Soundbar with Dolby Atmos/DTS:X. - The $799 Samsung - Q850t 5.1.2-Channel Soundbar with Dolby Atmos/DTS:X had a bigger subwoofer and it had 2 Atmos speakers in the soundbar which intrigued me never having heard Atmos before. This system had more bass from the subwoofer than the previous Samsung system but not as much as the Polk. I felt like I couldn't really hear a difference with the Atmos speakers because they were in the soundbar and not in the rear speakers. When playing music, playing games, and watching movies this system sounded amazing BUT I kept comparing the subwoofer to the Polk subwoofer I had the first time and I wanted that bass. So I decided to see what else BestBuy had to offer that would really get my house rattling. I really wanted deep bass. Chose to pack everything up A THIRD TIME and head to BestBuy to exchange yet again and make the leap for the $999 JBL 9.1 - I get the $999 JBL 9.1 system and was very excited because this one had Atmos speakers for the rears as well as inside the soundbar + a bigger subwoofer which people raved about in the reviews. Plug everything in and wow I was extremely impressed. I finally felt I had found the system which covered all the bases. Everything sounded amazing especially the rear speakers with Atmos + the subwoofer would rattle my house which is what I wanted. ***First ISSUE*** After 30 minutes of listening to it I decide to finally setup the wifi on it and calibrate the system and update the firmware. I update the firmware successfully and try to calibrate it but it fails to calibrate the first five tries. Immediately after it successfully calibrates I start to play a movie to test if it sounds different after the firmware update and calibration. The rear right speaker was only outputting about 10% volume compared to the left rear speaker - there was a red dot lit up on the speaker that wasn't working while the one working correctly had a white lit up dot. I do some research and see people have had similar issues with the rear speakers not working properly. I was so confused because when I initially setup the system the rear speakers had sounded great. I end up factory resetting the sound system by holding down the Power button and the Input button on the soundbar and now the system is working 100% as it should after factory reset. If you want amazing sound from the rears and soundbar, deep toned bass that you can feel, and Atmos upfiring speakers that sound amazing get this system. Just make sure you don't update the firmware or calibrate it. I would have given this sound system 5 stars if I didn't have those issues. Hope this helped.

GREAT BUY... thought set up may be difficult as this is our first sound bar but it was pretty simple. Sound is amazing, lots of options and NO MORE WIRES!!! Highly recommend

I bought this set and considered the cheaper soundbar package for $600 but the soundbar in this package is much nicer and I really enjoy being able to detach speakers. It creates a fantastic surround sound system without being invasive or tedious to set up. Just pull them off and place them where you want. My biggest want was a heavy hitting sub and it definitely delivers. You can increase how loud the detachable speakers are with 3 different levels which is nice. The only reason I don't give this 5 stars is because the EQ settings, or lack thereof, aren't great. You can increase the sub sound/bass but there is no treble or frequency control. Messing with EQ can make a good system sound bad so that might have been the reasoning.

After reading tons of reviews on soundbars with/without subwoofers, with/without satellites I took a trip to my local BB to check out what they had. Unfortunately, most of the demo soundbar setups they had in the store didn't work and because they'd been provided by the respective vendors there was nothing my salesman could do to correct that. Of the ones that were working (small Bose; Vizio; small JBL) the JBL sounded pretty good in store. I really wanted to hear the 9.1 because for my space, the detachable satellites would provide a perfect solution to not having an aesthetically acceptable place to permanently mount rear speakers. Based on the sound of the smaller JBL I decided to try the 9.1. BB had an open box unit (rated "excellent" meaning that cosmetically the unit was like new and ALL components, parts/pieces were included) at a good price. Ordered and it showed up 4 days early. Great. Honestly, opening the box was harder than setting up the unit. I really liked the sound. I loved that I could detach the satellites, set them on a desk or a counter for the duration of a movie and then reattach to the main bar, out of the way. Satisfied that this was what I wanted, I began looking through the contents of the box and discovered the mounting hardware was missing. BB readily responded to my inquiry and provided an additional discount on the unit which they credited to my account (THANK YOU!). JBL offered to ship the hardware to me NO COST (THANK YOU)! Both get 5 stars for customer service. Easy to contact. Cooperative. Helpful!!! SOUND: I have a very high end stereo elsewhere in my house. I know what excellent audio sounds like. It was never my intent to try to recreate that in my TV room. That said, the bass was tight and blended beautifully with the rest of the system. If you want to "break windows", set the bass to 5 and your spouse and all your critters will head for the hills. Mids and high end were also very good. Smooth with no sibilance or harshness. For movies, dialogue was clear and properly anchored in space and the 9.1 was far more acceptable for music than I expected it would be. Is it the equivalent of my high end stereo? No way. But man, it's pretty darn good! Clean and satisfying. Satellites and creation of 3D via Atmos is very good and my room has 10 foot ceilings. No signal drops. No hassles pairing. Same for the wireless subwoofer. I don't miss an equalizer among the settings. The tonal balance is fine for my tastes. The remote provides enough functionality that mixing the front/rear and bass was easy and left me wanting nothing more. I've got a 2021 LG 65 inch OLED and compatibility was hassle free. BUILD: Solid. Attractive. No issue or concerns. No problems with battery life (movie and then the Super Bowl!). FYI - you CAN run the satellites powered with a micro USB (not provided) if you want. SUM: Unless you're convinced that a true 5.1 system is the only configuration you can live with, and you have a room that can accommodate rear speakers and wires, I can recommend the JBL 9.1 as a no compromise alternative (unless you want to spend considerably more on a component setup). Add that to outstanding customer service from BOTH companies and you've got a winner here. Way to go JBL and Best Buy!

Let’s get my only con out of the way, the remote! It functions good and is not complicated. But in MY OPINION (& with old eyes) the stealth styling was the wrong choice here because it is unreadable in most light settings - BECAUSE IT IS NOT BACKLIT. Memorize the button loc. your best choice! MOVING ON - SOUND! Several in depth reviews covering its user experience at the under $1K price point of comparable bars were a great help. Sure you can’t listen to it from a computer, but you can draw on the explanations given weather it will fill a niche or need. My need was Dolby Atmos at under $1200 budget. And with a sale even better! (NOTE, that mine will be used in an apartment so LOUD was not my requirement, but rather undistorted high quality spatial reproduced sounds as close to Atmos as possible was! I sold my home which had a near perfect Surr.Sd.Sys. b4 this to compare too. Of course you can’t compare a component sys to a bar in fairness, but you can come close if you match your needs! Then it makes sense in the end.) So, the field of candidates narrowed quickly on price. Then poor customer reviews of others began to tip the scales for the JBL 9.1 IMO. And with the detachable & totally wireless rears, this was a perfect fit (for me)! (Did I mention sale?...) I get some may not want to be restricted by recharging the rears daily, I only move them when I have content (4Kmovie?) that allows it to be utilized, otherwise it’s one bigger frt. soundbar till then. If your using your 4K content for more than 6+ hours a day, then this is NOT the right bar for you. Get rears that are wired for full time sound! You will be happier -period. In use, as you increase volume it really fills the space well. A suggestion by “Audio Advice” which I find to be true was to lower the bass and rears for more center channel if desired. This is where you will pay more for even better sound dispersement, (niche) vs need. The rears are only charged in “STDBY” mode which is considered off. When I’m not wanting any surround sound and only want speech/voice (news,documentaries...), I place in “STDBY” and turn on internal TV speakers which helps isolate voices. (Please note, my listening volumes are normally lower due to apt living, so that is why my focus on vocals here.) The Surround is doing what it is supposed to do, but when you only want speech- like when your in a loud room filled with other sound and your trying to converse with someone, the rest is distracting. You can turn OFF the bass and rears by pressing the remote buttons and focus the ctr ch. only if you prefer. Knowing what to expect for the price point is why I feel this is an ideal apartment sound bar, and most avg size homes. Final thought, the objective of the JBL 9.1 -surround sound at modest price, does that well!

So far, this has been a fantastic upgrade from our old soundbar. Sounds are very rich, both with movies and music, the bass is powerful if you want it to be, and being able to adjust the level of bass and how much the Atmos sound is on allows us to have the desired sound for different types of shows, movies, music and times of day (turning down the bass at night to not annoy others in the house). Bluetooth and wireless connectivity work great as well. We like the digital display being behind the grill. And finally, being able to have surround sound speakers when we want them, but not all the time (we just don't want rear speakers cluttering up our living room full time) is fantastic! I would have given 5 stars but we had a couple of issues out of the box. The first is that we could not get the speakers to calibrate. The second was that we could not connect the system wirelessly to our network using Airplay (the speakers showed up as a wi-fi network rather than as airplay on our iPhone 12). For the later, we had to hook the system up using an ethernet cable, at which point it updated itself without issues. Once it was updated to the latest software/firmware, Airplay worked correctly and we were able to calibrate the system. So make sure you update your system! We haven't yet hooked up our Harmony Universal remote, so not yet sure how well it will work with this speaker, but the Arc system connection to our TV seems to work well (I just wish we had eArc). Some other things that would make this a five start system: I wish we could create presets for the system like "movie" or "TV" or "Night Mode". I wish there were more HDMI connectors. I wish you could connect to the system with a web-interface to really tweak the sound, like with a EQ. But so far we really like this system.

I bought this in December i believe, the detachable speakers don't charge properly when connected to the bar so i always have to plug them into to the wall to charge. The concept is great but i find it lacking for a group of people, the sound and bass are just not enough. If you take the detachable speakers and put them on your sides for personal listening they are fantastic and give you your own little surround sound concert. I would only buy this again for a small room, and if i didn't plan on entertaining more than one other person.

sound is great when it work. the satellite speakers only work when connected to main speaker. They do not hold a charge at all. if connected via a USB they also do not work as they need to pair with main speaker and that wont work without main speaker and a charge., warranty has expired after one year, they sropped working correctly after about six months and ....my fault life gets in the way and tried to havce fixed too late. at $1300 i would expect much more. I DO NOT recommend and will not be purchasing any more JBL products.

I was a little sceptical about buying a wireless system. Due to reviews of people saying that signal get interrupted or not good synching. So I give it a try to this system. And let me tell you that it is the best decision I took. Easy installation Great sound I'm talking about good bass, mids, and highs. Loud but clear sound. I watched movies on 4k with ATMOS sound And the system pull every single sound of the movie and delivered it around the speakers. The removable speakers can be placed anywhere, to have a true surround system. And they last for few hours (I used them for about 6 hours) that's because I stopped , but they can last longer. In general a awesome JBL System This purchase was worth every single penny.

This is amazing! The sound quality is super pure, and feels like you’re in the movie/show whatever you watching. Deep bass coupled with simple removable surround option. The World Cup was next level with this!

This system brings the power with raw bass, crisp audio, and fluid surround sound! It has turned my living room into a movie theater with it's absolute power and sound quality! Beyond worth the price!

This is the best sounding soundbar I've ever had 9.1 and a powerful subwoofer that you can actually hear

Amazing sound. I wish there was more customization of how high the bass is compared to sound. I’ve really have been having problems with the connection to my tv through the hdmi cable. I also have been having problems actually connecting it to the jbl one app. By problems i literally mean actually not being able to connect it at all. At times it won’t even play audio via bluetooth or even air drop via iphone.

Love it sounds great like the detachable speakers surround sounds is great and great bass when playing music

Amazing sound quality and fairly easy to set up. The detachable surround speakers work very well. Provides the flexibility to place them anywhere. Highly recommended!!

Fantastic product! Very easy Set up that took about 5-10 minutes. Remote is easy to work, and especially liked the different Dolby Atmos listening options. The sound is phenomenal on this thing. I could hear parts of a song in the background that I never noticed in the past. The detachable (magnetic) rear speakers are perfect for movie night and don’t cause any clutter with wiring (they charge when reattached on the bar). Subwoofer packs a punch and I often have to turn it down because of how loud it can get. 10/10 would recommend this

Great sound and very easy to set up. The price is good for truly wireless surround sound with this sort of quality. A high quality receiver and good speakers would be more. However, auto calibration can be finicky. Seems like the room has to be almost completely empty or at least nothing blocking between the rear speakers and main bar. Music doesn’t sound the best through it but I only wanted it to watch movies and it is great for that. Bass is great and surround actually feels very immersive. The detachable speakers really appeal to my geeky side but as a parent, the less wires the better.

This is one of the best speaker bars I’ve had. I just love the ability to pull out the rear speakers for movies or sporting events. Typically they stay put for regular tv shows, but when I really want that Dolby surround to kick in, I pull the speakers off and find a place behind the couch for them. The bass is fantastic with the large sub. It’s quite easy to set up. Just watch a video or two to get the right settings. The only thing I would change is to be able to adjust more of the equalizer sounds to perfect it for my hearing and space.

Easy setup and sounds amazing. I wish there was an external power input for the surrounds (batteries last about 2.5-3 hours) , but other than that, its perfect