Customer Ratings & Reviews

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.

This soundbar sounds great with movies that have an Atmos sound track. Truly impressive. Were this the only purpose, I would love the Bar 9.1, but there are some issues preventing me from really enjoying this. After a week with it, I am debating returning. Here are the issues: 1. The remote is awful. If the room is dark, you cannot read the buttons as there is no backlight and it is dark grey writing on black buttons. Further, some of the advanced commands, like turning off Smart Mode, requires awkward button combinations and a manual. 2. Smart Mode is on by default every time you turn the Bar on. You cannot change this setting. This means I have to do the super awkward command of "hold mute for at least three seconds, release, and within a half second press volume up." Smart Mode also largely sounds bad, and it feels like someone put a delay pedal between the unit and rears. 3. There are no EQ settings, only independent three-stage adjustments for Atmos, rear, and sub levels. You can play with these to compensate some, but it is really annoying. Setting 3 on the sub isn't enough bass, while setting 4 will get me HOA complaints. 4. One HDMI input in addition to the eArc is inadequate. This is on me for not doing my research in this regard. 5. Every adjustment of levels causes sound to cut for a split second. Why this happens when I just want to turn up a rear speaker, I do not know, but it is annoying, especially with the lack of EQ settings. 6. The rear speakers do not output equal volume. The right rear is louder than the left. I am going to calibrate the surrounds again and have an objective friend come listen to see if they hear it. It may be me as my left ear's hearing is a little weaker than the right

The sound is very clear, the bass can make you wonder "what's that noise" "where's it coming from"! Doesn't seem like the battery on the side speakers lasts very long.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Great sound! I especially like the deep bass you can feel and the detachable, wireless speakers you can position behind you when you want that immersing surround sound.

Best sound bar I have ever bought. Having the flexibility to remove and position the side speakers is amazing. Gives other brands a run for their money with this setup. Bass is beyond superb. You can adjust the sound level of the wireless sub. Im happy all around. And this is almost a year of usage already snd just making a review now giving me the chance to really test it out. Two thumbs up, if I had more thumbs, I'd give it more. Stop looking, this is the sound bar you need.

Great soundbar with detachable speakers that become back speakers. Amazing sound and booming wireless subwoofer that makes the room shake. It’s a bit pricey but worth it.

Absolutely love this sound bar. Sound is fantastic for its price. Im a JBL fan and this does not disappoint. Bass is clean too.