Customer Ratings & Reviews

From the moment you unbox the sound system, there’s a definite feeling of handling a premium speaker. The packaging was well thought of and it shows that JBL is making good efforts to showcase how premium this speaker is. The speaker looks elegant with bronze/ gold accent at the front of the speaker. It feels a bit heavy so that’s good, a quality speaker should never feel light. Before doing anything, it’s best to download the JBL One app so that the moment you start listening to music the device has already been updated to the latest firmware. It doesn’t take long to connect the device to the wifi network from the app and it would apply the latest firmware update automatically. The sound system is equipped with the latest trends in audio tech that includes Dolby Atmos, Alexa and Google assistant. Aside of Wifi, in terms of connectivity there’s also Bluetooth. Music streaming services are integrated with the Wifi connectivity and Google/ Alexa voice assistant. There is also an Ethernet and USB-C port. Not only that the product supports Airplay, it also supports Alexa Multi-Room Music, Chromecast Built-in and Spotify connect. So on to the most important thing we would expect from a sound system, what about the audio quality? Does it deserve the premium look and features? In a nutshell yes. You just got to experience it yourself. This is a powerful speaker, even at 50% of volume level it’s already enough to fill a medium sized room. There’s a very good blend of low, mid and high. I particularly like the bass performance; it doesn’t sound booming but definitely powerful and smooth. Frequency response is also good as I can hear the different nuances of musical instrument and vocals without being overcrowded. Overall, this is a very good audio product by JBL.

The most impressive aspect of this speaker is its sound quality. The speakers on this unit are powerful and accurate. And music stays clear at any volume. I can crank up the volume close to max without hearing distortion. It’s seven speakers (3 tweeters, 3 mid, and active 1 sub), do an excellent job reproducing voice, instruments, and bass. Given the speakers unique layout, this unit also does a good job separating sound. It’s not going to match a hi-res stereo setup, but for a standalone speaker, it does cast a somewhat wide sound stage. And when Dolby Atmos music is playing through this speaker, different instruments are even more spread out and distinct. However, I found that Dolby Atmos doesn’t necessarily improve every song that is encoded in this manner. Certain songs sound better in traditional two channel stereo. But that’s the beauty of this speaker. It’s going to sound great playing everything in stereo, which is pretty much how 99% of people are going to listen to their music. But if you do adventure into the latest Dolby Atmos recordings, you’ll begin to hear instruments in fuller or different ways. For example, when listening to the classic hit, Zombies, by The Cranberries, the drums hits have more depth, like if I was listening in person. I went back and forth between the stereo version and the Dolby Atmos version and could tell how in the stereo version, the drums were compressed with the rest of the instruments and vocals. I’m not saying that the stereo version is any lesser in quality though; the speaker plays the music wonderfully. It’s just nice to be able to hear music spatially because of the speaker’s ability to play music encoded in Dolby Atmos. I’ve tried to experience Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio through a headset that supports these formats, but haven’t had much success in hearing the difference. So, I’ve never appreciated this format in the past. But JBL’s implementation of this new format has allowed me to start appreciating it more. A couple of other examples of songs that allowed this speaker to shine are Yeah!, by Usher, and Chaise Longue by Wet Leg. Yeah! is a club song, which is heavy on the bass. I was able to hear and feel the speaker’s ability to produce strong low frequencies, and at high volume without distortion. The 6.5 inch down firing subwoofer will not disappoint when playing bass heavy songs. When playing the Dolby Atmos version of Chaise Longue, the vocals and beat sounded clear with the right amount of separation. I preferred the Atmos version of this song over the stereo version. As a side note, I listened to the different versions of songs through Tidal. Tidal has a section dedicated to songs encoded in Dolby Atmos music. And to get the most potential out of the songs, I cast the songs from the Tidal app to the speaker. This allows for a higher bandwidth of data transmitted to the speaker, as opposed to using a Bluetooth connection. With more data transmitted, the better the sound reproduction. A few things to note: the Google assistant works as expected, but like most speakers, the voice assistant speaks at the volume level last used. So, if you are rocking out to loud music, then ask Google something, he/she will respond in an extremely loud voice. Given the fact that this speaker can get extremely loud, it can scare the heck out of you. It happened to me enough times that I turned off the assistant feature. I already had a small Google speaker in the room that handled my assistant requests. Another thing, I do wish there was the ability to save customized equalizer settings. Right now, the app only allows for one low, medium, and high setting at a time. Hopefully, in a future app update, these adjustments can be saved and applied to different kinds of music. Also, it would be nice if left and right RCA inputs were built into the speaker; only a 2.5mm auxiliary input is included. Other than that, I am extremely happy with this speaker.

The JBL Authentics 500 is everything I personally want in a home bluetooth speaker. From the design aesthetic, to the crystal clear sound quality, to the full rich bass, this high end top of the line bluetooth speaker ticks all the boxes for my personal audio preferences. Starting with sound quality, I have never had an all-in-one speaker system that has touched my ears and senses the way this one does. The down firing bass woofer sets this one apart from the rest. You can literally feel the bass notes. The mids and highs are all present and crystal clear. The stereo spread is wide and full. I own several bluetooth speakers ranging in size from tiny, to large, but this one is the largest I currently own. Could that be why it sounds the best? I do believe that is one of the reasons. Larger enclosures house larger speakers and by that rule alone, the sound should generate increased fullness. Yet, size alone doesn't account for the sonic marvel that is the JBL Authentics 500. It is the result of JBL's decades-long commitment to innovation in the speaker industry. The culmination of their pioneering efforts manifests in this masterpiece, positioning them at the zenith of the Bluetooth speaker market. It's only natural for a brand with such an illustrious history to reign supreme, continually pushing the boundaries of what's achievable in audio perfection. I have used JBL speakers for decades, ranging from studio monitors, to bookshelf speakers, to headphones, and now bluetooth speakers. Needless to say, I am a fan. A huge fan. The build quality is top notch, boasting an aluminum frame and leather exterior wrap, making this a rugged and expertly designed speaker that should last a lifetime. The design is simply beautiful to look at. It captures the essence of an old retro speaker cabinet design flawlessly, while also being modern with its materials and up-to-date features. You can put this anywhere in your home and it will look awesome wherever it is placed. Just be sure to put it on a hard level surface so the down facing subwoofer can work its magic. I currently have it in my office and it fills the room with pure hifi sound quality no matter where I am sitting or standing. The full stereo rich sound this produces has me scratching my head as to how a single box can produce such a wide room filling listening experience. Then I think to myself, of course, it’s JBL, they understand these things! There is an app available and I have included some screenshots from my Android phone. An app is nice to have for basic setup and minor EQ adjustments, but (after setup) I don’t think I will use it much because all of the default settings sound awesome and work perfectly for me. This is also fully compatible with Google and Alexa voice commands (even simultaneously), so if you use either of those services, once activated, you can simply tell it what to play without even touching your phone. Awesome! One last thing to try, is to use this with a laptop for gaming. If you set it in front of you above your monitor, you can really have some fun. Talk about a massive sound immersion factor. All in all, I would highly recommend this speaker to anyone that appreciates high quality sound from numerous sources. Thank you, JBL!

JBL - Authentics 500 Smart Home Speaker This JBL speaker is a very well thought out and effective speaker with various capabilities that makes this product more than just a speaker. Now I say this Authentics 500 has some size to it. It is bigger that I anticipated, but not overly so. I will say setup was really quick and easy. I plugged the speaker, it powered on and I set the Bluetooth connected with my iPad and I was listening to White Room by Cream. Then I opened the Quick Start Guide and found out there was an app for this speaker in the Appstore. I download the app on my iPad and the app made it easier to get even more working. the app is available for Apple or Android devices and you can control the device from the app or manually through the controls on the speaker. Besides Bluetooth connectivity, the speaker also has Alexa and Google voice apps built in. I use Alexa and I found in the Quick Start Guide a button that enable Alexa voice control to use with the speaker. For me, that is handy to check the weather or set up an alarm as well as listen to music. I was very impressed with the build, the ease of use, the connectivity. I would recommend this to anyone who would want to acquire a speaker with connectivity.

I just had to try out the new JBL Authentics 500 Smart Home Speaker, especially when I found that it supported Dolby Atmos. All my previous JBL products have been excellent and I knew that this new 270W 3.1 channel speaker for your home would not let me down. And, it sure hasn't disappointed me. With its 3 2.5mm tweeters, 3 2.75" midrange woofers, and its 6.5" down-firing sub-woofer creating distinctive bass, this versatile speaker took my Dolby Atmos coded musical inputs and output a thrilling multi-dimensional soundscape. It doesn't matter what genre of music that you play, if it is coded for Dolby Atmos, you will find aspects of the music that you didn't realize were there, or that they could make such impactful audio. It also doesn't matter at what volume you play the piece, the sound is clear and rich. Speaking of audio volume, I live in a townhouse surrounded by 2 neighbors (who I like), so I never even got close to raising the volume even to half of what this speaker can put out. I really didn't need to raise it any higher, because the sound was full and awesome. The only downside that I encountered was the initial setup through the JBL application, then setting up to my Wi-Fi router, then setting up to get high end audio files from the TIDAL website, and then setting up to use Alexa and Google for voice commands, then linking my phone via Blue Tooth, and then finally linking my audio files to play on voice command. The setup was not difficult, just time consuming and I still am not sure whether it is best to play the files directly from TIDAL, or downloaded to my phone and played from there, or to play through the JBL site with TIDAL linked, or to play from the Amazon or Google sites with TIDAL linked. It will take some more trying out. But in the end, the JBL Authentics 500 Smart Home Speaker allows me to totally immerse into my favorite music and get blissfully lost in its soundscapes on command. I would totally recommend this fine speaker to a friend!

Unless you absolutely have to save the money to get one of the smaller ones, buy this, the subwoofer rounds out the music in a way the others simply can not. It’s and amazing 3.1 channel system in a small size with clarity and power that will shock most people. Given the bluetooth and airplay features and lack of a battery, this thing should last years without any major issues even beyond it being updated. This thing looks fantastic and sounds great. Play with the EQ a bit if you need to, I prefer a more V shaped eq for most music but just be aware.

The speaker plays very loud and has a nice full and rich sound. The built in subwoofer provides more low end than one would expect from a 6.5" driver and it easily fills a room with deep bass. The multidirectional tweeters provide clear sound off axis as well as straight on and do their job admirably. Don't expect true stereo separation unless you sit close and directly in front of the speaker but it has a nice open sound. The bass and treble knobs are very handy and work well (although feel a little cheap for a $700 smart speaker), same with the volume knob, which had a very slight wiggle to it after only a day. My main disappointments are the price, the lack of any type of display, and the knobs. I actually ended up getting the JBL Boombox 3 and it has a very similar sound profile and just as much bass for $349. To me that's a much better deal if you don't need Wifi or smart speaker functions and you don't mind the different styling.

Pros: Has a live feeling to audio (you do need to increase the mid in the eq a tad bit), Good, clean and clear audio. Bass is heavy. Supports wifi connectivity, fast and easy to connect. Gets really loud, Assistant usage ability is pretty good. Cons: Lacks High fidelity local ports, lacks a MID adjustment dial, lacks surround audio (best audio is when hear forward facing and same plane as your ears) , the heart/like playlist button supports only selective services. Overall: No regrets buying it. Speaker can handle most genres with ease.

Works seamless with google home, which is what I was looking for. I like the look and the sound is great.

Bought this to upgrade my marshall speaker due to not having a builtin alexa and my wife was impressed with how well the speaker looked. I was impressed with how well the speaker performs. I enjoy the perfect balance of bass and hi's as well the mid's. The only downside we dont like is the alexa. It does have a delay, but if you just talk without waiting for the blue alexa indicator, the device works just flawlessly. Takes some time to trust the speaker is listening to you from the moment you ask alexa.

Speaker works well and adapts to any place you leave it in the room. It also gets loud enough to fill the whole room. The bass on this is the best of any home speaker I've heard.

Incredible sound. This speaker is so loud and the base is so heavy. The whole ground shakes and it is very well balanced when you use the knobs

I am not quite an audiophile but I enjoy crisp clear music. I always research a purchase to the point friends ask me when they buy stuff. I am probably going to buy a second for my home in the bedroom. I only wish they offered it in white and gold. in my office the black matches but in my bedroom I have lighter tones and would liek it to match.

The power from this speaker is unbelievable. It gets loud…probably louder than what you’d expect if you’re still on the fence about purchasing it. The bass is, by far, the most impressive out of any (powered) Bluetooth speaker I’ve owned. You can truly see the flex range in motion on the bottom-mounted 6” sub. I can actually feel the bass in the floor around the table I have this unit sitting on. The most impressive point I want to mention about this speaker is its sound quality at lower volumes. I actually ended up returning a Klipsch “The Three” powered Bluetooth speaker before purchasing the JBL Authentics 500 because I thought it failed in this category. At lower volumes, the Klipsch sounded no different than a $50 cheap, off-brand Bluetooth speaker. The Klipsch didn’t truly shine until it reached louder volumes. Well I have neighbors that I need to be somewhat cognizant of (LoL), so I will most-often be using my speaker at lower to mid volume levels. On the other hand, the quality and even the bass still shine through very well at lower volumes on the JBL Authentics 500. This is a major selling point for me and wanted to highlight it. Personally, I’d recommend the Authentics 500 especially for large spaces, parties, or if you have the freedom to blast music as loud as you truly want. If you live in an apartment, this unit is honestly too much for your needs. You could save yourself some money and go with a smaller, less powerful speaker. The Authentics 500 is a monster.

this speaker brings out the excitement and detail of streaming music. easy to setup and JBL did a great job making the speaker look nice. It would of been nice if there was a power button.

Great sound, very good bass. This thing is big! I do wish it supported higher quality codecs

Wow. My wife was really upset i got this, until 10 seconds into the first song. Amazing speaker.

Set up was easy using the JBL one app. I usually connect using Wi-Fi, but Bluetooth is also available. The Wi-Fi is supposed to give better sound, I can barely tell the difference. The unit sounds very good, the bass response is adequate, and overall very happy with my purchase. Keep in mind, however, that this is a relatively expensive speaker but I think you will be happy with your purchase

The speaker is from another world. The mudic soubds crisp and honestly recommend for all music loversss. The audio is just amazing and my neighbors have even thrown complain bc the music gets loud even when its at a low volume.

Perfect gift for dads. Great sound system and easy to connect to any devices.