Customer Ratings & Reviews

The audio quality is great. I was looking for something stylish that provided good sound and this was it. The WiFi streaming feature allows for better sound quality than regular Bluetooth. Although there are some latency issues, they are minor. Overall the best speaker if you can find it for a discount.

The JBL Authentics 500 Smart Home Speaker blends a cool vintage look with today's audio tech. Its 270-watt power and Dolby Atmos support create rich, room-filling sound. People love its top-notch audio and stylish design, though some mention it's a bit big and on the pricier side.

I bought this one and the 300 for portable use. The finish and build quality is very nice. This 500 speaker sounds like a concert in my living room. JBL app needs some work (no Spotify?), but overall would recommend it, especially when its on sale (usually seen it $100 off). Note that unlike the 300, the 500 is NOT portable, so it has to be plugged in.

This is a superb offering from JBL. I haven't had a pair of JBL speakers for about 4 years. Now, not only do I have a speaker that looks like my 1970's JBL's, but I have one speaker that easily does the work of 2. The 275w power and the deep resonant bass response is impressive. This speaker blew me away and it's only one of 17 active speakers, all being run by 2 Marantz 6013's and a 5013 for the Bowers + Wilkins 603's and Sonos satellites with soundbar and subwoofer. The remaining speaker sets are 4 KEF LS50's, 4 Definitive Tech 9800's plus matching center speaker. Subs are 2 Martin Logan 1300's, one giant Klipsch to accompany the KEF's and a B+W subwoofer for the studio that contains 4 B+W Anniversary Edition 606's. Out of all of these speakers, the KEF's beat up on all of them. The exception is this JBL Authentics 500. This one speaker fills the living room with amazing multi-dimensional sonics, accompanied by a very impressive low end bass response. I'm impressed.

A wonderful speaker with an amazing, rich sound. The speaker was a simple setup, even easier to connect my preferred audio apps for streaming, my only regret was setting up google assistant on the speaker but that is only because google has ruined their smart home app. so I would suggest not using that functionality. Everything else about the speaker has exceeded my expectations

Best Buy ever! Loving my new JBL speaker. I will be looking in buying the JBL 300 as well for transportation.

Impressive sound from this JBL unit. The price is a bit on the expensive side but it’s worth the cost. Haven’t tested it at full power because it’s plenty loud at mid level. The JBL one app makes tweaking the sound easy to your liking. There are other units under the authentics banner that are worth considering as well.

Excellent. Device…Excellent sound. Best I’ve ever heard. Sound quality is extraordinary

This speaker is amazing. It is just the right size and puts out sound that you would not expect. Its definitely worth the hype and I am not disappointed in my purchase.

Excellent speaker for in home use. Gets extremely loud with fantastic bass and clarity.

Amazing sound and bass. I appreciate great sounding music and this speaker brings that.

Great speaker, amazing sound! Classy look and deep base.

Chromecast and Bass. Thank you!! I've been waiting for this combination for some time. Now my Google Home speaker group is optimized. My bluetooth JBL Boombox 3 is great, but receiving phone calls was always a hassle as the conversation would broadcast from the Boombox when I answered the call. Not an issue with Chromecast. The phone call stays on the phone, and the music keeps going for the rest of 'em listening to music. Yay!

Small footprint. Impressive sound for a small speaker. Fills a three car garage amply. Replaced a very old Bose sound machine from the 90's. Like the connectivity with Amazon Alexa. Looking forward to many years of use while detailing cars.

So I got the speaker and ended up returning it. The sound was great loud crisp and clear and the aesthetics of the speaker were beautiful. I just found the speaker to be too pricey and overkill for my small space. My huge annoyance with it is that if you use it as a Google Assistant or Alexa speaker there is no separate volume control for the assistant itself so if you were listening to music at a super high-level, guess what’s gonna happen when you say “Hey, Google”. It’s gonna blow your eardrums out and or scare the crap out of you if you’re trying to turn on the lights in the morning..

It's the best of its class. However, I decided to spend the same money on a Pair of speakers to give me superior sound and separation. If you want a 1 box for all purposes, this is great.

Good sound with awful voice recognition/assistant. I've basically gotten to the point where I no longer even try to use the voice features on this. It doesn't understand perfectly articulated English, but it will think you're talking to it when you don't even say "Alexa". The sound of the speaker is pretty good... probably four out of five stars. For the cost and size the sound ought to be better, but it's not tinny and crappy. The app is also only okay... not great. The eq. only has three settings (low, mid, high) but there's no way to "train" the voice recognition. Thankfully there's a switch on the back to disable the voice assistant. With that switched off the speaker is a decent bluetooth speaker, but nothing great. And not for the cost. I would recommend this only if you can pick it up on deep sale.

I really really wanted to like this thing. As a matter I think its one of the better looking smart speakers out there. This thing can get very loud and has little to no distortion. I'm not an audio head I just like good music with a little thump. Whether its Hip Hop, Country, R&B, Soul, EDM, whatever you flavor, I listen to a little bit of everything. The HD sound definitely makes a difference when if you have a subscription that offers it. I typically play music from my phone via bluetooth. I was not impressed with the JBL app. The interface just seems boring. My speaker didnt always allow me to cast though it was connected to my home WIFI so it forced me to use BT most of the time. But the deciding factor for me was the lack off bass. It's just now there. It does have a EQ in the app which helps, but IMO it still doesnt deliver the thump I want in a speaker that origianlly cost me over $700. The price dropped 3 times after i bought it so credit to BB for refunding the difference each time, but even after all that, I couldnt force myself to keep it so ended up retruning it.

Great sound. I have the 300 and love the sound, smart assistant capability and portability, but wanted an upgrade for more large room filling sound, and it delivers. Only knock is cost, but sales can be found often.

Outstanding in every way. Brilliant, room filling sound with fantastic bass thanks to the down firing sub. Oozes quality and MCM vibes.