REVIEW: JBL BAR 5.1

With TV’s being made more powerful to display such amazing and vibrant colors in 4K and Ultra High Definition (UHD), why wouldn’t you want your sound to be as good as the picture. Lot’s of people love having that theater sound and effect in their home but, what do you do with the wires that need to be run for your rear channel speakers? You could hire a professional or if you are handy and figure a way to hide the wires as a lot of people do.

JBL, one of the oldest speaker companies in the country, dating back to 1946, has been known for their amazing sound and quality that audiophiles have come to love, has delivered again with another MUST for your family room or home theater. 

 

Meet the BAR 5.1 

 

 

This I like to think of as JBL’s finest creation! You get a nice sleek soundbar with fully detachable, wireless and rechargeable rear surround speakers and a wireless subwoofer giving you 5.1 Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS surround sound for when you are watching movies or listing to music or playing video games.

 

To talk about why I think this soundbar is a MUST have, let’s look at the specs and features:

 

 

*Soundbar: you get a really nice sleek and slim soundbar that can be wall or table mounted that has detachable rear channel speakers. There is also a digital screen integrated within that lets you know what input you are on as well as shows the volume, subwoofer and rear delay levels. (it only displays on the screen for several seconds and then “disappears”)

*Inputs: The BAR 5.1 has three (3) regular HDMI inputs and one (1) HDMI ARC (audio return channel) input. There are also one (1) Analog, one (1) Optical input, one (1) Aux In jack and one (1) USB port to power anything (such as a Firestick or ROKU, etc.) as well for your connections. Last, what would a speaker be these days with out Bluetooth, so the Bar 5.1 has that also, allowing you to easily stream music to it. You also get true 4K connectivity!

 

         

 

 

*Wireless Rear Channel Speakers: These two detachable speaker are 100% wireless and sound AMAZING delivering that rear sound while watching any show/sport or movie, including just listening to music! They charge while connected to both ends of the soundbar and when they are being used as rear channels, they have a full 10 hours of use which is great.

*Subwoofer: The subwoofer plugs into an electrical outlet and then is fully wireless from the soundbar and rear speakers. The subwoofer is an impressive 10″ in size that is down firing and puts out a power punch (you can adjust how strong the bass it from the remote control)

 

 

 

*Remote Control: What’s nice is that you can control the soundbar through your regular TV and/or smart remote as well as use the included one that is loaded with features. Several great features are; adjusting the volume, wireless surround, the bass, sound mode (normal, sports, music, movie, etc.), control the brightness of the display, SoundShift (allows you to instantly switch between sound from your TV and phone/tablet) and other features.

 

 

 

*Bluetooth streaming: I mentioned above that Bluetooth is one of the inputs available. What’s great with the Bar 5.1, besides TV, you can use this amazing soundbar for music. Any device like an Amazon Echo, Google Home or your smartphone/tablet you can use to stream to it. I also have found that you can use the included JBL remote to play/pause the music as well as skip forward or back on your songs.

 

 

 

 

As I said earlier, this is a MUST have for what ever room you watch TV in the most. I have reviewed other JBL speakers in the past and each one has always impressed me. There is a reason they have been around for so many years as they do make very good and high quality speakers.

 

The BAR 5.1 isn’t the cheapest, as it’s $699 and when comparing that to surround sound systems at the big box stores and online, you can find a system for less, but NONE of them offer you completely wireless rear channels as well as you probably need a turner with the less costly models/brands and the other wireless ones I have found cost double the amount when you add in the wireless subwoofer and rear channels.  This is a perfect, straight out of the box solution that I feel you get MORE than your money’s worth and it’s it a nice slim package.

 

Here is a quick recap video of the JBL BAR 5.1:

 

 

 

You can purchase the BAR 5.1 by clicking HERE