JBL Bar 9.1

amazon JBL Bar 9.1 reviews

Soundbars have a tough job. The good ones somehow replace a full 5.1 home theater surround system with a single stretch cabinet and possibly a wireless subwoofer.

Any soundbar that uses satellite speakers – whether hooked up to the soundbar or just hooked up to a power outlet – can produce better sound, but they do so at the cost of convenient and physical space; that’s the whole reason the soundbar makes sense to so many.

That’s what makes JBL’s Bar 9.1 so appealing: Using a pair of all-battery-powered wireless satellites not only promises true audio separation of physical speakers but also throws Dolby Atmos in. mix for a great 3D experience – all for around $1,000.

JBL has set the bar high itself, ahem, for Bar 9.1. Will it be successful? Let’s find out together.

Design

I don’t think soundbars should draw attention to themselves – at least not intuitively – and Bar 9.1 does its best to keep its physical presence to a minimum. Honestly, it’s boring, but in the best possible way.

Its dark gray plastic case has only the tiniest light, and even at its widest — with both satellite modules mounted at either end — it’s still just 47 inches long. Disassemble the modules, and you are left with only 35 inches.

It’s also amazingly short, just under 2.5 inches tall. That should fit all but the shortest of TV stands. The minimal set of four top-mounted controls is easily overlooked, and the scrolling LED display on the front hides behind the speaker grille and is completely invisible when not in use.

Bar 9.1 keeps its physical presence to a minimum. It looks boring but in the best possible way.

Subwoofers are a different story. It’s a bulky and boxy unit that will prove to be a challenge to disguise if you don’t want it still visible.

Suppose you’re wondering how these detachable wireless satellites work when the Bar 9.1 is mounted on the wall (which you can do with the included hardware). In that case, it’s awesome: The Magnificent Mounting Magnet is strong. It takes a concerted effort — and sometimes both hands — to pull them apart for free when seated. Although I didn’t test it, there is also an option to wall-mount the satellites in their secondary locations.

When fully charged, the satellites will give you about 10 hours of playtime, and a warning message will pop up on the Bar’s display to let you know when they need a boost. Replacing them is the easiest way to do this, but smartly, the satellites have their micro-USB port, which means you can technically leave them in place behind or mount them on the wall and just run a micro-USB cable for them to keep them charging. That can be an attractive option if you’re planning on replaying the Lord Of The Rings movies because when depleted, the satellite’s battery takes three hours to recharge fully.

Soundbars should be simple to set up and use, but the JBL Bar 9.1 takes simplicity to the next level.

There’s only one quirk to this amazing design: In some markets, JBL includes a set of four end caps to cover the exposed charging contacts on the rod and satellites when they’re not docked. The ability to permanently leave the satellites in this state thanks to those micro-USB charging ports makes a lot of sense.

Establish

Soundbars should be simple to set up and use, but the JBL Bar 9.1 takes simplicity to the next level. Once you’ve plugged the soundbar and subwoofer into their respective power outlets and connected the bar’s HDMI output to the TV’s HDMI-ARC (or eARC) port with the included HDMI cable, you’ve done the basics copy.

The final step is to calibrate the system. Drag wraparound modules from their home to the side of the main bar and place them next to yours. A three-second press on a remote’s buttons produces a short but loud test sound played by the bar’s built-in mics. Place the arches around their final position and repeat the test. It took me longer to unbox the components than to set them up.

You can also connect Bar 9.1 to Wi-Fi to stream AirPlay or Chromecast music. Oddly, this has to be done using Apple’s Home app or Google’s Home app on a smartphone or tablet. My attempts to use Apple Home failed, but Google Home booted it up.

Connection

Simply great, until it gets in the way of what you want to do. The JBL Bar 9.1’s ports are a prime example: You get one HDMI input, one HDMI ARC output, optical input, and a USB port.

That means that if you have multiple source devices, like streaming players, Blu-ray players, game consoles, etc., you will have to make some choices around how they are connected and how you switch between them. At this price point, I think the Bar 9.1 should act as a real A/V receiver replacement, with at least four HDMI inputs.

The inclusion of an optical port may be useful for those with older non-HDMI ARC TVs but be warned: Dolby Atmos doesn’t work over optical connections. So if you want the full Atmos experience on older TVs, source Your Atmos device must be connected to the Bar’s only HDMI input.

The USB port is a mystery to me. JBL says you can use it to play music from a USB stick or an external drive, but I can’t see why you’d want to. It only supports MP3 files and has no way to control playback at all.

Smart feature

Although most high-end soundbars these days have voice assistant compatibility, the JBL Bar 9.1 doesn’t claim official support for any of them. Perhaps it was an oversight; I could configure the soundbar in both the Google Home and Apple Home apps, and Google Assistant and Siri both recognized it and let me start music streams.

However, Amazon’s Alexa seems to be the odd AI.

A more puzzling question is why the Bar 9.1 is not yet equipped as a true smart speaker? The Sonos Beam lets you talk to Google Assistant or Alexa for less than half the price, and JBL’s own $400 Link Bar acts as both a Google smart speaker and an Android TV streamer.

Sound quality

Overall, the JBL Bar 9.1 makes good on its promise to deliver a powerful home theater experience. When it comes to movies and shows with Dolby Atmos soundtracks or even just Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, you’ll be immersed in a block of sound.

I had a blast watching John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, a movie specifically designed to showcase the power of Bar 9.1. Gunshots can be heard with precision from different corners of the room, while the motorcycle chase scene lets you feel the growing groan of the bike’s engines as they approach from behind. Then level up on Wick’s ride (even if only for a short time).

You might be tempted to have the rear speakers attached to the soundbar, but this should be avoided. Bar 9.1 relies heavily on the positions of these satellites to provide a great experience and does a poor job at reproducing spatial sound without them.

With a subwoofer as big and heavy and powerful as the one that comes with the Bar 9.1, you’d expect some serious bass, and it doesn’t disappoint. The part that shoots down less than 10 inches will easily loosen your filling if you leave it on. With 300 watts on tap, the good thing is that the remote lets you choose from five levels of bass response – I found that level five can be a bit annoying at times.

Please do not drop the bass too much; At its lowest, the Bar 9.1 loses a significant amount of low-end; it’s clear that the drivers in the soundbar haven’t been tweaked to work well without a sub. It’s a package deal.

The biggest shortcoming is the lack of dialogue enhancement mode.

Just like the Bar 9.1’s surround sound systems, some caveats keep it from turning to the kind of performance I’ve come to expect from a soundbar at this price point.

The biggest drawback is the lack of EQ settings. You can change the bass level, the level at which the Atmos speakers work their magic, and the volume intensity of the satellites, but that’s all she wrote. There are no separate settings for movies, TV shows, or music and no way to control the treble or midrange independently. Even budget soundbars have more options than this. However, the biggest shortcoming is the lack of dialog enhancement mode.

The Bar 9.1 is also a mediocre music machine. Suppose you exclusively play tracks that benefit from the latest recording techniques, like Beck’s Hyperspace album or Billie Eilish’s No Time To Die track. In that case, it’s quite enjoyable to be surrounded by songs. But go back in time for a more traditional mix and sound trapped in the soundbar’s enclosure.

Solving this problem is the lack of a mid-range definition. You can use the Bar 9.1 as a Bluetooth speaker, but I recommend using AirPlay or Chromecast, both of which sound much better.

Wireless Calamity

You risk interference and other connection problems anytime you cut off the physical connection between the source and the speakers. I’ve seen this happen on true wireless Bluetooth headphones more than once. Sadly, it can also affect the performance of Bar 9.1’s wireless satellites.

Sometimes I notice that both wireless speakers are poorly connected. It’s not a constant – most of the time, things are very stable, but I can hear them intermittently now and then. Given what I do for a living, my media room probably has more wireless devices than average, which can certainly contribute, but the room itself is relatively small. The speakers are never more than eight feet from the sound and are always in view, without any physical barriers.

That will play out differently depending on your personal space, but it’s something to watch out. These speakers are wireless, so if you find that their connection is unstable, there is probably little you can do to improve it.

The JBL Bar 9.1 is an innovative solution to an age-old problem: Get better audio immersion without sacrificing soundbar simplicity. You can put it almost anywhere with an easy setup and wireless speaker; it’s a very slick design. However, input options, minimal sound settings, and lackluster music reproduction are hard-to-swallow limitations at this price point.

where can you get a JBL Bar 9.1 online

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