Bar 500MK2

I bought a JBL 500 MK2. It's terrible and I wish I hadn't thrown out the box or i'd be sending it straight back. Don't do it. It's garbage. Please listen to me on this.

For it not to sound like shit when it costs $1000 CAD

The problem isn't the power, it's the shoddy handling of surround effects. The centre channel dialog is quiet, while the surround effects are too loud. Some shows you can't hear what's being said unless you turn it way up, and then the other parts of the show are far too loud.

I bought a JBL Bar 500 MK2 on sale. Garbage. Complete waste of money. My 15 year old Klipsh soundbar puts it to shame. It's so bad that i'm just going to throw it out and go back to my Klipsh. If I hadn't thrown out the box already it'd be going back to BestBuy. Can't believe I spent money on this trash. Never again JBL!

I tried adjusting all the settings, searched reddit and tried the various suggestions people have. The dialog in certain shows is quiet, while surround effects are too loud. Not running calibration and turning off dolby seemed to help a bit, but plugging in my old Klipsh soundbar was a night and day difference. This JBL bar can go in my toddler's play room and get beat on.

I have tried both and found the SB595 much more immersive than 500mk2. May be it is because of 2 height channels but the projected sound felt more immersive than the anemic sound of 500mk2

Both were adequately loud in my 20x15 room but 500mk2 was louder and SB595 had a better soundstage

I have tried SB595 and for the price, I prefer it's sound over JBL Bar 500mk2 which I returned. SB595 has much more immersive sound and the atmos effect is really audible.

I agree with what you say. I had it for 10 days. The bass was strong, but dialogue was poor. Even though I understood the improved sound quality, I could barely hear my voice. Then I had the opportunity to get a Bose Smart Ultra on sale for €490 new. I didn't waste a second in making the change. Now the audio is understandable, but in the future I'll expand it with subs and surround speakers.

JBL Bar 500mk2 is pretty damn good.

So I purchased my first soundbar recently due to me being tied of just TV speaker audio when I am so used to studio monitors and good quality headphones for consuming and listening to content. I did some research on the best soundbars I could find at about $500 USD or less. My needs were simple. I wanted a soundbar to not disrupt my roommates but that can produce a decently balanced and enjoyable sound. I stumbled across a few good options and this recent Best Buy sale happened to put me even more options within my budget. I’ve noticed a lack of people comparing these two soundbars after a lot of me trying to compare the JBL BAR500MK2 and the Sonos Beam Gen 2, so I took the plunge and got the Sonos. I tested it briefly at my mom’s and at Best Buy beforehand, so I had an idea on what to expect. It just sounded fine but I liked how it could be upgraded with extra speakers if I did enjoy the sound. I purchased the soundbar, got home, set it up, and did multiple TruePlay calibrations to get it to best fit the room. It was just okay. I found the low end to be relatively slow and boxy, lower mids to be inflated, upper mids to be a bit shouty, and the treble to be straight up fatiguing. Maybe I was being too critical and had to let my ears to adjust to a bar of sound vs speakers. But it was fine enough. I’ve never used a sub for my studio monitors and felt satisfied so I figured this could do good enough and the low end it could produce was impressive. The stereo imaging seemed good for what it was and the soundstage felt slightly wider than I expected. Then I booted up Metroid Prime 4 for the first time to test it out with a friend. I’ve never heard the score or audio design of this game beforehand but I could tell what it needed to sound like and it just didn’t sound right. I had the EQ at bass -2 and treble to +3 to balance things out along with enabling and disabling other settings. But I just wasn’t happy after a few hours of playing. This is when I tapped out. So off to Best Buy I went and tested the following systems: Sony Bravia Theater Bar 6, Klipsch Flexus Core 200, Samsung HW-S700D, JBL BAR500MK2, and the Sonos Beam again for good measure. The JBL was best by a landslide to my ears followed by the Sony and it wasn’t even close. The huge removed 10” downfiring subwoofer was a concern to me but it really did free up the other frequencies to not get overburdened and to really shine. It even worked well on reflective tile flooring. Sure I could have spent $500 for a Sonos sub mini, doubling my budget, to pair with the Beam. But if I’m not happy with the Beam on its own, then what’s the point? To my ears, everything about the JBL is better from an audio standpoint. The soundstage is substantially wider, the sound feels more balanced with just a mild need for a bass reduction in the EQ, and it feels more full and lively. But the bass is tight, full, and punchy. It really has the same characteristics I love about my JBL LSR305 monitors. I didn’t expect much from a consumer grade piece of audio hardware from JBL but it really is good. And yes, it has a proper EQ with 7 bands vs just bass and treble on the Sonos to really fine tune your sound. Plus the room correction tool maybe 10-15 seconds and was perfect on the first try. I will say, the button Konami code type combinations for the remote kinda such to enable things like Night Mode that isn’t visible in the app and the Sonos app generally felt more refined and was enjoyable to use on iPad, unlike JBL One. But I prioritize the sound over this and the sound is far better in the JBL for me. If you have a Beam 2, and like it, I’m thrilled for you. But if you’re disappointed, maybe JBL or Sony could be a better route for the price.

The MK2 I’ve heard has a much tighter and faster low end response. I don’t have any personal experience but as a snobby person, I do like the 500 Mk2 a lot for what it’s trying to do

I’ve only tested the 200 and I found the 500 Mk2 to be substantially better. Plus the EQ to tune the 500 was nice but I do think it’s still worth testing them out if you can. Though your room can substantially affect the final results. The 210 could be killer for all I know though

I’ve read about the infamous update they pushed out and I decided to pull the trigger regardless while knowing I can return it. I haven’t had any issues with the app personally, but I read somewhere that someone compared Sonos to Bose and it clicked for me. It’s all features first and sound second with the sound being more muddy than I expected. I just couldn’t see the Beam sounding more worth it than $200-300 but I’m glad it did, since that led me to try other options. I’ve always looked down upon soundbars but this JBL really changed my mind. I’m curious how the Bar 300 stacks against Sonos for future recommendations. I will say, Sonos’ ecosystem seems impressive and the ability to add and mix so many speaker options is pretty cool. Even their IKEA partnership to build speakers into (less than attractive) lamps is pretty cool. I just wish their products sounded better.

Personally for that budget, the best I tested was the JBL Bar500 Mk2. I adore my JBL studio monitors and this is probably the first consumer product of theirs that I genuinely enjoy.

Have had the JBL BAR500MK2 now for about a week and have it dialed in every which way from Sunday to get the voices to be clear and audibly louder than the background sounds. I personally love how it sounds, but my wife is still saying the voices sound muffled and difficult to hear when there's any background sound. I also love the huge subwoofer and feel like most other soundbars out there have these tiny little 6" subwoofer drivers and pale in comparison to my 10" in the JBL. So, looks like I'm still in search of a permanent soundbar setup. I do not have space for rears, so bar + sub is what I'm restricted to. Budget is $600. What are your best recommendations for a soundbar with sub in this price range that emphasizes voice (and has good bass)?

Yeah, I'm disappointed because I love the bass of the 10" subwoofer of the 500MK2.

I have the voice control turned on and bass all the way down and yet the whole family is complaining that the voices are muffled with this new soundbar. Is that inherent with this soundbar? Changing the equalizer settings makes zero difference. I love the huge subwoofer and bass but I might be in the minority on this one. Looking like I'm going to have to find an alternative for under $500.

No, it went back to Best Buy begrudgingly. I really liked it but the wife did not. Could not find the settings to make it sound how she wanted. If it were up to me, I would have kept the JBL. I tested that one, the Klipsch Flexus Core 210, and a Bravia Theater Bar 6. We are keeping the Sony. I will admit, it does sound the best for clear dialogue. Not the heaviest bass, but it does have a nice punch to it. I thought about trying the Polk model you mentioned but just ended up not doing it. Curious how that would sound.

I had JBL 500mk2 for a while and while it was great, there was a “thinness” to the sound if it makes sense. It felt weak in the mids. So I never considered 1300mk2 thinking it might sound similar. Also, I don’t want to deal with detachable battery powered satellites. I am sure their battery will weaken overtime