JBL - Bar 5.1 Surround

Don't get the 1300x. The batteries will wear out in the wireless speakers after a while. That happened to me with the JBL Bar 5.1 system. I had to plug them in by USB cord and was super annoyed by that. It took maybe 2-3 years for the battery to start dying faster. Also, almost daily issues with connectivity to the surround. They would cut in and out and create a really awful movie watching experience. I would go with the Q990D if $1k is your budget, or maybe even the Q990C which is cheaper. Or you can buy a refurbished Sonos Arc Soundbar from the Sonos Refurbished website ($579), and 2 refurbished era 100s ($159 each) from the Sonos Official eBay store. They have refurbished subs too if you need that.

JBL 1300x doesn't have HDMI 2.1 passthrough. Also, I had the JBL Bar 5.1 for 4 years and the wireless surround speakers weren't great. The battery in them wouldn't keep much of a charge starting in year 3, and the batteries are not meant to be replaced although you can find tutorials on YouTube (definitely a pain in the you know what to do). I got rid of the JBL Bar 5.1 system early last year and got the Q990D. More than pleased with it.

I had the Bar 5.1 w/ detachable surrounds years ago and it was a great sounding one...until the batteries died in the surrounds and I had to ditch the whole thing. I watched a video on YouTube on how to change the batteries, but it required disassembling the whole speaker so I gave up. It took about 4 years for the batteries to get really bad in the surrounds. I switched to micro USB charging for a bit but there was a weird hissing sound in the surrounds when plugged in. Through the bar 5.1 out and got the Q990D for living room, and Sonos Arc Ultra for my small but cozy man cave.

I had the JBL Bar 1000 (and also the Bar 5.1 w/ wireless surrounds + sub). Both sounded great, but both had frequent connectivity issues with the wireless surrounds. They would often have weird crackling sounds in them. I thought it was 5ghz inference but I turned the 5ghz band off on my router, and the wireless speakers still had issues. Also, the battery in my wireless surrounds wore out after 2-3 years so I had to plug them in using USB cables. I would not recommend JBL unfortunately. I would recommend the Q990D/F.

Do you even know what system I have? It's definitely not inferior to a soundbar with batteries in its wireless speakers. I made that mistake years ago with the JBL Bar 5.1 W/ wireless surrounds. Guess what happened, the batteries lost charge after about 4-5 years, which required I then plug them in to use them. Tried to swap the batteries but if you YouTube DIY videos, you will see how complicated it is since these things were not made to have their batteries replaced. So anyway, you can agree all you want about spending a ton of money on something missing modern day features. I'm so happy y'all have something in common! 👏🏾 There are plenty of great sounding systems that have offered it for years now. JBL really needs to have that on all their top end bars. Their competitors offer it.

I concur that the Samsung Q990 series are incredible but I also think they get tons of pub already. I started with a smaller Polk soundbar which was fine but missing something. It was my first soundbar coming from a home theater background so I didn’t expect much. I upgraded to the JBL Bar 5.1 and gave my son the Polk. The JBL sounded good as it gave me the volume, bass and clear dialogue I wanted. We had moved to a small condo and I had to give up the theater room which is why I had gone to a soundbar in the first place. Still missing the theater experience I craved I kept lurking online even after getting the JBL. I ended up jumping in on a Q990C after seeing a great close out price for it on Woot when the Q990D was released. I love this thing, it does a fine job of immersing you into the movie. Atmos music on Apple Music sounds great too. I’m have recently bought a new house and will have a dedicated theater again but the Q990C ain’t going anywhere, it’s staying in the living room - the audio is good and the wife is happy so win-win. I still have the JBL too which will work great for a bedroom, office or maybe the outdoor patio 🤞

I wish JBL offered there older bars with a 12” like there 1300 models do but there 10” sub sounds better then most. Ill use sound bars in my bedrooms and office i also got all mine stupid cheap when they were all fairy new or been out a year or so. A vizio m512a in office if came w an 8” sub wouldve been nice. Then 2 Nakamichis a 7.2 with dual 8” subs for 200$ was 1500$ or so new at time and 250$ for a 9.2.4 eArc 10” subs which was over 1600$ on Amazon back then. Both Geek squad had lost connection with sub which took out both surrounds on 1 and both subs and 4 surrounds on the other. Both Customers didn’t even try to fix them apparently because i messaged Nakamichi on each system they sent me out thumdrives for subs to try for free which worked on the 7.2 but lastthing they tried on the 9.2 was sent out new sub plates to try and if worked then id send mine back to them with a shipping label they also sent out. That actually worked out I couldn’t believe it for free in under 2 weeks and both sound better then other bars at the time especially in bigger rooms. Then some crack head was selling a JBL 5.1 multibeam w/ 10” sub for 175” I offered 125$ didn’t think id see a response but he messaged back a week or so later to sell BestBuy was selling it new for over 600$. I use it as a blutooth system in my garage off basement and sounds mint mostly because of the sub. Most sound bars I don’t think music sounds good at voume the Nak 9.2.4 still sounds decent id like to hear the 1300Pro just check Marketplace sometimes be surprised what you find sometimes.

The 5.1 is better they have a beefy 10” subwoofer. I use the 5.1 mostly as a Bluetooth speaker but do have it hooked up eArc to my tv to in my small garage setup.

Thanks for sharing! I'm considering the Q990F as an upgrade from my JBL 5.1 Surround. The sound is good with great bass, but dialogue has always been an issue and I have been wanting to experience Atmos for a while - I do wonder how much "Better" it will be...

I have both the Samsung Q990D and the JBL Bar 5.1 and find them both to be great.. you can get the Samsung off their website and with the discount from the EPP program you can get for $688 last I checked.. the JBL you can check Best Buy goes on sale for $450 regularly $650

The JBL I have does not have rear satellite speakers the Samsung does they are Bluetooth but each need to be plugged into outlet

Personally, I thought the mutlibeam 5 by JBL was punching well above it's weight for something so small and relatively affordable price. There was a discount going on though.

I had the JBL 5.1 multibeam for years and wasn't that happy with the subwoofer, now I got the Samsung HW Q995D and it just sounds like a cinema. They've reworked it a bit, but I think the thing still doesn't sound as good as the Samsung one. I only got it back then because it was 10 inches

I have the jbl 5.1 sound bar. I was so impressed I bought 2 more so I have 3 total in my house. Now here’s the catch: I paid 200-250$ for each one vs the 5-600 they normally sell for. I don’t think it’s worth that much. The replacement for the 5.1 is the jbl 500, same basic design newer speaker packaging which looks better and you can find it factory refurbished for the 300$ range. I got this sound bar because the sound stream technology that reflects off the walls to give you a 5.1 experience actually works really well. Is it ever going to replace a real Atmos system? No. I’m in the process of selling my house that had an in ceiling 5.2 system, so using the network I’d play music on the main denon receiver and then the 3 sound bars… 2 in a bedroom, one of them in the loft upstairs and the whole entire house was filled with rich, clear sounding music So when I downsized, I obviously couldn’t take my inceiling system with me but for a smaller room/apartment like I live in right now that JBL sound bar… it’s amazing.

Jbl soundbars are literally the best "bang" for your buck. My 5.1 destroys 95% of these new atmos bars bass wise

I Just bought JBL 5.1 soundbar with subwoofer for $259 and its really good. its on sale at BestBuy.