JBL - JBL Bar 3.1

JBL without question!!

JBL without question, & that bar is not 300 watts. The base 2.1 JBL system is 300 watts. The JBL Bar 3.1 is 450 watts, & That bar is more like 510 watts I believe. Grab that JBL without any 2nd thought and you'll be happy!!

Bose Smart 600 + BM700. The subwoofer is just madly powerful and honestly sits alone in my opinion. It plays very deep, possibly deeper than any other soundbar subwoofer right now, and has absolutely plenty of power so having enough bass shouldn't possibly be an issue. And the bar although small, is incredibly clean and detailed at any volume like you wouldn't believe. It's got a good amount of power in it too so it most likely won't seem like it's falling behind the subwoofer, unless of course you want it to, then just turn up the subwoofer, or buy a 2nd subwoofer if you're a true bass head. The new MK2 JBL soundbars might be a good one to look into as well. Different subwoofer than previously so hopefully they made improvements. JBL will provide you a lot of bass for the price, good but not excellent soundbar quality. But the subwoofer might not sound incredible either. The first generation JBL Bar 3.1 had a loud & clean subwoofer. The JBL Bar 500 I tried had a slightly different subwoofer that I somehow ended up thinking sounded noticeably worse than the Bar 3.1. Hopefully they improved the subwoofer this time.

1000% the Bose setup. I had the Q800B myself before (not quite the 990 but it's the same subwoofer design), it was pretty good. I had the Bose Smart 600 + BM700 later, the BM700 absolutely blows the Samsung subwoofer away. It plays a little deeper than the Samsung, I bet it's louder at max volume too. And you can always add a 2nd subwoofer if you want to later on which you can't do with Samsung or JBL. As for the JBL, it's definitely a strong and loud ass subwoofer, but i guarantee it doesn't play as deep as the BM700. I've had many soundbar setups ranging from the JBL Bar 3.1, Bar 500, Sonos Arc + Sub Mini, Samsung Q800B, Sony S2000 + SW5 (garbage), & a few others. My 2 favorite subwoofers were definitely the BM700 & the Sonos Sub Mini, followed by the Samsung but pretty far behind. If you're after bass, I think Bose is quite possibly king, but there's one I do think could be a contender for that title too, but it's a little more expensive... The Sennheiser Ambeo Plus is a fantastic sounding system, I've only heard demos in stores but the demos are madly impressive. I have read about the Ambeo having a few minor bugs though so maybe consider trying it out with a way to return it easily. But the reason I bring them up is that they let you pair up to 4 Ambeo 8" subwoofers!! Yes FOUR subwoofers! I'd be putting one in each corner of the room if that was my setup. It's a really tough call for me to decide if the 4 Ambeo subwoofers can be louder than the 2 BM700's, but I kinda lean towards the 4 Ambeo subwoofers cause it's more cone area (32" with 4 Ambeo's vs 20" with 2 BM700"s). 2 BM700's will play a little deeper, but I think 4 Ambeo subs will be a little louder. But it's a tough choice for me cause it's also 2 ported subs vs 4 sealed subs..... Either way you'll have ridiculous amounts of bass!

I've listened to the new 500 MK2's many times now and it seems like an improvement. Of course this is at numerous different box stores where there are many different factors impacting the sound. I had an old JBL Bar 3.1 system for almost the last 10 yrs and it was decent for what it was. I got it super cheap so my expectations weren't much. Their soundbar has significantly improved from that era. I'm kinda torn on rTings. I am a paying subscriber and their glowing reviews of the 800F swayed me into buying it, lol. I ended up finding a great deal on a Sonos Ultra Arc and Costco Gen 2 sub. After listening to just about every soundbar and sub combo, I kept coming back to the Sonos system for the overall music, movies, TV dialogue sound. Very happy with it.

You will almost never use the surround sound after 1 year. Thats if you even ever set it up to be surround sound in the first place. I removed ours the other month after 14 years (hasnt been turned on in probably 7) and replaced it with a $150 3.1 JBL soundbar from The Warehouse