Sound quality: JBL's Bar 5.1 delivers sound quality that falls in the Very Good range - although it has some noticeable sonic quirks it reproduces music and dialog very well. In the Standard sound mode bass has good impact and goes deep, but is a bit prominent and somewhat boomy. The midrange is fairly even, but is somewhat grainy and a bit hazy. The treble is slightly smeared and the upper treble is muted. This model does a decent job of recovering the actual room ambience of recordings (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), but the sound is a touch congested. With the surround speakers attached to the front speaker array and playing two channel program material the two channel sound field extends a bit above but not much beyond the width of the soundbar and lacks front to back depth. The various other sound modes have a noticeable effect - the Music, Movie, and Sports modes to varying degrees make the soundfield taller and wider and the midrange more echoey; the Movie and Sports modes also make the bass more prominent. The Voice mode makes the midrange somewhat harsh and more prominent and reduces the bass. When the surround speakers were separated from the front speaker array and placed behind the listener in the Standard mode the sound from the rear speakers takes on an echoey quality; however the overall sound field is not particularly enveloping. When the Music, Movie, and Sports sound modes were used the sound field became a somewhat more enveloping but not completely immersive. When 5.1 channel program material is played back in the Standard mode with the surround speakers attached to the front speaker array the sound field has good extension above and to the sides of the soundbar enclosure. When the surround speakers are placed in back of the listener sound is heard in the rear channels, and with the proper listener position and adjustment of the speaker volume levels the system can provide a sound field that is fairly enveloping to the sides and rear, but gaps in sound between the speakers are noticeable. With the exception of the Voice sound mode, which makes the midrange more prominent reduces the bass, the other sound modes don't have an obvious effect when 5.1 channel program material is being played. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the HDMI, optical, analog, Bluetooth, and USB inputs. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Good overall. Setup: Programming to respond to a TV remote was quick, easy, and straight forward, but you'll need to refer to instructions. The soundbar can be controlled by TV remotes from major brands; the soundbar comes with this feature activated; deactivation is quick and easy, but not intuitive so easy to follow instructions included with the soundbar have to be referred to. Neither the included or on-line instructions indicate how to activate this feature once it has been deactivated. All appropriate cables for TV connection are included. Ease of Use: This model has two options that allow it to work seamlessly with your TV - it can be programmed to respond to most TV remote control volume and mute commands and it can respond to the volume and mute commands of many major TV brand remote controls without programming. Its own remote has controls that are well labeled, but the layout is cluttered. The soundbar console lacks a mute control, but if muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The power, source, and volume controls are well marked and all controls are on the top of the console where they are easy to see and access. The console display is large and can be seen and understood from a typical listening position. It lacks a power indicator and except for the volume mute indication all display info is momentary. The input and volume displays can be recalled without changing the settings. The soundbar goes into surround sound mode when rear surround speakers are detached from main unit, indicator lights on surround speakers indicate that they are in surround mode.
Features setup and ease of use: Fair overall. Setup: Multi channel setup is simple and straight forward with clear instructions. Channel levels can be adjusted with an auto calibration feature, but no test tone function is provided for manual setup and there is no time delay function. Bluetooth pairing is very easy - if no Bluetooth device has previously been paired, or the paired device does not have Bluetooth activated, the soundbar is automatically in pairing mode once it has been switched to the Bluetooth input. Ease of Use: The remote's controls are well labeled but the layout is cluttered. The soundbar console lacks a mute control, but if muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The power, source, and volume controls are well marked and all controls are on the top of the console where they are easy to see and access. The console display is large and can be seen and understood from a typical listening position. It lacks a power indicator and except for the volume mute indication all display info is momentary. The input and volume displays can be recalled without changing the settings. The soundbar goes into surround sound mode when rear surround speakers are detached from main unit, indicator lights on surround speakers indicate that they are in surround mode.
