10 reviews for JBL Bar 5.1 – Soundbar with Built-in Virtual Surround, 4K and 10″ Wireless Subwoofer (JBL2GBAR51IMBLKAM)

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Marco – January 23, 2020

   I first bought the 2.1 model and I was quite disappointed, but this one!!! This one is great, you can feel the 300w bass and the crystal clear sound from the sound-bar! I’am very happy, the WiFi subwoofer is great! Airplay2 works great! It’s a very nice product, and the Apple TV remote can be used to increase decrease volume of the JBL system!

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Joe Sorace – March 25, 2020

   I first purchased a Nakamichi for my home theater. It was hard to find a soundbar for my family room since the Nakamichi set the bar so high. Then I found this jbl soundbar. You will not be disappointed. Great clarity from the soundbar itself and incredible bass.

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Mr Wang – March 25, 2020

   I had bought a Samsung Soundbar to match my TV however the sound was similar to the TV and did not provide the added value I expected. Mind you it was not a high end Samsung but I did not want to spend over 500 on a device. Returned the sound bar for the JBL and am pleasently surprised. If you like bass this is the device for you! TV and music sound amazing! Subwoofer is a little large but a 10” woofer does take up space .only con is that it does not integrate as well as the Samsung but that is a small price to pay for such great audit! I highly recommend this product.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Joe 1015 – April 23, 2020

   I was hesitating between the 3.1 and the 2019 model which is the 5.1. I finally went with the 5.1 because of the Chromecast and AirPlay capability, and I have no regrets. The setup is easy and quick; the wireless sub connected without hesitation, Bluetooth setup was a breeze and in no time I was putting the system through its paces. I have it connected to my TV through the HDMI ARC input and it works perfectly; coming in and out of standby whenever the TV is turned off and on. It also connects through wifi and it is Google Assistant friendly. The sound is clear and powerful. I keep it on ‘smart mode’ as the sound fits my taste. The bass from the sub is powerful and so solid: never boomy. The bass has 3 setting: from low to high. Mid setting is good for most programs, however on high the bass is perfect for movies. The remote is overly simplistic but it does the job. After 2 weeks, I’ve been enjoying this sounbar and I’m very impressed with the performance.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Jeff Pearson – May 17, 2020

   I was nervous about purchasing this soundbar system, one because it was new and unproven, and two because I had a Samsung sound system for 18 years prior. Much to my chagren, my previous home entertainment sound system finally bit the dust, so I was in the market to make an investment into another one. I did some pretty extensive research on soundbar systems and found that the newer model Samsung systems were a little outside of my comfort zone for what I wanted to spend on one. However, I had an epiphany, seeing that Harmon Kardon puts their speakers and premium technology into Samsung’s top tier soundbars, you know who else Harmon Kardon does this for? Their sister company… JBL. And at a price point that was much more like ‘music to my ears’ this product really delivers on a level that would certainly be considered ‘top tier’. The sound is completely emersive and full, and the bass that the 10 inch subwoofer provides is simply earth shattering. I would recommend this purchase for anyone in the market to improve the sound in your home entertainment experience.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   JA – June 26, 2020

   Sounds great. Super low rumbling bass, good mids and highs. This set up works better for tv/movie watching than music listening but I didn’t buy this set up for music. On some movies the mids are lacking but it just depends on the movie.Edit and update: Ok I take back the music listening part. It’s great for that. Maybe it needed a little break in? Or because I moved the sub to the other side of the room for better acoustics.Also, it took me multiple tries to connect to wifi for AirPlay and to do a calibration. I was at the point of sending it back. AirPlay/wifi finally worked after a couple of full resets. I think it downloaded a firmware update because I was able to calibrate it on the first try after connecting to wifi. Overall a good system.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Bean CounterBean Counter – July 2, 2020

   Just purchased this a few days ago, but so far I really like it. The sound is nicely balanced, but I was expecting to have to turn the bass down and that is not the case. I have it set on three (High) and it’s got a good thump, without thundering. I haven’t heard any “Surround” effects yet, but have only been watching a little network TV so far.Pros: Feels heavy and well made. Sounds and looks very good. Fairly compact – Replaces a big stereo unit and a bunch of speakers that made my wife crazy.Cons: Setup is pretty confusing, especially if you try the “quick start” guide with its one line descriptions and all it’s different languages. Read the actual owners manual. There are no on-screen menus to guide you, it’s all “hold this button for three seconds to do this, hold that one for three seconds to do that…”One important thing I had to figure out by myself was the HDMI-ARC connection to my TV so it can communicate with the soundbar. Like some reviews I saw on other JBL soundbars, I could not get the soundbar to recognize the HDMI-ARC connection and play the TV sound. Tried other cables, tried connecting directly to the cable box to verify the unit did play the sounds (it did), and other ideas from JBL Technical Support, but…no ARC connection. They were at the point of having me connect an optical cable (which I did not want to do because of the decreased benefits of that cable) or actually returning the unit for a replacement one, when I decided on my own to try resetting my TV to it’s factory settings in case it was a TV problem to see what that would do. Bingo. By resetting my VIsio TV, it went through the factory start-up menu and I could stipulate the HDMI-ARC plug for a sound device connection instead of a video input connection. The bar fired-up instantly and all appears to be well now.The wife likes it too, as the sound and especially voices come straight at you, so that’s a big plus in my book. I will update this review as time goes by if anything changes. It’s not gonna blow your doors and windows out, but it has plenty of power for normal folks and I would recommend it.

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Craig – July 23, 2020

   I got this for movies and gaming and was a little worried it wouldn’t sound good from some of the comments. I knew the bass would be HUGE from the reviews and size of the JBL woofer but I also saw a lot of people commenting on the lack of equalizer controls. It is true, there is absolutely no equalizer controls and only a simple bass setting from 1-5, but the sound was LOUD and GREAT for my setup. Not having to deal with EQ settings may have been a blessing in disguise for me since I am so OCD and would probably spend too much time making changes and second guessing what sounded better. The house SHAKES when I am playing games and the wife disapproves so I know it is loud :)

9. 

   5 out of 5

   Richard Barrier – September 5, 2020

   I’m seriously never going to the movie theater again. This sound system, for the money, will blow your mind. Sure a $2,000 will be better but man, I’m blown away every day I turn on my TV. The kids are now all about movie night much more than before.Note some of the lower reviews are pre-update. Plug in the soundbar to your router using a network cable and it will automatically pull an update. It takes about 3-5 minutes for it to complete. You know your soundbar has the update if you see 5 levels of bass control instead of 3. If you have 3 levels of bass control you are on the older firmware that doesn’t work as well.The 10” sub cannot be fully turned off without unplugging it but on level 1 it acts like a mid-range speaker. The bass starts to kick in at level 2. Level 3 will start to rock and is my favorite level. At 4 and 5 you could throw down an epic house party. It WIlL shake your walls.

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Cameron Hatch – February 18, 2021

    First off, the sound was even better than I expected. Great highs, mids, and the 10” subwoofer is powerful and clean. It blows my old vizio soundbar and sub out of the water! Doesn’t even compare!Second, the ease of setup was incredible. Intuitive and ready to go out of the box. There is a wifi update I am debating to do as it will give me Alexa but I’ve heard of also lowers the volume of the system and changes the sub from 5 bass level options down to 3. So I’m still debating whether or not I want to sacrifice the bass level options just for Alexa ( we already have an echo dot).I like how even though there’s no satellite speakers the soundbar still generates a surround sound. Pretty hard to describe how it shoots side speaker sound off the walls but it does a great job!All in all I have no complaints and for this discounted price I highly recommend this system!