JBL Bar 5.1 Surround Soundbar Review

The JBL Bar 5.1 Surround is a 5.1 setup from this manufacturer's 2019 lineup. Unlike the JBL Bar 5.1 and other JBL soundbars released that year, the 5.1 Surround uses 'Multibeam' technology to improve its surround performance without the need for satellites. It competes with Samsung HW-Q60T, the JBL Bar 3.1, and the Samsung HW-Q70R.

The JBL Bar 5.1 Soundbar is a sleek soundbar with a matte black finish. Its front and sides are covered by a fine metal grille.

The subwoofer of this soundbar sits on four plastic pegs as the speaker is located underneath. This subwoofer is made from black melamine which makes it look sleek.

This soundbar doesn't have satellites.

This soundbar most likely won't fit between the legs of a 55" TV. However, it's not very tall so it shouldn't block the bottom of your TV screen unless it sits flush to the table.

The subwoofer is a bit tall since it has small legs to elevate it from the ground. However, it's about as large as a standard desktop PC.

There are no satellites in this setup.

The back of this bar has one opening for its power cable as well as its inputs. There are also universal holes on its underside so that you can wall-mount it.

The back of the subwoofer is pretty plain. It has a port on the top of its back and the power cable is located below it.

There are no satellites in this setup.

The JBL Bar 5.1 has a great build quality. It has a sturdy plastic body with a fine metal grille to protect its front and sides. In comparison, the subwoofer's body is made of melamine and has four legs to raise the sub since the speaker is located underneath it.

• Remote with 2x AAA batteries
• HDMI cable
• 2x Power cables
• Mounting brackets and screws
• Mounting template
• Manuals

This soundbar's stereo frequency response is decent. It can produce a punchy, boomy bass suitable for action flicks or EDM music. Although its treble is a bit dark and veiled in comparison, it should still be suitable for most audio content. That said, if you want to tweak its sound, there's a 'Smart Mode' EQ available.

The JBL Bar 5.1's stereo soundstage is alright. It's a little bit wider than the bar but the bar doesn't do any tricks to make it sound any wider. The soundstage doesn't seem very focused either and objects seem to be coming from a general area rather than coming from precise pinpoint locations.

The JBL Bar 5.1 has decent stereo dynamics. While it can get loud enough to fill a large or crowded room, if you push this bar to its max volume, there's pumping and compression artifacts, especially in the bass range.

The JBL Bar 5.1 has a great THD performance. It has a low amount of THD at a normal listening volume. While there's a small jump in THD if you push this bar to its max volume, it's quite little. Most people may not even hear any harmonic distortion with their real-life content.

The JBL Bar 5.1 has an excellently-performing center channel. Since it has a dedicated center channel, it can reproduce clear and accurate dialogue.

Update 02/18/2021: We updated the results to reflect that this soundbar has phantom front-firing speakers.

The JBL Bar 5.1 has a mediocre surround performance. It uses phantom front-firing speakers to simulate a surround object in the soundstage, but this doesn't sound as real as discrete surround speakers.

This soundbar doesn't have height channels and doesn't support Atmos.

The JBL Bar 5.1 has okay sound enhancement features. It has only two EQ presets: 'Smart Mode', which helps improve sound effects, and 'Standard', which turns Smart Mode off. There's also room correction as well as night mode. While there's no dialogue enhancement feature available, the manufacturer recommends using 'Standard' mode for vocal-centric content to reduce sound effects.

Night mode isn't mentioned anywhere in the manual. However, it can be triggered by pressing 'Mute' on the remote for two seconds followed by pressing the volume down button to toggle this feature on and off.

This soundbar has a wide array of physical inputs. You can even use the bar as a hub for multiple devices like your TV and gaming console. USB playback is only available via the US version of this soundbar. Other regional variants can only use this USB port for updating the soundbar's firmware.

Update 01/13/2021: We re-evaluated our methodology for ARC support and concluded that DTS and Dolby Digital+ support should be reported the same over an ARC connection as over an HDMI IN and Optical connection, so we updated our results for DTS support from "Yes" to "No". Some TVs, like the one we initially used for testing, may convert this content, but other TV brands may not. Ultimately, your experience may vary depending on your TV.

This soundbar has good audio format support via its HDMI ARC port. While it doesn't support eARC or Dolby Atmos, it can play content like Dolby Digital content, which is commonly found on Blu-ray discs.

The JBL Bar 5.1 has fair audio format support via its Full HDMI In port. It can play Dolby Digital content, which is commonly found on Blu-ray discs. However, for this bar to play Dolby Digital Plus content, it has to encode and downmix it into DD 2.0.

This soundbar only supports Dolby Digital content via its Optical In port. This format is found on many streaming platforms as well as Blu-ray discs.

This bar has fantastic wireless playback options. This soundbar supports all common wireless playback options without a problem, so you can stream your favorite tracks or albums to the bar wirelessly.

The JBL Bar 5.1 can passthrough the highest bandwidth signals when connected between your PC and TV. The result is text that looks crisp and clear on your TV.

The subwoofer wirelessly connects to the bar but you still need to connect it to a power source.

There are no satellites in this setup.

The interface is located on the right side of the bar, behind the metal grille. It displays your volume level, inputs, and subwoofer level. It also lets you know when you're on standby mode.

This bar has controls on its top side. You can turn the bar on/off, adjust volume, and switch inputs.

The JBL Bar 5.1 has a simple remote that controls all of the bar's functions. However, it doesn't have play/pause or track skipping.

This soundbar doesn't have a companion app.

The JBL Bar 5.1 goes into standby mode after 10 minutes of inactivity. Since it also supports HDMI CEC, you can use your TV remote to control the bar's basic functions.