JBL Bar 1300X 1170W 11.1.4-Channel Dolby Atmos Soundbar System

My family's recently finished basement was already becoming the preferred location of our entertainment. It's a large open floorplan and, of course, I sprang for a large TV as the center of focus. One shortcoming that I quickly noticed was that the native TV speakers weren't powerful enough in the larger room. I subsequently relocated an older soundbar to this new TV. Because the surround sound speakers that accompany this older soundbar are wired, I chose not to include these speakers so as not to destroy the aesthetics of the room. Thus, the old soundbar helped only modestly with my audio problem. For this reason alone, I gladly welcomed the arrival of my new JBL BAR 1300X soundbar system. My simple expectations and hopes were to experience an upgrade in the audio quality and to have a true surround sound experience (without wires). To say that I have been blown away by the quality of this product is an understatement. The first movie we watched as a family was truly amazing. The sound quality was flawless. But it was the feel that distinguishes this product. What do I mean by feel? It felt exactly the same as when you're sitting in a good theatre and you can literally feel the action hitting you as it occurs. This is what JBL means in its description when referencing the theatre-quality 3D sound. Taking the volume down a notch, my husband just finished watching several of the college basketball tournament games. He commented that he felt like he was at the game live and sitting in the stands. And, finally, taking the volume up several notches, my college-aged daughter stopped in with friends on her way home from spring break. For that night, the sound coming out of our basement rivaled any nightclub you will ever enter. This soundbar system is a breeze to install and use. The only physical connection is an included HDMI cable between your TV and the soundbar. The subwoofer and surround sound speakers are wireless. The surround sound speakers charge conveniently on the soundbar and can then be moved behind you at time of use. There is a quick calibration process that allows for perfect acoustics in the room that will be used. Each of the 3 speakers (soundbar and 2 surround sound speakers) can serve as a standalone Bluetooth speaker. This allows the 2 smaller speakers to be taken elsewhere for use. There is a small remote that is included with the system. However, the JBL One App provides the same functionality, and both are easy to use. The new JBL BAR 1300X soundbar speaker system has further turned our basement into an all around entertainment center. It provides exceptional audio quality in all settings. Whether it's a sporting event, an action-packed movie, or your favorite music, this soundbar transforms what most would consider as just sound into a truly enjoyable audio experience. I would recommend this product to anyone looking to upgrade any facet of their audio and/or TV-viewing experience. You will not be disappointed.

I am absolutely blown away with the quality of this product. The sound is like no other. It is clear, precise and its lile you are right there. Our movie experience was so awesome . I'm very happily and definitely recommend!

JBL 1300X is just perfect. It comes with a subwoofer and 2 detachable speakers which are just perfect if you wanna create that immersive sound experience on a movie night or if you are watching a live sport. I was really impressed with sound clarity and how much difference it makes. The price is little steep but definitely worth it for the experience.The overall setup was pretty easy too and so far I have been loving it.

The subwoofer is definitely a step-up and dare i say almost to home theater level (comparing my pc2000 svs). The 12inch definitely moves more air than the 10inch. It's a really good subwoofer. movies below that I tested: Live die repeat: edge of tomorrow - phenomenal, bass as well. Incredibles 2 - sounds like a baby is literally floating in my room in one scene. Rest of the movie is great. Annabelle: creation - best horror atmos i've ever heard on a soundbar. Saving private ryan - the intro is a complete warzone on this system. Jurassic park - trex footsteps, breathing, and roar sound fantastic. the trex scene is a great subwoofer test, and if you have the DTSX 4k disc it has some height in there as well. another scene is when the car is in the tree, and sam neil and the boy are climbing down - the height effects are very pronounced. Blair witch (2016) - incredible atmos. Pacific Rim: the first fight scene in the beginning is mind blowing on this system. The bass and atmos is something else. The equalizer is good just not very granular. super basic. App control is decent. Gives you a virtual remote, has an equalizer, tells you what audio is playing but i can only see atmos and nothing else like DD+ etc. surround volume control is nice, and other miscellaneous things. Purevoice on vs off didn't do much for me but i notice a slight bump in voice volume with it on, but not to the extent you would think it would be. Either way it doesn't take away anything with having it on. Things I would like to see in future updates: 1. greater control of equalizer 2. being able to adjust the volume on the side speakers and tweeters on the main soundbar. this would greatly enhance the soundstage even more. 3. somehow make this go louder than 32 being the max volume. this unit is loud 100% however with the 650w amplifier in the main bar and the increased wattage in general on this system compared to the 9.1, I really do feel this unit can go louder.

The JBL 1300X has a clever design, is easy to setup, and sounds fantastic. The removable rear speakers are the first notable feature. They are fully wireless, drawing from charged battery power for a run time of about 10-12 hours. They "plug in"(magnetically) to the ends of the sound bar to charge. So the key here is to be sure you can place the bar where you can attach and re-attach the speakers. This requires a "sweeping" action from front to back, you can't lift them upwards to remove them. The total length is 54.2" and you need several inches of clearance on both sides to remove them. So that could be a limiting factor for some folks. (As both rear speakers also sport a USB-C port, you could choose to plug them each into their own USB-C power adapter for a more permanent setup. However, these adapters are not included.) While I haven't tested the feature, they apparently can also operate as stand-alone bluetooth speakers. Considering they are 110W, that's a pretty decent speaker to take into another room if desired. I didn't observe any audio latency with the wireless system which is critical. (Bluetooth audio transfer technology has certainly come a long way in the past few years.) You can also choose to use the included wall mounts to hang the rear speakers. Doing so does not prevent you from charging them from the sound bar, with a simple lifting motion they hook/unhook from the mounts. A nice design and touch included in the package. Surround setup/calibration is easy, being a simple two step process. Place the rear speakers in their intended position facing forward, hit calibrate (also found on the remote), wait for the short audio test to complete. Adjust them to the listening position shown in the guide (essentially rotated about 45 degrees), and wait for second short audio test. That's it. Obviously not the more advanced tuning process of full AV surround systems but sound bars in general are not really an audiophile oriented solution. The subwoofer on this top of the line 1300X model is 12" and 300W, more than enough to shake your couch. It is also wireless (audio) but obviously needs to be plugged into an outlet which is expected/standard. Being wireless itself still allows for flexibility in placement and being that subwoofers are inherently omni-directional, you can literally place it anywhere in the room where you have an outlet. It does not need to be directly next to your sound bar/TV. The system provides an 11.1.4 channel setup with Dolby Atmos support (from supported sources), provided via an array of drivers (the individual "speakers" inside), including upward firing drivers to acheive the Atmos effect. (Atmos "height" speakers are typically hung from the ceiling. Upward firing or "directed" drivers are a much simpler way to achieve a similar effect.) Between the bar, rear speakers, and 12" subwoofer, this system can pack a decent punch. However, I think what is actually more telling is how good it sounds at lower volume levels. My 18 year old gets tired of wearing headphones while gaming but always swore they were necessary so he could hear the the directional sound employed by many gaming platforms. I put him in front of the 1300X and he was completely sold. He prefers not to have the sound really loud and still noticed the quality and separation of the surround sound while playing games. (We connected the gaming system via direct HDMI connection to the sound bar and from sound bar to TV (for video pass through) with the gaming system set to DTS 7.1 output, which the sound bar effectively converts to 11.1.4 through DTS Neural:X surround processing.) The JBL "One" app (they have several) for iPhone/Android is a nice touch and helpful for doing things like firmware updates. However, the included remote is really all we use every day. There is some quirkiness on startup, the sound bar will detect an input signal and turn on automatically. However, sometimes it starts up on the "TV" source when the gaming system is on "HDMI1". My one complaint, as with most JBL products these days, is the lack of a decent user guide. The JBL standard "Quick Start" pictorial guide is ok but I really wish they would create more thorough user guides instead of having to discover features through product descriptions, spec sheets, and stick figure style diagrams. Overall this appears to be a very good sound bar system. I haven't done my own deep dive in this product space to assess how it falls price-wise vs. the competition. But from a design, usability, and sound quality perspective, I would recommend it.

The sound is amazingly rich. The tone is deep and clear. Reminds me of a classical theater environment. The sound does not distort raising the volume. In a word "amazing". The wireless detachable speakers are one of the best features.

The bar 1300X is pretty decent in size & packs a punch. The sound is crisp and clear. It has three settings to chose from, TV, Bluetooth and HDMI. I love that you have the option to use the back speakers for surround sound, or you can attach them to the sound bar. The back speakers are magnetic and attach easily. The sound bar also comes with brackets if you decide to set it up on the wall. The subwoofer is hefty and offers some pretty deep bass it's loud! I like that it has 5 levels of bass to choose from. The sound bar also has extra HDMI ports, which is useful depending on your setup. I did run into trouble trying to set it up. My DVD player wouldn't play audio through the sound bar without plugging it into the sound bar directly. After I did that the audio worked just fine. The app you have to download is useful and the setup wasn't long, however I'm not a fan of the app asking for my location. I don't understand why that information is needed in order to use a sound bar. The app will also let you know when updates are available for your unit. The only downside to this sound bar sound system is that the cables are too short. Odds are you will need to use an extension cord just to plug them both in. This is what I had to do and I didn't even hang it up on the wall. For a sound system like this I would expect much longer cords to make setup simple and smooth.

The SB1300 I bought is very disappointing. The BT connection dropped (on and off) as I walked around 20 yards away from the SB placed in the wide open living room walking into my bedroom. I live in a condo that is small. One floor only.