I Swapped My Sonos Soundbar For One With Detachable Rear Speakers - Genius Or Gimmick?

2 hours ago

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

The JBL Bar 1000MK2 includes a soundbar, 2 detachable rear speakers, and an outer subwoofer for $1,200.
It's a versatile system, pinch powerful audio capacity suitable for ample rooms.
It's not an perfect action for group who want imperishable rear speakers.

The original JBL Bar 1000 made a compelling lawsuit for itself arsenic a versatile soundbar for those who wanted nan action of situation sound speakers that weren't needfully permanently installed and were easy to spot arsenic needed. Now, JBL is backmost pinch a follow-up: nan JBL Bar 1000MK2.

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Like nan original, nan soundbar comes pinch outer speakers that tin magnetically connect to nan soundbar erstwhile you don't want aliases request nan situation sound experience. Then, erstwhile movie nighttime comes, detach them from nan sides of nan soundbar for much immersive audio. But astatine $1,200, nan JBL Bar 1000MK2 surely isn't cheap. Is it worthy buying? Or should you spell for thing else? Let's dive in.

Versatility is key

The champion point astir nan JBL Bar 1000MK2 is its versatile design. The creation makes it easy for those pinch smaller surviving rooms to get a situation sound setup without permanently mounted, wired situation speakers. It's benignant of a brilliant concept.

The 2 situation speakers simply look for illustration portion of nan soundbar itself erstwhile they're attached to nan sides, and they complaint erstwhile they're attached. If you mostly support them attached to nan soundbar and only return them disconnected for definite types of content, you shouldn't request to interest overmuch astir artillery life -- you'll get 10 hours connected a charge.

You don't request to connect them to nan soundbar to complaint them if you for illustration to support them successful situation positions, though. Each speaker has a mini USB-C larboard connected it that you tin usage to powerfulness it. So if you do want to spot them successful a much imperishable position, you can.

In nan box, you'll besides get mounting hardware to equine nan soundbar and nan situation speakers, which is handy. Many standalone soundbars astatine a akin value constituent waste mounting cogwheel separately.

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The detachable situation speakers tin beryllium utilized independently of nan soundbar. They each person Bluetooth connectivity, truthful you tin usage them arsenic individual Bluetooth speakers astir your home.

Perhaps nan slightest versatile facet of nan JBL Bar 1000MK2's creation is nan included 10-inch outer subwoofer. I emotion that JBL has included a comparatively bulky subwoofer pinch nan soundbar, but its size does make it much difficult to spot successful your surviving room than a slimmer subwoofer for illustration nan Sonos Sub 4, which is my sub of choice. You'll request to find a area aliases different area successful your surviving room wherever you tin spot nan subwoofer.

The versatility extends beyond nan wide creation of nan soundbar, though -- you get versatile connectivity options too. On nan backmost of nan soundbar, you'll find an HDMI eARC larboard for connecting nan soundbar to your TV, but you'll besides get 3 HDMI 2.1 pass-through ports, meaning you tin usage nan soundbar arsenic a hub for your sources, including modern crippled consoles.

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The soundbar connects to Wi-Fi, truthful it supports wireless streaming options for illustration AirPlay 2 and Google Cast. You tin besides usage nan JBL One app to watercourse from platforms for illustration Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect.

Immersive and powerful audio

The creation isn't conscionable a gimmick. The soundbar is besides very tin erstwhile it comes to audio performance. When nan situation speakers are detached from nan soundbar and placed successful their correct positions, they present immersive audio erstwhile watching contented encoded successful Dolby Atmos.

The immersion was rather good; sound effects from beside and supra maine translated well, though a batch of that has to do pinch nan truth that my surviving abstraction is well-suited to ceiling sound reflections, and your acquisition whitethorn alteration if you person a different-shaped space.

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That said, I was astir amazed by really immersive nan audio still was pinch nan situation speakers attached to nan soundbar. To beryllium sure, it wasn't rather arsenic immersive arsenic pinch nan situation speakers detached and successful nan situation position, but nan soundbar delivered a convincing situation acquisition utilizing reflections.

As a result, you tin mostly support nan situation speakers attached to nan soundbar without losing excessively overmuch aliases without emotion for illustration you're really missing out. It's cleanable for day-to-day watching aliases consuming contented that doesn't needfully trust connected a situation sound experience. Then, erstwhile you person a movie night, you tin move those situation speakers to summation nan level of immersion.

The wide wave consequence connected connection by nan soundbar is awesome too, and overmuch of that is owed to nan included subwoofer. The subwoofer has a 10-inch driver, and it was capable to pump retired heavy and impactful bass that astatine times verged connected being a small much.

Thankfully, you tin tweak nan audio consequence successful nan JBL One app, truthful if you find that nan bass consequence is simply a spot complete nan top, you tin reside it down. I recovered nan wave consequence to beryllium bully some erstwhile watching TV and movies and erstwhile listening to euphony casually.

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The capacity went beyond a bully wave response. The soundbar tin get very loud, and it's well-suited to larger surviving rooms. This exemplary has a 960W full powerfulness output, which is simply a measurement up from nan original JBL Bar 1000's 880W output.

ZDNET's buying advice

The JBL Bar 1000MK2 is easy 1 of nan champion all-in-one location theatre soundbars. In summation to sounding excellent, it's nan astir versatile soundbar I've ever tested. If you for illustration nan thought of situation sound but don't needfully want to permanently instal rear speakers, nan JBL Bar 1000MK2 is easy nan measurement to go.

If you're consenting to walk (a lot) much and don't mind imperishable rear speakers, past it's still possibly worthy going for thing for illustration nan Arc Ultra pinch rear Sonos Era speakers and a Sonos subwoofer, which is astatine slightest $1,826 and astatine astir $2,696. Or you could spell pinch nan Samsung HW-Q990F, a location theater-in-a-box that retails for $2,000. But astatine nan Bar 1000MK2's value point, you can't find competitors pinch nan aforesaid equilibrium of audio consequence and versatility.