If you have a beautiful TV and don't have an excellent sound to match. You're missing out on 50% of the immersive home cinema experience. That's a fact. And the messiness of it all might be holding you back from investing in a surround sound system. Draping cables down walls or needing power outlets in the right places can be a nightmare.

This JBL Bar 1000 Dolby Atmos soundbar will take your home audio game to the next level without all the hassle of a traditional surround sound system. Let me show you what I mean.

Design bar

The JBL Bar 1000 looks like a traditional soundbar, but JBL has equipped this with a few secret weapons. JBL lists this as a 7.1.4 surround sound bar. That's 7 forward-facing drivers, one large wireless sub with a 10" woofer & 4 upward-firing drivers to create that atmospheric sound in a proper movie theatre.

As you can see, the styling of the Bar 1000 is very much JBL, with most of the body being matt black with a black metal mesh to protect the drivers.

The configuration of the Drivers themselves are 5 46x90mm racetrack drivers. So they're not your classic circular drivers. This gives them a larger surface area & more flexibility. Typically resulting in deeper mid to low-end frequencies.

There are 3 20mm tweeters. Located in the central section of the Bar 1000, these are for your high-frequency sounds. And the two upwards-firing speakers in the main section are full-range 70mm drivers.

And then we have these secret weapons that are a game changer…not just for movies, but also for gaming. I'll explain that in a moment. It's the magnetically attached, truly wireless and battery-powered detachable rear speaker. Each one houses a 20mm tweeter & 70mm full-range upwards driver. The beauty of these is that they can be placed behind us when you want that full Dolby Atmos sound. As far as soundbars go, there aren't many that can do this.

Controls

Something that I really appreciate about this particular sound bar is the ease of use. Manual controls on the bar consist of volume up / volume down & input selector. It doesn't get much easier than that. The Remote offers more controls, most notably the sound calibration button, Bluetooth mode, and the ability to adjust the bass levels and the height of Dolby Atmos audio. So, if you happen to live in a mansion with really high ceilings, you would want to turn this up… also would you mind lending some money?

There is also the JBL One app available on iOS and Android that gives you complete control of WiFi for those times when you lose control down the side of the sofa and you can't be bothered to look for it… It's also a good backup if your dog uses it as a chew toy.

Connectivity

You may not know it, but the JBL Bar 1000 is a smart speaker. It does have beamforming mics in the central unit. And it does support Google Assistant & Chromecast, as well as Siri & Apple Airplay. Amazon Alexa can even link this to other speakers on your home network using Alexa's multi-room setup.

The ports on the back consist of your eARC, which is necessary for getting that uncompressed Dolby Atmos sound. It does support passthrough for two additional HDMI products, such as a games console, streaming device or Blu-ray player.

There’s a USB A port for doing software updates & it can also read MP3 audio from a USB drive. There’s an ethernet port if you can’t or don't want to use WiFi. And there is an optical input also for older TVs’ or other audio devices.

Now, going back to the Earc port. This is known as an enhanced audio return channel. If you are buying this specifically for that Atmos sound, check the back of your TV to see if you have an HDMI port labelled eARC. If you do, you will get the optimal Dolby Atmos.

But if you don't, don't threat too much. If your TV supports Dolby Digital Plus, you can still get Atmos. It's just a slightly more compressed version…but you will be DTS:X for cinema sound either way!

The Atmos Feature

Now, just explain Dolby Atmos's significance if you're unfamiliar with it. When I said at the beginning of this video that this soundbar would take your home audio to the next level… I was being literal. It takes the audio output to new heights, which is excellent for movies when planes or helicopters fly overhead. It'll also work amazingly for sporting events. You'll get a true sense of the atmosphere in an arena.

You notice the sound coming from above you. And for gaming, this can be a huge advantage when playing online games that support atmos. You'll have a much greater sense of directional sound. For example, in Call Of Duty, you'll know if someone creeps around behind you or on the floor above.

And more and more music artists are starting to record their tracks in spatial sounds, 360 reality audio formats, so thanks to those upwards drivers, you'll feel like you're in the room with your favourite music artists.

Advantages of detachable rears

And what's great about this sound bar is even when it's all in one piece, it sounds fantastic, so for when you're watching regular TV or listening to a podcast or something. You can leave it in its standard soundbar form. But when the time comes, and you really want to get immersed, you can just place the rear channels where they need to be calibrated & enjoy that home cinema experience.

Sound Quality - Watch the video at around the 06:00 for my first impressions

JBL Bar 1000 review rear speaker hero.jpg

JBL Bar 1000 review rears speaker hero.jpg

important to know that JBL is part of the Harman group owned by Samsung. So, this soundbar will share some Samsung tech and would be an excellent match for a Samsung TV. Not to say that it wouldn't be with any TV.

I love the form factor, the adaptability, the connectivity and most of the sound quality and the insane bass. So if you want to jump into a home cinema setup and take your audio game to new heights without all the mess and complicated cabling. This could be the soundbar that you've been looking for.

Wall Mounting

Something that I greatly appreciate, and I'm sure you will do if you buy the JBL Bar 1000, is that JBL throws in the wall mounting brackets not just for the bar but also discrete wall mounts for the rear speakers.

Caps for rear speakers and central bar are also provided in the box, so the charging points are constantly exposed when the surround sound is configured, giving them a clean, more seamless look. While the rears can be charged by connecting them back to the centre sound bar, they can also be charged via USB C.

And if you're wondering about battery life on the rears. The volume can affect the results, but JBL says they can go up to 10 hrs on a full charge. And that's around 25 to 30 episodes of One-piece…