JBL is one of those names that some people don't really realise the scale of – you might think it's one of the also-rans in the audio world, but its sales figures are simply astronomical, and there are plenty of device types that it has near-total market dominance in. Still, other areas are hugely competitive, and it isn't hard to tell that the soundbar market is a feisty one right now.
Everyone seems to be throwing their hat into the ring, and the recent arrival of Marshall on the scene has added further spice to the situation. So, JBL's coming back with a big range of new soundbars, building on some of the ideas that it started with in 2024 – including one key feature that blew me away when I heard it at an event in Copenhagen this week.
Last year, JBL launched the Bar 1300, a chunky Dolby Atmos soundbar with one huge new feature: detachable wireless surrounds that didn't have to be wired in to power wherever you placed them. This flexible system got a rave five-star review here at T3, but JBL hasn't rested on its laurels and now has the Bar 1300Mk2, which I heard in a demo setting.
The improvements this time out might not be quite enough to make any original Bar 1300 owners need to upgrade, but if you're coming from a much older soundbar, or none at all, they're pretty major. The bar is a fully-capable Atmos system with a massive 27 drivers in total, and a huge amount of power to call on – as you can see in the transparent version JBL showed me, below.
Played at maximum volume, its output is frankly antisocial, especially with the included wireless subwoofer, but I'm more excited about the new ways it uses its surround speakers. These can be simply detached from the main unit and placed anywhere you like, with a new system in the JBL One app allowing them to wirelessly react to the space they're in and tune their sound accordingly (a much slower manual process on the older Bar 1300).
With each surround having a roughly 10-hour battery life, not only can you watch multiple movies in a row without needing to plug them back into the main bar, you can also walk into other rooms and use them as standalone wireless speakers if you like. There's even a handy toggle to switch them from being surrounds to simply full-driver speakers, so that you can go to another room and keep up with the action from your TV – ideal for a sports game, for example.
Another new tweak is the addition of a clever Night Mode. Rather than just dimming down the bass and volume of the overall system, it actually completely mutes the central soundbar and subwoofer. You can then move the surrounds in front of you, and they become the only sound source, making for what JBL's reps called a "personal sound bubble" that's far less room-filling. I'm hoping there's still a more traditional bass-limiting mode as well, but this new option seems like a brilliant one for those with babies, sensitive neighbours, or any other reason.
JBL's idea of detachable surrounds might be over a year old at this stage, but this was my first time seeing them in action, and I have to say I'm hugely impressed. I have a slightly ageing Sonos Beam Gen 1 in my living room with two Ikea Symfonisk bookshelf speakers as surrounds, and it's been a constant battle to find good places behind either side of a sofa to house them in a non-ugly way.
Being able to put surrounds out when I need them, but put them back away on the soundbar when I don't, is a pretty massive game-changer, potentially, and I suspect I'd find a huge amount of value in it. The only downside is that the feature is only available on JBL's bigger soundbars – the entry-level and much more compact Bar 300Mk2 doesn't have a similar system (or true Atmos, for that matter).
Still, it's not often that I'm won over as quickly as this by a product demo. Sound quality is one thing, and a total prerequisite when you're buying a soundbar; good codec and wireless play support is major, too; still, convenience is everything. If I had a TV stand that could adequately support the width of the Bar 1300Mk2 I'd be keenly hunting one down for review. As it is, I might just have to accelerate my search for that new TV stand quickly.
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