Speaker company JBL this week announced the upcoming launch of the JBL Bar 9.1, a new soundbar that offers AirPlay 2 and a unique detachable speaker setup.

The JBL Bar 9.1 offers wireless surround sound thanks to the included soundbar base and two detachable battery powered rear speakers that can be removed and placed anywhere in a room for optimal sound.

jblspeaker
There's a base soundbar with four upward-facing Dolby Atmos drivers that are designed to bounce audio around the room from all angles, a 10-inch wireless subwoofer for "pulse-pounding" bass, and the two detachable speakers that are meant to shoot sound off of the ceiling and back down.

The speakers feature 10 hour battery life and can be returned to the soundbar for recharging purposes when the battery drains. 10 hours is enough to get through a night of entertainment, recharging the batteries during the day or overnight.

Along with Dolby Atmos, the Bar 9.1 supports Dolby Vision and it also has support for ‌AirPlay‌ 2, so it can interface with other ‌AirPlay‌ 2 devices and playing audio to the soundbar from a Mac, iPad, an iPhone takes just a tap or two. Bluetooth and Chromecast are also supported.

JBL plans to begin offering the JBL Bar 9.1 on the JBL website in the spring of 2020. It will be priced at $999.95.

Top Rated Comments

aaronhead14 Avatar
71 months ago
This sounds awesome. And the detachable surround sound speakers are perfect for people who don’t have the space to dedicate for permanent rear speakers. We can place them behind us while we’re watching stuff, but then they can be tucked away during the day. Awesome!
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kabeyun Avatar
71 months ago
This screams gimmick. If you plan on putting up surround speakers, you don’t need detachable ones. If you don’t want surround speakers, you don’t need detachable ones.

Also, the name ,”9.1,” is also unscrupulously misleading imo.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutmac Avatar
71 months ago

This screams gimmick. If you plan on putting up surround speakers, you don’t need detachable ones. If you don’t want surround speakers, you don’t need detachable ones.

Also, the name ,”9.1,” is also unscrupulously misleading imo.
9.1 is one of the supported Dolby Atmos speaker setup ('https://www.dolby.com/us/en/speaker-setup-guides/index.html'). Of course, you are right to be skeptical that 3 speakers can effectively output 9 channels. Early reports suggest JBL Bar 9.1 has extremely limited sweet spot.

Also, I am not sure whether I want to charge two rear speakers every 10 hours.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
71 months ago
First let me start by saying, I have two amazing JBL set ups in my house and I’ve been very happy with the sound/quality of what it delivers. I think a detachable speakers is fairly unique and essentially eliminates any ‘running wires’. The only thing I would question, would be how the sound quality is pending where the speakers are located with the transfer of the signal itself.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
x-evil-x Avatar
71 months ago

For that kind of money you can buy a proper atmos receiver and a reasonable set of atmos speakers. You also get half a dozen or so hdmi inputs on the receiver with DV 4K pass through.
but people don't want to do anything like that. They don't want to run wires and do things the right way. They want soundbars because its almost as easy as just using the tv speakers. Most people anyway.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
laydownlarry Avatar
71 months ago

Also, I am not sure whether I want to charge two rear speakers every 10 hours.
Then clearly you are not the target market for this.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...