The JBL Bar 800 5.1.2 Channel Soundbar is a three-piece system with a soundbar, a 10-inch wireless subwoofer, and two surround speakers that detach from the ends of the bar. Those two speakers are battery-powered, so they sit behind your couch without a cable or an outlet anywhere near them. Total system output is 720 watts. Two up-firing drivers in the bar handle the height channels for Dolby Atmos. A single HDMI eARC cable connects the whole setup to a TV.
Head over to Amazon to get the JBL Bar 800 5.1.2 Channel Soundbar for just $600, down from its usual price of $850. That’s a discount of $250 and 29% off.
A booming soundbar that’s easy to add to your entertainment system
Surround sound typically involves looping speaker cable around a room. The Bar 800 differs in that the left and right surround speakers are battery-powered and self-contained, so once you’ve set them at the rear of your seating area, you won’t need to do anything else. Afterward, you simply snap them back into place on the ends of the soundbar, and they recharge.
Dolby Atmos is the reason for the two up-firing drivers on top of the bar. They bounce sound off your ceiling so effects can land above you instead of only in front of you. A helicopter passing overhead in a movie actually passes overhead. Ceiling height and shape both affect how well this works, and a flat ceiling somewhere between eight and twelve feet gives you the best result.
The subwoofer is a 10-inch driver in a wireless cabinet, so it pairs to the bar on its own connection and only needs a power outlet. Placement is flexible because low frequencies aren’t directional, which means you can tuck it beside a couch or behind a chair. Total system power across all the pieces adds up to 720 watts, which is more than a normal living room needs.
PureVoice is JBL’s dialogue processing, and it lifts speech out of the mix when explosions and score are competing with it. Wi-Fi is built in, so AirPlay, Chromecast, and Alexa Multi-Room Music all stream to the bar directly from a phone. The JBL One app handles setup and tuning. HDMI eARC carries audio from the TV and passes 4K Dolby Vision video through in the other direction.
The JBL Bar 800 5.1.2 Channel Soundbar is selling for $600, down from $850. Wall-mount brackets, a remote, and an HDMI cable come in the box. If you want Atmos height effects and real rear speakers without drilling holes in a wall or running wire under a rug, this does it in one purchase.
