Part of Big W's Black Friday sale with prices available 5am 20th November AEDT plus 2000 rewards points.
Price match at other brick and mortar stores.
Official homepage: https://www.jbl.com.au/SB550.html
Wireless in the sense of not needing an AV cable connection from the soundbar. This is a good thing as the low frequency bass sound fom a subwoofer is not very directional, so it can be tucked in a corner away from the TV without impacting the overall experience. Needs to be plugged in of course for power reasons, unless James Dyson gets tired of Vacuum cleaners.
Like practically everything else marketed as "wireless" requiring a power source.
Ok, so you're still not understanding. Thanks for clearing that up :)
No soundbar/woofer is wireless , all use wires inside.
You're thinking of cordless
You ok?
what a retard
How can a wireless router be called "wireless" if it has to be plugged into mains? Wireless refers to data transmission not power in these cases.
They've got a wire to recharge them (if capable), or batteries if not rechargeable.
sir this is a wendys
Surely this was not an actual comment..
Its definitely not a valid question. Any common sense will know electronics require power.
@SeanConnery: Omf I can't handle this level of IQ lol. Power bank.. if its flat what do you do. I'm done. I can't. Good luck in life.
@SeanConnery: Oh, so it can be partly used without wires, but what happens when it runs out? This sub also can be partly used without wires, as in no data wire.
Wireless ≠ Cordless
solid ragebait
I'm not a fan of wireless audio. My Sony sound bar has a wireless sub. Not often but every now and then it drops out for a second. I'd prefer the option to use a cable
However I do like it as an option.
I'd need wireless if I were ever to go surround sound as cables wouldn't be practical - but my sub is close to the bar so I'd prefer a wired option there
"I'd need wireless if I were ever to go surround sound as cables wouldn't be practical" - but you'd still need power cables for your "wireless" surrounds.
You can make it wireless, if you use 300x AA batteries…watch out for eneloop deals, ozb is your friend
how do we connect it?
In series.
Need wire to each of the batteries.
I do recall there was research into over the air power delivery about a decade ago. Not sure what happened but I suspect it had something to do with three eyed kittens turning up after the trials.
No airplay btw guys
Best thing I find about sound bars is Bluetooth streaming - doubles as a home stereo
There’s some right wallys in these comments sometimes.
Yeah it's a little disturbing TBH.
I only have one HDMI slot im using for my fire stick.
Can you get an adaptor so I can run both through the same HDMI socket?
No concurrent splitters for hdmi
You would either use the aux , optical or Bluetooth connection options from tv to bar without needing hdmi
Most TV's have optical right?
Can the bar connect via Bluetooth?
Optical was highly prevalent in tvs with hdmi, Bluetooth much less common,
You should be checking your tv capabilities directly
@Misha Bakunin: Just be aware that connecting via Bluetooth is the lowest quality audio of the connection methods and often causes lip sync issues due to high latency. Highly recommend Optical over Bluetooth if HDMI is not an option.
What is your TV model?
Can you try and input FTV through the soundbar using additional HDMi inputs ? Will need to be done using ARC
$200 powered bookshelf speakers or a $200 soundbar? No need for doof doof as it's the Family room TV, what would be better for clear dialogue audio?
Same desperate solve this I just want to hear what people are saying
Go the bookshelves. You can easily add a sub of your choice later on if required.
As someone who owns this soundbar, a word of warning. The 3 channel thing literally does not work. What should happen is when you play 5.1 it should downmix to 3.1 successfully, but what ACTUALLY happens with this soundbar is it's "voice clarity central channel" merely involves turning down the volume hugely on the stereo and turning it up on the centre.
What this means is it is completely unusable in it's normal mode, because you miss all the music from any TV or movie. I couldnt believe how bad it was. So you just end up having to go with uncompressed stereo all the time anyway. I've been back and forth with JBL Support since buying it but there's buckleys they can do. It's amazing a product can be this bad, tbh.
Thank you… looking for a soundbar but I’m no audiophile so just a mid range for lounge tv & you just saved me some coin $$$
same boat, skipping this now. Thanks Iggemo!
I mean, the sound on this bar is pretty good. But the 3 channel thing is an absolute gimmick to the point you need to make sure nothing is playing other than stereo so… what's the point of it? May as well just get a 2.1 and save some money imo.
All sound system ads They are all dodgy these days
They regressed into each speaker.each bass
Friend showed with glee his 10.2 channel samsung
Seems like 10 represents literal 10 tweeters
Not the codecs,
The other marketing ploy is compatible vs capable
5.1 sound bar, but just means it is compatible with reading dolby 5.1, not necessarily capable of reproducing with its 2 or 3 tweets in the bar often don't even deliver the dedicated .1 bass to woofer just everything
Fyi this is already marked down on jbls website
yes but with BigW you could use gcs and also get EDR points as per this post.
Anyone know where to get a replacement remote for this particular SB550 model with all the features? Struggling to find a decent priced one!
What happened to the one that you had?
Is there anything outhere like the old YSP1`000 yamaha projector?
Yeah Yamaha still have a big range of these things.
Lol 😂 100$ discount on rrp on JBL is peanuts or no dicount, I think they calculate RRP once they decide in how much do they want to actually sell
I wouldn't put too much stock in Big W's pricing (other than the reward points on offer ?)
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/jbl-cinema-sb550-3-1-chan… JB Hifi has it for $199, but their regular price is $229
I've been eying off the 510 with the built in soundbar (highly rated and reviewed) since December last year. Currently $129 at both JB and Big W… but Big W's normal price is $199, JB's $169.
510 is 123 at Amazon plus 5% off with eligible nab card
link pls
I ended up biting (the SB510) at the $129 price, but I paid $122.50. Took hours to get it to "talk" to my tv.Tried everything under the sun and was about to give up……. when I switched both the soundbar and tv off, turned the tv on first, soundbar on next and viola it worked.
I like it, hard to say what I really prefer as the speakers in my Samsung tv have sounded decent to me for years at both low and high volume.
The soundbar does have more oomph, it's clear…. but the funny thing is that the JBL Charge 5 portable speaker, kind of beats it to a degree. I have to do more tests as I haven't cranked the soundbar up to max volume as yet.
No Dolby atmos, suits budget or older TVs.
MrZ on 15/11/2025 - 19:53 Comment score below threshold.
