Loud, bassy, however not sufficient refinement

The JBL Authentics 500 is a large wi-fi speaker with a cut up character.

On one hand, it desires to take us again to basic JBL hi-fi designs just like the JBL L100. You may recognise that waffle-like Quadrex JBL grille from a mile off. It is a basic.

While you get the JBL Authentics 500 to play some tunes, although, you shortly realise it is an incorrigible occasion animal.

If you wish to flip your lounge right into a membership and make your neighbours hate you, the JBL Authentics 500 can oblige for a cool $700/£580. That is no small funding – so must you purchase it? Here is my full evaluate.

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Design

You may wish to get out a tape measure before you purchase a JBL Authentics 500, simply to ensure the spot you are planning has sufficient room for the factor.

It is nearly 20cm deep, and as there are nice huge bass exhausts on the again, you may wish to give it some further clearance from any again wall too.

If you do not have the area, you do produce other choices. The JBL Authentics 500 is the biggest and strongest speaker on this vary, however there’s additionally the Authentics 300 and Authentics 200, each of that are a lot smaller – with the 300 additionally being transportable.

For all its imposing bulk, although, JBL Authentics 500 is not all that heavy at 4.9kg. That is solely simply over a 3rd the load of the basic JBL L82 hi-fi speaker that impressed its design, seemingly as a result of this factor does not have a hefty MDF veneer enclosure.

As a substitute, its outer has a leather-effect plastic end, the gold trim half is aluminium and the again is a ridged plastic. There is no mistaking that that is trendy wi-fi speaker building wedded to some conventional aesthetic parts.

That doesn’t prolong to a battery, thoughts. The JBL Authentics 500 must be plugged in to work, and the PSU is built-in, that means solely a easy figure-of-eight lead must path from the field.

Options

The JBL Authentics 500 is a fully-featured dwelling Wi-Fi speaker. And sure, retro gear followers, there’s additionally an aux enter on the again for hardwiring different units.

Greater than seemingly, although, you may be going wi-fi and you may join your telephone to the field utilizing Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The setup for that’s accomplished utilizing the JBL One app, which helps you to deal with a bunch of those Authentics audio system like a multi-room setup.

JBL’s One additionally enables you to select music immediately from streaming providers throughout the app, however you get a a lot better expertise by, for instance, simply utilizing Spotify and deciding on the Authentics 500 because the supply there.

AirPlay, Chromecast, Alexa Multi-room and Spotify Join are all on-board, so there is not any actual want to make use of JBL’s app past the preliminary setup.

This can be a sensible speaker too. Look shut on the high floor and you will see a few little black holes the place the microphones reside. You may hook up with Alexa or Google Assistant, and have them each dwelling collectively, on the Authentics 500 similtaneously two warring housemates. It really works fairly easily, even should you spend the time making an attempt to catch it out moderately than holistically utilizing two completely different voice assistants.

If voice help is not your bag, otherwise you need some moments of privateness, you too can disable the microphones utilizing just a little swap on the again.

So far as connectivity goes, the JBL Authentics 500 has an Ethernet socket, helpful in case your Wi-Fi is a bit dodgy. A USB-C port sits on the again too however, sadly, it might probably’t be used to play sound from, for instance, your laptop computer. I attempted with a MacBook. No cube.

It is for software program updates solely (if one thing goes very incorrect), though the guide suggests the US model can play MP3s over the USB port, so American readers could also be in luck.

Sound high quality

There is a hidden monster dwelling contained in the JBL Authentics 500. Tip it up and you will find an enormous 6.5-inch subwoofer, which kilos bass sound waves into no matter sits under the speaker.

Behind the grille are three units of mid-range and treble drivers – three 1-inch tweeters and three 2.75-inch mid-range drivers.

This makes it a 3.1 system, even when it’ll spend most of its life enjoying stereo sound. It additionally helps “3D Dolby Atmos” music. However I stay sceptical within the idea of making 3D sound from a field the place the drivers are a handful of centimetres aside.

The defining issue right here is bass, adopted by quantity. The JBL Authentics 500 is able to unimaginable feats of bass at fearsome, relationship-ruining quantity.

Bass depth is superb, and once you crank this factor and play some music you may hear at a membership it begins to sound, effectively, such as you’re really at a membership. It is thrilling stuff, significantly should you reside in a indifferent home and might actually let rip.

There’s an actual sense of expansiveness to the low-end that some folks will completely love. Nonetheless, additionally it is on the root of the JBL Authentics 500’s greatest downside.

This bass is just not significantly well-controlled, and is sloppier than the comparatively taut JBL Boombox 3, even whether it is considerably extra powerful-sounding at greater volumes.

It finally ends up clogging up the sound, stepping all around the mids and vocal strains at occasions. Advanced preparations change into muddled, so you aren’t getting the airiness or separation you’ve gotten a proper to count on when spending this a lot money.

You may attempt to tame the JBL Authentics 500, utilizing the 2 dials on the highest. These are treble and bass controls, which is a transparent signal that is extra of a “life-style” speaker than a severe one. Audio system ought to be (and are) tuned to a goal. Placing controls that allow you to transfer away from that proper up entrance is sort of uncommon.

It is also too straightforward to change the sound profile and never realise you’ve gotten accomplished so, as these are free-turning dials that use an LED ring across the perimeter to indicate the setting.

However, sure, you’ll be able to deliver down the bass utilizing these controls or the JBL app, ditch the increase and free your self as much as improve the quantity a bit with out everybody in a 50-mile radius listening to about it. As soon as you are taking the highlight off the bass, there’s an easygoing smoothness to the mids and treble that’s actually nice, and makes the JBL Boombox 3 sound kinda coarse by comparability.

The Authentics 500 slam and dynamics are flatter, although, that means that once you take away that propulsive bass, you additionally rob the speaker of a good bit of its momentum.

All of those criticisms ought to be taken within the supposed context. The JBL Authentics 500’s solely clear difficulty is that until you play with the bass, it is fairly domineering, however music does sound nice by means of this speaker. Does it sound $700/£580 good, although? I am much less persuaded that it does.

Verdict

Large, loud, {powerful} and bassy. That’s the JBL Authentics 500 in a nutshell once you look past the charmingly retro Quadrex grille design.

The sheer pressure of its bass, and the way comfortably it might probably get extraordinarily loud will impress many. However it’s the design than evokes the JBL greats of outdated moderately than the sound.

There’s simply not sufficient management over the decrease frequencies, or fairly sufficient presence and dynamics in the remainder to make the JBL Authentics 500 a world-class contender on this value vary. Nonetheless, should you’re after a one-box occasion, and have the price range to splash on it, you have discovered it.