Bar 500MK2

Overview

The Bar 500MK2 is a 5.1-channel soundbar with a 10-inch wireless subwoofer from the second-generation JBL Bar series, which HARMAN announced in June 2025 for jbl.com. The bar is 940 mm wide, 50.5 mm high and 104 mm deep, comes in black and can be wall-mounted with the kit in the box.

JBL lists five racetrack drivers and four 0.75-inch tweeters in the bar, 450 W for the bar and 300 W for the subwoofer, 750 W maximum in total. The TV connects over HDMI eARC or optical, and one HDMI input takes a console or player. Over dual-band Wi-Fi the bar supports AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Amazon Music, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Roon Ready; Bluetooth and a USB port (MP3 playback on US units) are also built in. Setup and a 7-band EQ run through the JBL One app. It has no built-in voice assistant.

What the specs mean

• 5.1 with wireless subwoofer: five channels from the bar plus the subwoofer in the box, widened by JBL's MultiBeam 3.0 processing.
• Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X: the bar decodes Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital and creates the height effect in processing; HARMAN's launch release announced DTS Virtual:X as a software update for late 2025.
• HDMI eARC: the enhanced Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over one HDMI cable, with enough bandwidth for Dolby Atmos.
• 4K passthrough (HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HDCP 2.3): a source on the HDMI input passes its 4K HDR picture on to the TV.
• PureVoice 2.0: JBL's dialogue enhancement raises the dialogue based on the scene and the volume.
• Room correction: the sound calibration adapts the surround effect to how sound reflects off the room.
• TV remote: over HDMI-CEC the TV remote controls volume, mute and power.