JBL Bar 300MK2

Powerful, bassy yet pleasingly subtle; it's hard not to like this JBL soundbar

- 

For those who lack the space or budget for a multichannel speaker system, choosing a soundbar is a great way to upgrade your TV's often unsatisfactory audio performance and get a more cinematic experience.

This is where Dolby Atmos soundbars, in particular, have found their audience, as they can produce immersive, sometimes room-filling sound despite their often relatively compact dimensions and accessible pricing.

While you may think of JBL as more of a hi-fi brand with its headphone and speaker offerings, it’s also a big name in the world of soundbars.

Amazingly, it’s been 12 long years since a JBL soundbar last achieved the Hollywood handshake of the What Hi-Fi? world - that coveted five-star rating.

The JBL Bar 300MK2 comes in at £350, which places it somewhere in the lower mid-range of the Dolby Atmos soundbar category.

Looming large (despite its compact dimensions) in this part of the market is the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), which nominally costs £449 but is often available for less. The Sonos model is a multiple What Hi-Fi? Award winner, thanks to its effective Atmos handling, warm yet crisp character and impressive musicality. Still, the JBL Bar 300MK2's cheaper price tag and more substantial specification sheet could have the class leader worried.

The JBL Bar 300MK2 is, as you will surely have guessed, the successor to the JBL Bar 300, which we tested at £330 but can now be bought for just £230 while stock lasts.

We enjoyed this original model's clear dialogue and impressively deep bass, but its slightly weak midrange resulted in an overall four-star rating.

In terms of design, the JBL Bar 300MK2 is not much different to its predecessor. The all-black unit features rounded edges with a plastic grille on the front. On top, JBL has kept things simple, with buttons for volume and wi-fi connection that sit flush with the body. The soundbar can also be wall-mounted using the two included brackets.