This is definitely a quality speaker with retro looks that has AMAZING sound!! The retro look has let my wife allow me to place it in our family room (thank you mid century house). And i thought this would provide whole room sound. This thing puts our whole house sound!! WOW!! The bass is incredible, the highs are perfect, and the ATMOS makes sure everyone in earshot gets those quality tones. I love this speaker and it provided excellent background music during a recent holiday party. The controls are simple on the unit itself, but you can really get the best sound when you use the JBL One app to calibrate the speaker for its location, wherever you decide to put it. I highly recommend this speaker!!

I feel in love with the JBL Authentic at first sight. This speaker takes me back. With the waffle look front. Leather trim, it is amazing. So 70's style. I placed in my front room , where I recive guest. Everyone has ask what is that !! I immediately demonstrated the features of this retro speaker. Really cool to have treble and bass controls. Of course the features of wi-fi and bluetooth makes this sweet. Then add in ethernet input, aux input is a huge plus. My plan is to get a turntable and play albums that I haven't heard on turntable in years. The fact it must be plugged in is fine , as I plan to leave in my sitting room. The speaker isn't intended to be portable. Just as our HI -FI Speakers from back in the day. I have only turned it up half way with guest present , and they couldn't believe the clearness of the sound. The wi-fi will ensure updates are done as they become available. I have it on my JBL ONE app. I must say this is such a wonderful speaker for music lovers, podcast enthusiasts and more. I have recommended and showed to lots of friends. Thank you JBL for another outstanding product. I love love the nostalgia of the Authentic 500.

I'm so excited about the JBL Authentics 500. I set it up in the kitchen on top of my coffee bar. It's a little heavy for a regular wall shelf so a counter, entertainment center shelf or something sturdy is recommended. The sound is crisp and clear with very firm Bass notes. The sub is down firing underneath while the highs are behind the mesh cubed grill. It's very nice. Two large bass port exit the back and the enclosure is covered with a textured leather material that compliments it well. The battery life is excellent!

This speaker has some majorly solid style. The gold toned metal, the leathery textured main body, and the soft grid pattern on the front blend beautifully. It's about at the max of what I would consider a mid sized speaker and the sound quality is impressive for its size - well rounded. Considering I listen to a wide range of music, the fine adjust of the bass and treble are great. The dials on the top turn super smooth and have a nice tactile feel.

JBL never fails to put a smile on my face when listening to music with their products! This JBL Authentics 500 retro looking smart home speaker is amazing. Punchy lows, powerful mids, and crisp highs! Everything down to the clean brass / gold accents on the speaker, beautiful grille, to the packaging screams classy. This absolutely can be a center piece and doesnt need to be hidden away like other speakers you may have in your home. As classy and sophisticated the JBL Authentics 500 looks, it does not play around when you need to transform your home into your very own live concert or night club. At it's top volume, you have no distortion and even your neighbors across the street will be enjoying the quality of sound this speaker gives. At this point you don't need to read anymore and just buy this speaker but... it gets even better!! This is a wi-fi speaker meaning you can pair the JBL Authentics 500 with all of your other wi-fi enabled smart speakers in home! An absolute joy to shake your home and feel like you are front stage at your favorite band's concert! If you are contemplating getting this to add speakers to your home or even have this as a stand-alone, you will not be dissappinted in the slightest bit!

Congratulations JBL! The Authentics 500 is one of those rare speakers you get excited to listen to, time and time again. With a retro heritage style, adorned with leatherette, thick foam and futuristic knobs, the JBL is an ode to speakers past with high end modern components. The 500 is by far my favorite compact audio solution for high quality music listening, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi streaming and 3.1 home audio. It is simply fantastic! The Authentics 500 is a beast of a speaker, with mind blowing sound quality and a powerful presence. The JBL has subtle crystalline highs, forward clean mids and deep liquid bass, so it should please the listener with it's warm vintage sound. With the high and low knobs, plus the in-app EQ, users can dial in the neutral frequency to ones listening taste. Though I do wish with the volume steps would be tighter and the EQ had presets and a larger band of adjustment. Other than that, I am absolutely floored by the sound quality of the 500, which sounds twice as good as the price point of the speaker. The JBL is perfect for easy listening under 50% and is a literal powerhouse above that threshold. The other incredible feature of the JBL Authentics is its ease of use. Compared to other Wi-Fi sound systems, this one adapts to audio input on the fly, allowing for multiple sources to toggle the sound back and forth seamlessly. Whether it is a voice assistant, Bluetooth or direct aux audio, the playback remains flawless without any detectible artifacts, beeps or blips. The automatic sound adjustment for different locations seems to work well, so long as the listener is mindful about the positioning of the unit. The Authentics is a truly simple sound system that allows for total mechanical control vs in app constraints, allowing for a wonderful user experience. All in all, the JBL Authentics 500 is the compact audio system that I have been waiting for, with amazing sound, sleek looks and intuitive features. There is really nothing I would change, other than the above mentioned, as the speaker does nearly everything right. If you are either looking for a single room speaker for your home or want this as your primary sound system, it will work great either way. With enough power and volume for parties or a beautiful low volume for easy listening, the JBL knocks it out of the park. I believe this may be the best audiophile speaker out there for the price and would love to try the JBL Authentics 300 to complement its larger counterpart. This is easily a 9/10 speaker and with some tweaks on the app, JBL may have created the perfect speaker system for anyone wanting the vintage look, compact size and true Hi-Fi sound!

Our family is in love with the JBL Authentics 500. This smart speaker does it all with incredible sound. The retro design is very esthetically pleasing and looks nice in our living room. I love the way this speaker looks! This speaker comes with built in Alexa and Google Assist. Set up for these features are easy and fast! Once you download the app it walks you through the simple setup in minutes. I love that you have both ok google and alexa simultaneously working on this speaker, it is such an amazing feature to have both. JBL always has the best sound and Authentics 500 did not disappoint! My kids love how loud this speaker is and I love how clear the sound is. Even older songs have amazing sound, I was blown away with the clarity and loudness, usually older songs have horrible sound qualify but not on this speaker. The base is rich and deep and also adjustable with the knob on the top of the speaker. The underneath subwoofer sets this apart and makes such a difference for the base in this speaker. Highs and mids are crystal clear. The sound is so clean its like a live concert is in the room with you. This speaker is superior to any speaker I have ever heard. This speaker is truly made for everyone, with the smart features and also the on speaker controls it can accommodate all. Not only can you control this speaker through voice commands you can control it from your phone anywhere in your home along with hear it through your whole home. My kids love the speaker to have a dance party, jam out and I love that while doing chores I can hear it no matter what room I am in. Also we like to listen to podcast and the sound of the voices are literally better than if the person was actually in the room talking. If I had to use one word to describe this speaker it is incredible! My kids got this for Christmas and they have been in love with it ever since. There is not a day that goes by that they are not using their JBL Authentics 500, the biggest downfall is when my kids fight over who gets to choose the next song! I beyond highly recommend this product, words can not describe how impressive it is you have to hear it to believe it!!

I like this new authentics 500 it has every option that i like in a speaker, the sound quality is great and loud,i like the option of use my google and alexa, also the app works great with the 500, it's a great product good job JBL i love my new authentics 500.

This speaker sounds absolutely amazing! Deep, effortless bass, and beautiful, open mids and sparkly highs, regardless of volume level. And let me just say, that the volume level will get really, REALLY loud. I tested it in a large warehouse, with 18 foot ceilings, and at full volume, it could be heard outside of the (closed) warehouse, across the parking lot that's basically 2 lanes wide, and inside the next building! But, even at that volume, it's still absolutely free of distortion. If you have a fairly large space to fill with sound, and don't want to bring a heavy amp and speakers, this guy weighs less than 20 pounds and will fill the bill. Lots of connectivity options from BT to Wifi, USB, ethernet, and even an aux input. Streaming and voice commands work fine, just requires a bit of patience at setup. The only knock that I have, and it's because I've gotten used to using the headphones app, is that there isn't a proper eq in the JBL One app, so you just have overall bass/treble controls, but as good as this thing sounds, that's only a very slight ding. According to my daughter-in-law's first statement when she saw it, it is "very aesthetically pleasing" and I couldn't agree more (but then I turned it up, and couldn't hear any more of her words). The retro grill design and gold trim brings back fond memories of the 'L' line that were all beautiful and pleasing to the ears, and the "leather" cover adds a really nice touch. Absolutely amazing speaker.

Excellent sound for a home Stereo. Very clear and the base is amazing.