JBL Studio 550P 10-Inch Powered Subwoofer Black

Bought this thinking there would be a line input on the sub as per the pictures on the JBL website, alas there wasn't but this is where I'd buy from Harman (JBL's parent company) again. Their customer service listened to my question regarding how to connect to an integrated amp (NAD C316BEE) without a a sub out, it took a day or two but they were fast about telling me I'd need a converter. They ran out of the line out converters but offered to pay for it. Bought one on Amazon and sure enough I saw a check for the amount. Great company to deal with. Sound quality is excellent. Tight and punchy given that it's a sealed box. 10" isn't massive so it'll be best for small rooms. I'v'e got my dialed in about 10% and seamlessly adds the punch my Dynaudio Excite X14's or my previous Kef LS50's can't deliver. It can deliver just a touch that pulls everything together just right or it can go in heavy if you're watching movies and listening to a helicopter entering a scene. Very clean sound, quite heavy too. No complaints about the sound or of Harman/JBL.

I have 2 of them from this sale. Shipping was super fast and they came in mint shape. I do wish that they had an outer box for additional protection as on of the boxes boxes ended up with a good puncture, though there is zero damage. For a sealed sub these are great, high roll surrounds and good power = high excursion. Their footprint remains small enough that they won't hog your whole room and placing multiple isn't too hard. Bass has been very tight without any bloaty boom or port noise/chuffing. Small and sealed means you won't be getting the deepest of the deep bass in the same volume that a larger cone or ported box might get you but with room gain you're still digging into the 20s with ease. For the sale price you can't beat these right now, but I would still look to SVS or similar if I was paying full retail. My only complaint is that the 12 inch version wasn't on sale. There seems to be some confusion from another reviewer here. It appears that JBLs official site is using the wrong image and that has proglemated downward though the internet. The image in the description is in fact wrong, but there text description is accurate (both here and at the JBL page) The questions and answers within the item sale page also clarifies the input selections. Looks like a combo of mistake on JBLs part and incomplete research from the buyer.

Stay away from JBL / Harmon, mine was dead after less than 3 years of light usage and JBL won't pay for even modest repairs despite over $3500 invested in their system. I had purchased the 550P as part of a JBL 5.1 system including matching a pair of Studio 590s, a pair of Studio 530s, and Studio 520C. Overall was satisfied; however, after light usage less than three years later, one time when turning on the 550P it made some strange distortion and then it powered off. It would no longer power on. I called JBL and they referred me to a service center. The service center said the amplifier module was blown and looked like there was smoke damage/was fried. $130 for the replacement plus $80 labor . I only ever gave it moderate usage (medium volume) and was plugged into a surge protector. After finally getting through to JBL again after the diagnosis they said it was past the one year warranty and nothing they could do. Note before finally getting through I was put on hold multiple times for over an hour each time before giving up and I submitted an online ticket only to be replied three days later I had contacted the wrong division (not true), to contact their professional division instead. Later when I finally got through the on the phone again, they said that was a mistake and I did contact the correct division all along. I understand there will be product defects sometimes, and it was technically past the one-year warranty (although they don't make it very clear upfront what parts are covered in their one-year vs. five year warranty), but also would expect their product would work more than three years and felt treated very poorly given I had spent over $3500 on their product. I will never consider or buy anything from JBL or parent company Harmon again. You should stay away from this subwoofer unless intend and expect it to only work less than 3 years.

I don't know how good this is compared to other subs, but it's definitely far better than not having a sub at all. I am enjoying my movies, music, and games much more with this sub and a pair of JBL 230 speakers. This sub sounds much better with the grill removed and so do my other speakers. I guess you can't go too wrong for the very low sale price. BTW this sub is heavy. I put it on a dolly to make it easier to move around.

Where do I start. Packaging. It was packaged well, simple to unbox for such a large object, no damage. The speaker, heavy. And I mean heavy. Heavier than it looks. I own many subwoofers and this one suprised me. Usually that means quality right? Well not too fast. Turns out the back panel is not the same as the one in the picture. So in my current setup I cannot run the subwoofer the way I expected. So I plug it in and hook it up. I get less than a hum out of it. I then figured I would try the other connection method. It works, as soon as I got to where I was starting to enjoy the bass it was producing the back panel starts rattling. This is at about 20% volume mind you. Anyways the speaker was not advertised properly and it is not worth it's price even on a huge "sale". Sadly this thing is too heavy to return. Not recommended. Sorry JBL but this one is a PASS!