When JBL Professional debuted its Pro SoundBar PSB family of commercial-grade soundbars, it became a highly popular solution for hospitality applications like cruise ship staterooms and hotel rooms as well as corporate and educational meeting spaces. Integrators and technology managers were looking for a commercial soundbar that could blend modern design with advanced audio clarity while minimizing sound transfer to neighboring rooms.
JBL PSB SoundBars set a new standard for a high-performing yet cost effective commercial soundbar. Designed with robust features, reliability, and security, PSB soundbars offer exceptional clarity even at low levels, while reducing costs and complexity compared to competitors.
Explore all the capabilities, details and specifications of the JBL PSB-2 Commercial Soundbar.
The JBL PSB-2 is the latest addition to the PSB family and adds several new enhancements to the PSB lineup, including the addition of HDMI and Bluetooth source inputs and a single source control button on top of the speaker that simplifies switching between sources simple. We recently sat down with Steve Mathis, Product Manager for Installed Loudspeakers at HARMAN Professional Solutions to learn more about the PSB-2, how it differs from its PSB sibling, the PSB-1 and which soundbar is a better fit for each application.
Steve, thanks for your time. How does a commercial-grade soundbar differ from a soundbar that would sit under my TV at home?
Thanks for having me. Obviously, the main benefit of any soundbar is to improve the quality and clarity of the audio that comes from a TV. Since TV speakers are almost always aimed at either the wall behind the display or directly at the floor, creating a soundbar that provides a better listening experience is fairly straightforward and both commercial and consumer examples achieve this goal. Like every JBL Professional loudspeaker, audio performance and creating the ideal customer listening experience is always our primary design consideration – we built these soundbars to not only sound great but also to ensure that vocal clarity is top-notch so that all the dialog that is coming from the TV can be heard clearly without having to increase overall soundbar volume just to hear what’s being said onscreen.
Many other functions of consumer soundbars, though they may be seen as features in your personal living room, can become problems when installed in 100+ room locations. The PSB-1 and now the PSB-2, have been designed specifically to meet the needs of applications like cruise ship cabins and hotel guest rooms. We also find that corporate, education, and government conference rooms and classrooms are perfect candidates for these soundbars and our soundbars have also been popular with these clients across the globe.
Tour JBL Pro Soundbar PSB-2 Key Benefits
What features have been engineered into PSB Soundbars that make them a better solution for commercial applications?
- Minimizing Neighboring Room Disturbance
- One of the key considerations in developing the PSB family was to provide hospitality clients with a soundbar that could limit extended low frequency response, especially from action movies or other low-end heavy content, from bleeding into neighboring rooms.
- Both PSB models’ speaker drivers were engineered to focus all of the audio into the center of the room, instead of allowing it to radiate through room walls that could easily transmit and disturb neighbors.
- If further audio control is needed, PSB soundbar volume can be limited to 70% of maximum volume, further reducing the possibility of radiating volume to nearby rooms.
Simplified User Controls – We’ve made it as simple as possible for users to control the volume of the soundbar.
- When watching TV, users simply adjust volume as they always would with the TV’s remote control and soundbar volume will be adjusted instead of the TV speakers.
- With the PSB-2, users also have the option of playing Bluetooth audio through the Soundbar simply by pairing their phone, casting audio and controlling volume via their phone’s volume control, just as they would with any other Bluetooth speaker.
- Commercial-specific Installation Features
- The PSB-2 utilizes extremely simple-to-manage dipswitches for the majority of the configuration of the Soundbar, which can even be done when the PSB-2 is unpowered. The only need for managing PSB-2 software is when the facility needs to change the Bluetooth beacon and that only takes a few seconds to configure.
- Each PSB-2 can be configured in 15-30 seconds versus 3-5 minutes with traditional hospitality soundbars. When applied to 150 rooms this can result in valuable time and cost savings as all the soundbars could be configured in just 37.5 to 75 MINUTES versus 7.5 to 12.5 HOURS with traditional soundbars.
- Once configured the dipswitches and USB port can be covered with a security plate protecting them from inquisitive users attempting to make changes. Additionally, the top button can be covered with an additional security plate to make sure the PSB-2 is always in HDMI mode.
- Designed for Easy Cleaning – All of the surfaces of the PSB-2 are made from hard plastic or metal, so it is quick and easy to wipe down and clean these soundbars.
What are the differences between the PSB-2 and PSB-1 and which is better for specific applications?
- The PSB-2 and PSB-1 offer the exact same elevated listening experience, form factor, and look and feel. The main difference between the two models comes down to their source inputs. The PSB-2 includes HDMI and Bluetooth source inputs, the PSB-1 offers analog inputs. This is ideal for customers when it comes to selecting the right model because they merely need to determine which soundbar best aligns with the source devices in their facility and whether they’d like to offer Bluetooth audio streaming capability. If more of their TVs have analog connections and they aren’t planning to upgrade for some time, the PSB-1 will probably best support their needs. If their TVs have HDMI connections or they will be upgrading soon and/or they’d like to also give guests the ability to play audio from their phones, the PSB-2 will most likely be a better option.
- We’ve also designed some key commercial-grade features into how Bluetooth audio streaming operates with the PSB-2. Consumer soundbars often have difficult or impossible to change Bluetooth beacons that a home customer wouldn’t mind as they only expect to use one Bluetooth receiver at a time, but when several units are all used in close proximity, it becomes nearly impossible to identify which Bluetooth device to connect to. With PSB-2, the Bluetooth beacons can easily and quickly be updated to be easily identifiable.
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