Jensen JSB-1000 Review: Parting and powerful speaker, with a high price sign

Jensen brand may raise a lot of nostalgia for many of you, but the company is not stuck in the past. One of her recent invasions in modern sound technology is JSB-1000, which was announced earlier this year, and is the first spokesperson for Chromecast. But this is not the only prominent feature of JSB-1000. Over the past few months, the JSB-1000 has exploded in my kitchen as part of the entire Chromecast loudspeakers + Google Home and soon became an integral part of our daily life. I love JSB-1000, but every time I think about its current price and competition, I put a question mark about my recommendation.

Specifications

Goodness

Not very good

Design and controls

Jensen JSB-1000 is charged in a utility box such as speaker design: cube with amplifier, power adapter and AUX 3.5 mm cable. It should be noted that although the specifications paper indicates that the transformer is classified on 120 volts, the transformer itself says it also supports up to 240 volts. I had no problem using it in Lebanon with the 220 V.

JSB-1000 is almost a perfect black cube. In 5.12 “width and depth, it is only slightly longer at 5.24” due to its base. He was built strongly without jihad or his entire body was given. The front and both sides are covered with a black mesh, with a plastic line only that disrupts the somewhat dull design. Estrois loudspeakers sit on each side, so consider if you put them near the wall you think that he shoots from the front.

The back of the amplifier is also covered with the same network, with the exception of a small part at the bottom that includes the power inputs and AUX-in as well as the re-adjust button.

The upper part gives up the network for bright black plastic with the Jensen logo and the control set. The Bluetooth pairing button is surrounded by power button and control and temporary operating button controls.

The LED lamp sits on the power button and changes the colors depending on whether the headphone is in the standard (red) standard, the (white) connection, or the flowing music (green), or connected over the Bluetooth (blue, appropriate), or playing from the insertion of AUX (yellow).

Listen via ChromeCast and more

JSB-1000 can be largely assigned like any Chromecast with Google Home. You can connect it and after a few minutes, your phone will show a notification that a new device is ready to prepare. Google Home takes you through the configuration steps including connecting to your WiFi and giving the speaker a name. I called it “kitchen loudspeakers” because this is the place where JSB-1000 sat for me. After that, the JSB-1000 enters the standby mode as it consumes a little energy but it remains visible so that it can be turned on when needed.

Since he is a Chromecast speaker, JSB-1000 supports many rooms and can be assembled in home app with any Google, Chromecasts and other loudspeakers. It is a very elegant feature that always makes me happy: I can walk from the kitchen to the hallway to the living room and do not miss a rhythm because music is synchronized in all rooms. Several years ago, the preparation such was to require an expensive system and one brand with wires everywhere, and now Jensen JSB-1000 works with the Polk Audio soundbar, my JBL operating menu, Google, via my home completely and without any wires except for each device. We live in the future.

There are many other benefits of Chromecast integration. You can move to JSB-1000 from any Android, iOS or browser tab, or the browser that supports them, you can issue audio orders from an assistant on your phone or Google Home, and you can control the operation of the physical buttons of the speaker and also from the Casting application or through the Google Home app on any device on your network.

If you don’t want to throw, the JSB-1000 also supports Spotify Connect, Sluetooth Streaming and Aux-in. Personally, I prefer to cast my phone, because it works with more applications than Spotify Connect, and avoid any discontinuity from the Bluetooth range, and does not cut off due to the upcoming notifications. But I tested all the different methods and worked as it should.

Performance and sound quality

Looking at its size and sounding, the JSB-1000 is suitable for small to medium rooms. It works well for the bedroom, office, or in my case, kitchen. I first tested it in a sleeping room, but it quickly moved it to the kitchen because the idea of ​​cooking, doing dishes or any other arduous task to the background of music was very attractive. Since then, it has become an integral part of our daily routine at home.

Every morning I ask Google Home in the hallway to play any music in a mood on the loudspeakers in the kitchen and after two seconds when I walk in the kitchen, JSB-1000 is already flowing. Every day this afternoon, when my husband returns home, does the same. He cannot do dishes or even put groceries now without playing a kind of music. Maybe I spoiled it (he does not complain, prevent you). It is an illusion of my ears, but doing any boring task seems to be much less time, and I find to say, it may be fun when you listen to your favorite songs.

Our kitchen is somewhat small (100 square meters, but with two door open on a balcony and a corridor), so keep JSB-1000 in about 50 % of its size most of the time. It is an acceptable level that does not flood our conversations but still fills the kitchen. When one of us works on its own, there is noise from the nearby washing machine, mixer or any other device, we raise the sound level to about 80 % of the maximum. I never felt the need for height higher than that, as the JSB-1000 can rise loudly for its size and this is not required in my preparation as the walls are very close and the sound frequency strongly.

The main negative aspect of our preparation is the fact that the JSB-1000 is not an auxiliary speaker, so he cannot listen to our voice orders. This means having to use our phones (not perfect with dirty hands) or screaming/walking to Google’s house in the nearby hall to issue an order. #FirstworldProbles

During the past months, we used JSB-1000 to listen to all types of sound. From podcasts to different types of music, correctly the correct audio file. He is a very balanced speaker who controls high folders and covers the full frequency chain very well. The 15W speakers, on paper, are equivalent to the JBL operating menu that you reviewed two weeks ago, but on the contrary, they do not prefer its lowest level on the middle and up. There is no bass that disturbs the heart, but there is enough rhythms that must be heard and enjoyed with the rest of the music.

I can NitPick and cover each aspect of the JSB-1000 audio performance, but it will always reach the same conclusion: at 50-80 % of its size, the speaker deals with each music type he threw it with grace and balance. There was nothing of its extent, whether it was placed in French rhythms, active Spanish rhythms, or commercial Electropop music to jazz, country, alternative or rocks. In higher sizes, there is a little distortion, and only if you are listening closely, will you notice that the bus gets a little jamming and that the heights are not specific. But then think about size, price and goal, and you cannot make mistakes in the sound of JSB-1000.

The value suggestion

Jensen’s first attempt in a connected amplifier is not half bad. JSB-1000 is well designed and works as expected. Multiple input and operation options are useful, and a pleasant ChromeCast integration when it becomes part of your daily life and preparing multi -room smart speaker.

The thing with JSB-1000 is that for many of the pleasant features it has, there is nothing for it about it that makes it necessary. The design is very inverted, the sound, even if it is strong and balanced, does not have any distinction feature, and a nice chromecast capacity but without the ability to transport or the assistant does not provide any advantages to speakers at a similar price.

In the same price range, you can pick up a great laptop loudspeaker to carry and outside the home. You will lose the ability of Chromecast, but this may not be important to you. Or you can get a Google home that offers an assistant, thus sound orders for your music and smart home, and even if the house has a less -rated output, it becomes loud enough so that you don’t care. Like me, the average user who looks at a compressed speaker for a medium-sized room with any of these headphones is likely to keep about 50-60 % of its production and will not care about the ear sizes.

In the price range a little more (about $ 150), you can get a JBL 10 link with assistant and load capacity but low output, or you can get the largest JBL operating menu that puts the top and tightens well on the brightness.

Regardless of how it is reduced, it is difficult to justify the price of $ 140 for JSB-1000 in most retailers. Perhaps when it was launched several months ago, 140 dollars were acceptable as there was little competition from the other Chromecast speakers and there were no amplifiers capable of being able to unlike Google Home. But now, there are many other options to consider. Only Walmart currently sells it for $ 113, which is better but still a little sharp in my opinion. At $ 100, it will be a more realistic price, at $ 70-80, this will be an excellent speaker for those rooms that you have not yet done with any audio outputs.

As is the case, JSB-1000 will be great for a very small targeted market: those who want a strong but small speaker in a medium-sized room, and they do not care about transporting it around the house, and they do not need microphones completely, and they do not hate listening to their orders, and they are not difficult to satisfy about specific audio profiles. If you fall into that category of users, the JSB-1000 is perfect.

He buys: Jensen JSB-1000 (113-140 dollars) Walmart, Staples, The Home Depot, Best Buy