This has a great look and the sounds is great too, actually not bad for the price

This JBL MA 510 system is a substantial upgrade to traditional ‘bar’ type audio systems because it is more of a classic, 5.1 Chanel AVR system with multiple sources including, Networked Wired and Wireless Internet connections, 3 HDMI inputs, Game inputs, Bluetooth, Analog inputs for Turntables, DVD/Blue-ray, CD and Tape systems for inputting content. It syncs with multiple cloud sources like Amazon Prime Music and Spotify for music and podcasts as well as OTA radio and the recommended ROON audio sources.
The system looks great (I have the Espresso version), and its modern look would fit in well with traditional furnishings. The sound quality is amazing, especially with the Sub-Woofer properly configured and the Equalizer set for your room environment.
What I liked most about the system is that it’s flexible enough to be either permanently installed in a home theater environment, or as a classic bookshelf style AV system. JBL offers multiple options for the MA 510 system including a center speaker, a pair of front speakers and a pair of surround speakers and a subwoofer. Notably, you can add a second sub-woofer if you choose. This means you provide your own wiring for components, including TVs, speakers and sub woofers as well as network wiring if necessary. So, on that basis if you want to get started quickly and easily, you can start with a simple Stereo installation and gradually add the well matched JBL speaker components as your space or budget allows.
The MA 510 receiver can be controlled via dedicated remote, your JBL phone app or via the front pandemic on the AVR. You will need to download the JBL application to set up your system and connect to the Wireless network and to Bluetooth. I found that for everyday usage, the remote to be most useful as the App seems a little ‘buggy’ due to the fact that I had to keep rebooting it.
The system is easy to set up once you gather sources for content and the necessary wiring for speakers taking twenty to thirty minutes for a 2.1 channel, stand-alone system without permanent installation such as with hidden cables. I did not connect a gaming system to this system, but it would certainly beef up your gaming audio if you chose to do so. Otherwise, if you are planning to install the system permanently, it obviously takes a lot more planning than I have committed to. However, in this case, I would highly recommend opting for the Center and Surround Speakers to bring the system up to 5.1 channels. Because I am not game oriented, a 7.1 system just seems superfluous to have the extra two channels.
This receiver pairs well with the matching JBL Stage 2-250B speakers making an awesome combination offering terrific sound quality. The is modern look in the Espresso color also goes well in a traditional environment.
The MA 510 also pairs nicely with the matching JBL Stage 220P Sub-Woofer. It is easy to set up and provides a great bass boost to the overall audio system.
Once the system is set up, powered on and connected to the internet, the Receiver will search for software and hardware updates and manage the process itself. This takes about ten minutes and appears to be virtually seamless. The AVR is easy to sync it with your Amazon Prime(R) or Spotify (R) accounts via the wireless network connection. I also tried it with Bluetooth, but I like my Wireless Network connection better. I haven’t tried a wired network connection, but it is a viable capability.
In summary, I really like this system due to its Quality, Good Looks and Connectivity! Additionally, it is a nice upgrade from a simple sound bar as a home theater starter system that you can add to over time if you choose.
It would have been great if JBL could have included some wiring to simplify set up for a classic bookshelf system. On the other hand, because of the quality of the system, it will likely be set up in a more sophisticated manner where hidden cabling is involved.

The MA510 is the middle tier of JBL’s native 5 channel decoding receivers. At this level, you get an 8k capable receiver (a step up from the 4K MA310 and a little hedge on future proofing your setup). You also get more power, with 75w RMS (@ 8Ω (20Hz – 20kHz, 2 channels driven, 0.5% THD max), 15 watts more than the MA310.
The 510 provides four 8K HDMI inputs (HDMI 2.1, HDCP 2.3 up to 8K/60Hz, 4K/120Hz) and one HDMI output connector. HDMI 2.1 supports VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), QFT (Quick Frame Transport), and HFR (High Frame Rate) which should improve gaming with compatible systems and displays.
The receiver itself presents a sleek appearance with a simple set of controls on the front and the ability to control all the settings either with the small included remote or the mobile app. There’s a small hint of JBL orange around the edge of the front panel but it’s really only visible when viewed from the side. It’s a detail that matches the Stage2 speakers.
The setup went fairly smooth, took a little bit longer than I expected to connect initially via the app but then I realized it was running an update while I was trying to do the setup. I should have waited until it was done. After that, the Bluetooth and wifi connections went easier.
I will say that the GUI of the onscreen menus appears to have been ripped from 8 bit Arcade with purple, blue, and bright yellow screens. Don’t get me wrong, they are fully functional but they just don’t seem to live up to the high standard of appearance the receiver sets. Once you’re set up, you really just see the volume display when it pops up so it’s not a big deal.
Speaking of displays, the display on the front panel has the ability to be dimmed or turned off with the remote or you can set a time delay in the onscreen menu so it automatically goes dark. Neat feature so it’s not distracting during the show. Only the power button remains illuminated.
Hook up was easy except for one issue I had. The binding posts are sized to take 12ga speaker wire which I already had in my system, except I used square crimped ferrules on the bare wires. The square ferrules were impossible to insert in the binding posts so I had to recrimp with a hex crimper to get them to fit. Might have went easier with either spade terminals or banana plugs but I was using my existing wires.
I connected this receiver to a pair of JBL Stage2 250B bookshelf speakers, my existing in wall rear speakers, and a monster Stage2 220P 12” subwoofer. I had no problem configuring the receiver for the size and locations of the speakers in the room.
The receiver is capable of running a center channel speaker and a second subwoofer also but mine are currently in storage while we’re remodeling the room so I couldn’t test that just yet. If you’re not running a center channel be sure to set the center channel to off in settings or you won’t hear any dialogue.
The sound quality is typical JBL awesome as you would expect.
In the JBL Premium Audio app, if your mobile device is connected just via wifi you can select radio stations or podcasts but you need the remote to control volume.
If you’re connected via Bluetooth, then you can control the volume with the mobile device as well as play music stored on your phone, use apps, etc. Only downside is that the volume goes up or down by 5-6 numbers at a time for each button press where the remote can do one number at a time. One button press on my phone takes it from a little too quiet to a little too loud so I keep the remote handy.

This is my first AVR, an upgrade from an older model Sony surround receiver. Its simple design and modern feature set are a nice addition to my home theater setup. It works really well, but I do have some notes/quirks about my experience with it so far.
sound quality: 5/5
look/feel: 4/5
JBL app: 2/5
EZ Set EQ: 4/5
SOUND QUALITY
Fantastic. No detectable noise, and everything is crispy.
LOOK/FEEL
The clear acrylic face is very stylish, and the interface is clear of clutter. This AVR has just a few buttons and knobs, even on the remote control. There’s a subtle bright orange stripe behind the front panel and the knobs which hints at JBL’s fun and loud history, and it also visually ties into the design of JBL’s new Stage 2 loudspeakers. The two knobs are really big, and the volume knob has markings on it that sort of detract from the design. It looks like it should light up but it doesn’t, it’s just got some weird dial markings on it and faint text claiming that it goes beyond eleven (evidently this is supposed to be a fun reference, iykyk). The on-screen menu display (osd) makes setup and changing the settings a breeze.
SETUP
Be sure you go through all the settings before you start. I connected some speakers and turned it on just to try it out, and it sounded like crap because the default speaker settings were not what I connected. This isn’t JBL’s fault, but every setup is different and the settings matter.
The unit comes with a thick and nicely printed quick setup guide, but this didn’t help much. I had to search the Internet and download the full user guide in order to understand what settings where what. Maybe if you’re an AVR expert you might already know what every setting and every surround mode does, but I had to read a lot to learn how to do what I wanted to do.
There’s an app that is supposed to make setup easier. Some things you need to set up with the app (like wifi), other things you set up from the front panel/osd. I think the confusing part about setup is figuring out what you do with the app and what you do with the unit. It feels kind of random. An excellent app would let me use the nice display on my phone/tablet to navigate *all* the settings, instead of using the remote and osd. That would be nice, but no. At least the osd is pretty straightforward though.
This weirdness in the JBL app continues to everyday use as well. There are some features that I would consider bonuses, but they are so wonky that they may not be that useful. For example it’s got a built-in Internet radio. This is very cool, and when I tried it the sound quality was top notch. But the frustrating part is that you can only control the radio from the app. You can set favorite channels from the app, but you can’t even choose your favorite presets from the AVR, only by opening the app. No big deal, you say, just use the app. Well, you can’t adjust the volume from the app! So if you want to use the Internet radio, you have to handle your phone and the remote both at the same time. To make it even more annoying, the app is designed with at least twice as many taps as you’d expect to do anything. Like to play my favorite radio station takes 4 taps, and that’s after I’ve opened the app and turned on and connected to the AVR. Searching for a station that’s not in my favorites is confusingly complicated too: 4 taps for that too (and hopefully you can figure out where to tap), plus typing in your search term.
It can connect some other services too, including Spotify and Roon. I haven’t tried that either, but since you have to do all this from the JBL app, it hardly seems any easier than just using Bluetooth or AirPlay from another device you already use.
Finally, you can connect a USB storage device or network storage. Very cool, but it looks like it only supports audio file formats. Definitely a missed opportunity, since it’s an AVR. It could have some cool network video features, not just network audio.
There’s one thing I loved about the setup: the EZ Set EQ App. This app (not the same JBL app for some reason) has a much better design. It just does one thing, though. It listens to your speakers after you’ve set everything up in the room, and it equalizes them to get the best sound quality for your setup. It took about 60 seconds for each speaker configuration, and it did a fantastic job. I have speakers from a few different manufacturers, and after running this EQ program everything aurally fits together beautifully. I took off one point because there’s no way to manually adjust this EQ, neither with the app or from the unit directly. The AVR has separate settings to adjust bass and treble on the inputs, but no way to adjust EQ settings on the speakers. That said, this app does such a good job that there’s really no reason to adjust it manually.
NOTES/QUIRKS
I mentioned a few quirks already, but here are a few more. These are not really deal breakers, but things that might be nice to have or things that maybe could work better.
Other than the HDMI inputs, there’s not a lot of other inputs. Of course, you can pay more money and get more inputs/outputs. But this definitely leans toward HDMI, so it might not be a drop-in replacement for you if you have older analog audio sources that you still want to use.
No Dolby Atmos support? The MA710 and higher support Atmos. The MA510 doesn’t have outputs for height channels, but I am surprised that it doesn’t still decode Atmos recordings. I’m not sure if it actually makes a difference in practice, since the Atmos protocol has built-in backwards support, but it was just surprising to see it missing from the spec list.
Best Buy has the MA510 described as 5.2ch. This is misleading and/or wrong. The amp itself only has 5 channels (no sub amp). It additionally has 2 line level outputs for subwoofers, but they are logically identical. So there’s really only 1 subwoofer channel, they just let you connect it to 2 subs.
HDMI CEC weirdness: CEC works great for most stuff. power and volume control work seamlessly between my tv and my input (tested with an Apple TV 4k) to control all system power and the volume on the receiver. This is probably perfect for 90% of setups. But I wanted to be fancy and route audio to my TV as well to be able to optionally use a soundbar I have that gives me Dolby Atmos support. Well, the AVR has an option to send audio to the TV, but for some reason I can only turn that on if CEC is off (?!?). Very weirdly, I can then turn CEC back on once I select the TV audio option, but CEC won’t control the volume level on the TV at that point. I know this is an edge case, and HDMI is always finicky, especially between manufacturers. But this didn’t seem like that unusual of a setup to me. Maybe they consider it a feature, letting you control the volume levels separately? I don’t know.
I’ll end on a positive note: I really like that there are audio settings *per input* instead of just overall. Specifically, I can adjust the level or bass or treble, even surround mode, to have a preset for each input. For example, I can adjust the bass for my turntable, and lower the level of my streaming device, so that when I switch between them I don’t have to change other settings. Nice touch.