JBL is no stranger to home audio. The parent company Harmon holds many brands deeply entrenched in pro audio, and acoustic research. JBL’s products tend to fill the more consumer friendly products, but absent from their portfolio for quite a while are AVRs. JBL introduced the Synthesis series based on their acquisition of Arcam. Honestly I’ve been out of the truly nerdy side of Audio Video Receivers’s (AVR) for a while, so the depth and history of the relationship is lost on me; however I will say JBL has been out of this game for a while. The MA series is JBL’s introduction to the lower end AVR market, a space dominated for years by fairly well known names. Does the MA701 have what it takes to help JBL return across the market.
First of all, let’s take a look at the new lineup. You have the MA310, MA510, and MA710. The MA310 solves the basic needs of a 5.1 surround setup, but with pretty anemic power output. The MA510 offers a bit more grunt, 5.1 Atmos, and 8K support. The MA710 is the mac daddy of the entry level and it boasts Atmos, 7.2, 6 HDMI ports with 3 of them are version 2.1 supporting 8K or more likely for most use cases, 4K 10-bit HDR. eARC is support from the output HDMI port and means you can receive high definition Atmos from your TV and its input source.
The MA710 comes out of the box with the remote, batteries, power cord, some documentation you can probably ignore, and the MA710 unit. On first inspection, you’ll notice some high quality surfaces, and fit and finish. JBL is making a nice product here, and it shows. Just like other lines in its series (including the Stage 2 speakers) there is a hint of orange just behind the front of the unit. Normally invisible, it stands as a nice brand identifier and gives a bit of character. The MA710 is available in black or white, so there is a desire to carry a design aesthetic.
The back panel of the unit carries a good set of connectors. Most importantly are the HDMI 2.1 ports, of which there are 3 and they are marked ‘8K’. The other HDMI 2.0 ports support 4K, but don’t do fancy tricks like VRR, ALLM, or high refresh rates at 4K HDR. Beneath the HDMI are the speaker terminals that offer several ways to connect your speakers, including banana plugs. In addition to multiple digital in’s (coax, and optical), there are phono plugs if you want to get your record player on. A set of analog stereo input, as well as a zone 2 output are found back here, along with 2 subwoofer outputs. A dedicated ground terminal, USB, and network jack round out the back along with 3 antennas (2 for WiFi, 1 for bluetooth). The unit supports 5GHz wifi, even the rarely supported 5.8GHz band (but not 6Ghz AX, this is WiFi6, not WiFi6e).
Setup is fairly straightforward, except for the fact that the unit literally locked me at a fairly high volume as it updated the firmware without a prompt or warning. To be fair, I plugged it directly into my network jack, so if there was a WiFi update flow, I bypassed it. Once it did its forceful firmware update, the unit allowed me to continue setup. Setup doesn’t prompt, you have to seek it out, but just do the first several speaker menus under setup and you’re golden. There are basic adjustments for audio tuning: speaker size (small or large), and what speakers you have in your setup: front, center, surround, rear surround and subwoofer. Once you have them selected, you need to measure how far the listening area is from the speaker setup and input the distances.
Now comes the tricky part, there are apps that are supposed to be used to help you setup the unit, which to be fair again, I bypassed with my pesky RJ45 network cable. If you download the app, it will discover the unit, and let you adjust some basic settings. And by basic, I mean very basic, and mostly network setup. You can play USB content (who does this?), uPNP (Universal Plug and Play, which hit its stride in 2006), and internet radio. A bit of digging, I found this is just a website hosted by the AVR on port 80, with no security. I’m mildly annoyed by this, but the worst that can happen is borked network configuration.
Here’s the kicker, this app is different than JBL’s one app, which you use for almost all of JBL’s other home audio. To make matters worse, this isn’t the app that tunes and does room correction, which there is no link to. You need to download the manual to find the ‘Ez Set EQ’ app that, if you’re a lucky iOS device owner, allows you to use your cell phone to calibrate the speakers for the room. Otherwise if you’re an Android owner, its recommended to buy a specific microphone to connect to calibrate.
This Ez Set EQ app is by far one of the most interesting pieces of this pie. It does an extraordinary job of room correcting, and making your surround setup sound its best. You basically walk around your room letting the phone listen to the speakers for 60 seconds for each zone. Once it’s done, the EQ will tune to compensate for the room. It’s quite effective, and the before and after are quite pronounced.
Physical design is attractive. The aforementioned orange coloration is the only thing that stands out from the otherwise black exterior. The front of the unit is flanked with 2 jog dials, one for input, and the other for volume. The volume has text reminding you it’s safe to turn to past 11, a nice touch (if the volume scale wasn’t 0-100 it would have been even better). There are 3 buttons for functions: back, menu and select plug selector buttons. This mirrors the remote to some extent, which for an AVR is super simplistic.
The on screen display is very basic. The menu is mirrored on the on device display, but only offers a black on white text aesthetic. For a unit so polished physically, this seems like an user interface from the late 90’s. That said, you won’t spend a lot of time here; maybe basic things like changing labels for your inputs. The volume OSD is unobtrusive, that’s about the only good thing I can say about it.
Sound quality is solid. I’m no audiophile, so I won’t try to give it a signature, but the power is strong. 160W when doing stereo duty per channel, and 110w when powering all 7 channels (again only driving 2 channels). In practice, it glady powered the fairly large Onkyo THX speakers I’ve had for a while. I’m also in transition to newer speakers, and I’ve tried it with a set of floor standing speakers that it powered to painful levels no problem.
Now, the HDMI and 8K support: works well. I will say I had a devil of a time, and never successfully got it to work reliably with my Hisense TV. It would swap back and forth, black screen flash, stop working randomly. This receiver and my Hisense TV hated each other more than any two pieces of electronics I’ve ever owned. To the point I thought I had a bad unit, with constant flickering, input switching, and sometimes refusing to even display a signal. It didn’t even want to work correctly in eARC not even passing a video signal.. Then I moved the unit to its actual use case: with my projector and surround setup. There it worked flawlessly. CEC worked fine, 4K HDR pass through, and pretty much everything I threw at it. The AVR remote will not pass any CEC navigation, so keep in mind, the auto power on/off, and trickle down volume seem to be the extent of the CEC feature set.
Overall for an entry level 7.1 Atmos receiver, the MA710 is a solid unit from an audio standpoint. CEC compatibility, OSD, and a confusing app setup aside, the features are quite good, and having HDMI 2.1 that sports VRR, and ALLM offers those with PS5’s or XBox Series X’s some recourse for their fancy feature set. There are quite a few options loved by fans in this market, but it’s good to see JBL back in it, offering unique features, like Ez Set EQ, and an overall simplified user experience. I hope there’s more time spent on the out of the box welcome as well as the on screen display of the unit. Still, it’s an attractive, powerful unit that’s definitely worth consideration.

Overall, I think this is a pretty impressive AV receiver for the features it has. I’m not impressed with the apps, that either don’t work or crash. More on that later in the review. Technically, going by old school standards, the MA710 and its siblings are not receivers as they lack an AM and FM tuner. Even though it has WiFi and Bluetooth and those are radios, in my opinion, they don’t count. This unit should be categorized as an integrated amplifier. It has inputs and EQ controls and that’s why it fits that category.
I’m not listing all the specs as those are already covered. However, I will where necessary.
Build quality looks and feels premium. I really like vacuum fluorescent display. I like the feel of the input knob and volume knobs. I don’t much care for the “safe to turn beyond 11” printed on the volume knob. Silly over use of a classic line, er, theme, from a classic movie. BTW, I’ve played with lead guitar players that would have cranked it to 1100 if they could. That’s why I used earplugs when necessary. I think it goes to 99. I didn’t turn it that high.
The unit was well packed and comes with a quick start guide that directs you go download the JBL Premium Audio app. The app will guide you to connect your WiFi router to the receiver. The Android app on my Galaxy S23 Ultra didn’t work for me the first 3 times I used it. It showed the MA710 and wanted my WiFi password. I gave it that 3 times and 3 times it hung, but on the 3rd time I noticed that the MA710 was displaying that it was getting an update. The app was hung saying connecting. I closed the app again and brought it back up. This time it was connected to the MA710 and I was able access options for radio streaming services, Podcasts, UPnP and USB. If you can’t get WiFi to connect, there’s an ethernet port on the back of the unit. I didn’t test that port and doubt all but a very few will use it. There’s a lot of streaming radio channels to choose from. I think most have commercials. Some I listened to did and some didn’t. Sorry, but I don’t do Chromecast or Podcast, so that wasn’t tested. Several times when I have brought up the app, I got a blank screen and had to close it and bring it up again. Also, you must hit a back arrow at the top to go back to the previous page. Hitting the back button on the boom of the screen and you’re back to the app’s opening screen. JBL, please fix!
Then there’s the EZ EQ android app. I only got it to work once. It generates white noise and you “sweep” the room for the app to set the EQ for the room. The graph shows you the frequency response changes made to optimize the sound in that room and saves it in the receiver, I assume. You can enable or disable the EQ setting the app creates. Directions are vague. Both apps have no help or instructions that I can find. Cool option when it works. Also, the apps do not appear to let you set the receiver up, select surround sound modes or speaker options, change inputs or even the volume to individual speaker groups. You must use the controls on the MA710 or the remote to do that. I didn’t find a way to set the volumes individually for each of the speaker components.
Next you will need to set the system up. Go into the menu and tell it what kind of speakers you have, which speakers, size, distance apart and such. You can do this on the unit’s screen, or plug it into a TV via HDMI and use the TV’s screen. The latter is better because it shows more info.
You have the options of using as many speakers as the device allows or as few speakers as you want. Want to listen to music only with just Left and Right speakers? No problem. Just tell it that in setup. The MA710 supports center channel, surround, surround height for Dolby Atmos and a couple of powered subwoofers. Also, a second line level out for another room, known as Party.
Now for inputs and there’s plenty.
For video there’s a total of 6 HDMI inputs and 3 support 8k video. You can input FHD or 4K into any of the 6. There is only 1 HDMI output, with eARC. The specs in the listing states 2. No, just 1.
For audio there’s 2 digital inputs. Coaxial – S/PDIF and optical – TOSlink. 1 phono input with a ground connection. Ironically, there’s no ground pin on the power cord. Probably a good thing. I could tell some stories about grounding problems in old buildings and equipment problems. And there’s 2, not just 1, analog audio input. The specs are incorrect here too.
Sound quality is superb. The MA710 is a digital amplifier as opposed to old school class A, AB and C amps. I’m not going to explain the differences here because it gets a bit complicated. Do research it for an interesting read if you’re not familiar with the differences. I connected it to the JBL 260F speakers that came with it to review. It made them walk and talk without overheating and cutting out. I played my usual music I like to test a system with. Steely Dan, Alan Parsons, as well as some classical to hard rock to classic country. Sorry, no metal or rap. I ran my Sony ES series CD changer into the MA710 via optical and analog inputs. I couldn’t tell the difference between the two. Maybe some golden eared audiophiles can. Strangely, I never saw any “audiophile” gear in any recording studios I was ever in. Pros don’t use RCA patch cables on Neve mixing consoles. Rant over. The MA710 delivered clean crisp highs and punchy bass that didn’t break up when the volume went up. I connected my 42 year old Technics turntable to it and played a vintage half speed master LP, ABBA Arrival, on it. Sounded as good as I expected it to. I connected my Sony DAT deck to it and discovered that it no longer functions. Bummer. I streamed music from my phone to it without a problem. No adjusting the bass and treble with BT streaming. Use the phone’s music app(s) to adjust the EQ. Speaking of EQ, does the room EQ settings from the app stay in place when you change inputs? I don’t know. I assume they do. And sound from the TV via eARC sounded as good as anything else depending on what was playing on the TV. In other words, if you’re watching a 1960s sitcom, don’t expect twenty first century sound quality. But I’m sure that’s a no brainer. Maybe AI will fix that in the future. LOL!
I also hooked my 37 year old Polk Audio Monitor 10Bs to it. It rocked those too! I also borrowed a pair of surround and center speakers form one of my other AV setups and tested those with the MA710. Sounded great. But I never could find an adjustment for the volume levels for center and surround.
The remote that it comes with looks and feels good and I like the clicking button tactile response. Much better than the typical rubber buttons that can be mushy and quit working over time. It lets you change inputs, adjust overall volume, cycle through surround sound options, and dim the display and navigate the menu. But the glossy finish shows hand and finger prints big time.
Conclusion: The MA710 packs a solid punch sound wise and feature wise. The support apps need some work. At least the Android ones do. I would give it a 4.5 star rating if I could due to the one app required to connect the WiFi gave me trouble during setup and still crashes from time to time. If it didn’t work at all, then no WiFi streaming and I would have to give it 3 stars on that alone. That’s like removing a key feature. I don’t think the room EQ app is as important, and to get the most out of it, JBL recommends that you buy a USB mic to attach to your phone when using the app. I’m giving it 5 stars and hoping JBL fixes those apps and they might work better on an iPhone than Android.

This is my review for the JBL-MA710 7.2ch AV Receiver w/Dolby Atmos
We paired this with:
-2 X Stage2 260F Dual 6.25″ Floor Standing Loudspeakers
JBL Receiver was packed very well.
Setting up the audio system did take some time, we kept getting an error on the amplifier screen saying : “System Protected” we could not figure out for the life of us what that meant, a quick google search determined it was the speaker wires possibly touching or being to short so we have to remove all the wiring and start over to make sure no wires were not touching.
We also had some issues with the volume, the volume would not go up or down with the remote control or turning the knob, I thought we got a faulty system but I guess the protection mode kicked in and we had to reset it to get it out of that error as well.
I really wish it was easier to set up a bluetooth device on this, there was so many steps you have to take in order to get a device to connect. Possibly just adding a button to connect to a Bluetooth device would be easier.
Other than the issues listed above, when we finally fixed those snags everything about the system is wonderful, sound is great!

This JBL MA710 7.2 Channel 8K AV Receiver with Dolby Atmos, is loaded with features. This is how one takes their home theater to the next level. I use this with a pair of Stage2 260F Dual 6.25″ Floor-standing Loudspeakers. The setup is astounding.
The design is ultra-modern, yet sophisticated enough to make any home theater room look and feel welcoming and inviting. This comes in two color options, black or white. I have black.
What you get in the box is the receiver, IR remote control, batteries, Bluetooth antenna, WiFi antenna, power supply and adapter, user manual/quick setup guide.
What you will need is an HDMI cable or speaker wire. I used HDMI to connect to the TV, and 12 gauge speaker wire to connect to the speakers. Wire strippers for the speaker wire, banana plugs for the speaker wire (optional). Measuring tape.
You will want to download the JBL Premium Audio App for free, on your smartphone or tablet. The app will help you with setup.
Setup is not hard at all. There is a lot this receiver can do, so there are choices to make. This can be connected through so many different ways, like wirelessly, wired, HDMI inputs and outputs, Bluetooth, WiFi, Apple AirPlay2, Google ChromeCast, SmartThings, USB Input, Digital and Analog Inputs, Phono Turntable Input and Ground, Party or Zone 2 Output for Party Mode, Subwoofer outputs, and Speaker Level Output Connectors.
Party Mode, which is Zone 2, lets you play music on a different set of speakers in another room. It’s pretty cool and a great feature to have.
One of my favorite things this has is so simple. I can use my smartphone or tablet, and by using a streaming music service that you can use by connecting your account to your JBL Premium Audio App, is select the receiver in your streaming music app, and it turns on your receiver, and plays your music to your speakers.
This is your ultimate entertainment system. I highly recommend this.