How To Link JBL Speakers Together: A Step-By-Step Guide

Despite the topmost flagship smartphones in the market boasting high-quality stereo speakers that are loud and support impressive technologies like Dolby Atmos, they are still limited due to the size of the drivers. The simplest fix in such scenarios, would be to turn your phone's Bluetooth on and connect it to a dedicated speaker you own. JBL makes some of the best portable speakers you can buy, and its lineup consists of several wireless Bluetooth speakers that are small in size yet mighty in sound, making them perfect to fill a room. 

It's a fairly straightforward process to use your JBL headphones with an Android device or an iPhone, but did you know you could connect two or more JBL speakers to one another? As long as you own a compatible model, you can amplify your music by pairing multiple JBL portable speakers. This could come in extremely handy if you are at a larger venue where a single speaker simply won't be enough. In this quick read, we will be going over how you can link JBL speakers together to maximize sound output, so grab your mini boomboxes to get started. 

JBL has three different connection technologies that all seem to fulfill the same purpose — Auracast, PartyBoost, and Connect+. All three of these standards let you connect up to 100 JBL portable speakers together. Unfortunately, you cannot connect speakers that sport two different standards. For example, while you can connect a JBL Go 4 and Clip 5 using the Auracast mode, you cannot link either of them with a JBL Pulse 5 — which only supports JBL PartyBoost. Once you've confirmed that the speakers you own have the same connection channel, linking them together is a breeze. The process of doing so is similar regardless of which connection type your speakers support.

1. Turn on your JBL portable speaker, and if this is your first time using it, put it in pairing mode.
2. On your phone, turn on Bluetooth, and search for new devices. 
3. Find and connect to the JBL speaker. You can play some music to verify the connection.
4. Grab the other JBL speaker, and on both devices, press the connect button which looks like a link symbol. Make sure all the speakers you wish to link are within Bluetooth range of one another.
5. You should hear an audio cue, and your music should now start playing on all the connected speakers.

Speakers that come with JBL Auracast support can even be connected to PartyLights-enabled devices to sync music playback with fancy lighting effects. Besides branding — Auracast, PartyBoost, and Connect+ do essentially the same thing. When you connect at least two JBL speakers, they follow the "Party" mode by default. This is where both the devices play the same stream of music to help increase overall loudness.

But if you download and install the JBL Portable app on your Android or iOS device, you can switch to the "Stereo" mode — where one speaker will play the left side of the audio, and the other handles the right. When placed appropriately, these create a more authentic experience, and with how surround sound works, this is best used when watching a movie. 

Beyond switching modes, you can utilize the app to effortlessly connect between your various JBL devices and keep them up to date with the newest firmware. If you wish to disconnect one or multiple speakers, simply push the connect buttons on them again. To disconnect all connected speakers at once, press the connect button on the speaker that's connected to your phone.