JBL SA550 Classic review

JBL is one of those audio brands that straddles the modern and traditional extremely well. It has the portable side of things, which the company sells in huge numbers. We’ve had plenty of first-hand experience of this, with a number of its fun and affordable models a fixture in our best Bluetooth speakers guides, having gained five stars from the What Hi-Fi? test team.

But its history is embedded in more traditional two-channel products. Most people will know its predilection for horn-loaded stereo speakers, but it’s also had classic separates in the past, such as the SA600 stereo amplifier from the 1960s. And it’s this vintage amp which has directly inspired the product you see being tested here – the JBL SA550 Classic.

Price

The JBL SA550 Classic is priced at £1749 / $1999 / AU$3999, which means it doesn’t have too much in the way of rivals at identical money. However, anyone shopping at this level will likely be looking at rival amplifiers such as the Rega Elicit MK5 (£2000 / $3345 / AU$4299), or the Arcam A25 (£1499 / $1499 / €1799), the latter of which comes from the same Harman International stable of brands.

Design

The attractive retro styling includes walnut veneer side panels, which is a deliberate design touch to make the amp a perfect match for JBL’s own Classic or Studio Monitor speakers. Even if you’re not planning on pairing two JBL products together in your system, we think the SA550 Classic looks stand-out and charming in its own right.

The front panel’s contrasting brushed fascia gives it a bit of an edge, while the warm glow of the exclamation point from the JBL logo is a welcoming touch which gives it a bit of character you don’t often get from rectangular boxes of hi-fi electronics. It’s a solid, chunky-looking unit which we think has a great deal of rack presence.

On the front, you have rotary dials for controlling volume and switching input, with four buttons that give you access to the amplifier’s menus, digital filters, display options and also mute your music. To our eyes at least, the arrangement is neat and nicely spaced out. The controls are also solid, responsive and generally nice to use.

Our only slight grumble about the way the JBL is presented is that the amplifier’s display seems to be set back quite deep in its horizontal window. The result is when you’re up close and looking at the amp from certain angles (above and/or from the side) you can’t read what’s being displayed fully, which can be slightly annoying.

You do get a small remote control included with the amp, but it’s not the nicest wand to use as there are a lot of similar-sized buttons close to each other. At least the volume buttons are a slightly different shape and easy enough to locate.

Features

On the front of the JBL you have an auxiliary input and headphone socket. Peer around the back and you’ll see a good assortment of connectivity options.

There’s a single set of speaker terminals, four analogue inputs, including a moving magnet phono stage for a turntable, and three digital inputs which work with the amp’s high-res ESS ES9038K2M DAC chip. You have three coaxial and one optical, but there’s no USB input, which we are slightly surprised to see omitted.

To use with the digital inputs you have seven different digital filters to choose from, with each one offering a subtle tweak to the sound. They are: Brick Wall, Apodizing, Corrected Minimum Phase Fast Roll Off, Minimum Phase Slow Roll Off, Minimum Phase Fast Roll Off, Linear Phase Slow Roll Off and Linear Phase Fast Roll Off.

Feeding one of the coaxial digital sockets a native hi-res feed from our reference Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer, we find the differences between them quite subtle. However, we settle on Linear Phase Slow Roll Off, which we think helps to deliver the best balance of timing and dynamics when feeding the amp a digital signal. Out of the box, the JBL is set to Apodizing.

In addition to the phono stage, JBL has added some extra convenience to the SA550 in the shape of Bluetooth connectivity. This includes support for aptX Adaptive where you have a compatible device.

The power output of the SA550 is claimed to be 90W into 8 ohms (20-20kHz, 0.002% THD) but it’s worth noting that JBL uses Class G amplification in this model which is slightly unusual and is done with efficiency in mind. Instead of using a single power supply, the amp uses two to share the workload.

Sound

Mirroring the illuminated exclamation point of the JBL logo on the amp’s fascia, the amp gives off a warm, rich sonic glow.

It’s a little laid back and doesn’t quite have the same insight or dynamic agility as the very best, such as the Rega Elicit MK5, but it does produce a sound that’s extremely likeable and easy to get along with. During our time testing the amplifier, we never really tire of its sound which is always a positive in our book.

It’s a fun listen from the moment we fire up Empire State Of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. The track’s thumping bassline hits with weight and authority and, despite sounding a little fat, it still does more than enough to capture the energy and positive vibe of the track.

The vocal, percussion and piano keystrokes all hang in a decent amount of space. JBL’s amplifier does a good job of following the slightly lazy, laid-back rhythms. Keys’ vocal shoots into view during the chorus with power and you get a good feel for her passion and emotion for the Big Apple very well.

We switch to Now We Are Free from the Gladiator OST and the JBL continues to entertain despite the change of pace. There’s a nice flow to the track with solidity and weight to the drums, although they sound a tiny bit overdone by the standards of the class leaders. There’s also enough sparkle higher up the frequency range too. Thanks to the amps’ smooth nature, high frequencies never come close to sounding uncomfortable, even with particularly poor recordings.

The track’s searching, emotive main vocal and accompanying backing vocals do connect with you and communicate the sad-yet-joyous nature of the song. Again, the best-in-class with their top-drawer dynamics do tug at the heartstrings more strongly than the JBL, but you don’t finish listening wishing you had those four minutes and thirteen seconds back. It’s still an entertaining listen.

We carry out the majority of our testing using our reference ATC SCM50 standmounters as a tool to reveal the JBL’s abilities, but we also use the amplifier with something more price comparable. In this instance, we reach for the excellent PMC Prodigy 5.

These slimline floorstanders deliver a sonic masterclass for the money and we can report they work extremely well with the SA550. The JBL sounds completely at home putting them through their paces, the PMC’s fun, dynamic and transparent nature being a great mix with the JBL’s richness and smoothness. We’d happily recommend pairing the two together.

Switching to the built-in moving magnet phono stage the JBL’s entertaining character carries over here too. The general solidity of sound and sense of life shine through in Michael Jackson’s Thriller, while the same laid-back character comes through (if a little more compressed) when we stream the same track using the SA550’s Bluetooth connectivity. It remains fun and easy to listen to, even with the added compression and lack of refinement you get from lower quality Bluetooth streams.

Verdict

While the JBL isn’t the last word in dynamics, detail or transparency, it still produces a sound that delivers fun and entertainment. This sounds relatively straightforward and a basic requirement, but it’s surprisingly difficult for some hi-fi components to get right.

If you’re looking for an amp to pair with your JBL Classic speakers, the SA550 is worth a listen. But it also carries more than enough charm and affability to extend its appeal to anyone looking for a rich-sounding and entertaining new amp to drive their hi-fi system.

First reviewed: March 2025

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Features 4

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