How to Adjust Volume on JBL Boombox Speaker

There are a few ways to adjust the JBL Boombox volume on this Bluetooth speaker. These can depend on the app(s) you’re playing from. In fact, many apps provide volume controls for their audio output. Moreover, this JBL speaker has two buttons for volume control too. Find these (the + and -) shaped buttons on its top. Note though, that you cannot increase or decrease the volume with the JBL Connect app.

How to Adjust Volume on JBL Boombox, on the Speaker Itself

You can set the loudness without using any apps as follows.

1. Place the Speaker such that its Raised Controls Face You

See the right speaker position shown next. There are six buttons in this row, which include the lighted buttons in the center island. The Volume DOWN (-), and Volume UP (+), controls to the left and to the right of the oval shaped panel.

Top view of the JBL Boombox speaker, showing the Volume Up and Down buttons. How to Adjust Volume on JBL Boombox. — Top view of the JBL Boombox speaker, showing the Volume Up and Down buttons.

2. Adjust the JBL Boombox Volume by Pressing the – and + Buttons

Press the (-) button to lower the volume. Tap the (+) button to raise the volume.

3. Done !

How to Adjust JBL Boombox Volume with Siri Voice Commands on iOS and iPadOS

Picture of Siri prompting for voice command screen on iOS device. — Siri prompting for voice command screen on iOS device.

The Boombox lets you turn on Siri by pressing the Play / Pause button (shaped like a right pointing arrow head) in the same row, when paired with an iOS or iPadOS device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch). This option will fail though, unless you change the function of the speaker’s Play / Pause button in the JBL Connect app. At any rate, assuming you’ve set this function, go on and press that button. Then, you get the screen on your iPadOS or iOS device shown in the last picture.

Next is an example of giving Siri a voice command to set the volume to half (50 percent).

Picture of Siri changing volume to half (50 percent). Showing the screen when that happens. — Siri changing volume to half (50 percent). Showing the screen when that happens.

Then ask her to raise and lower the volume as follows.

Siri Response

Next is an example of Siri responding to a voice command to adjust the volume to FULL (100 percent).

Screenshot of Siri changing volume to full (100 percent). Showing iOS screen when that happens. How to Adjust Volume on JBL Boombox. — Siri changing volume to full (100 percent). Showing iOS screen when that happens..

Siri currently understands one scale for volume adjustment: 0-100 percent. Example commands follow. Say these after you’ve pressed the Play / Pause to wake her up.

Set volume 0 [muted].
Volume 0.
Set volume 10 [Ten percent].
Set volume 10 percent.
Volume 10.
Set volume 76 percent.
Volume 76.
Set volume 100 [One hundred percent, full volume].

There are also shortcut commands for least and loudest volume setting, as in:

Mute. [Sets the volume to zero percent, minimum, muted state.]
Half volume. [Adjusts volume to fifty percent, or half of full.]
Set volume full. [Sets speaker volume to maximum, 100 percent.]
Set volume max. [Sets speaker volume to maximum, 100 percent.]
Volume half. [Adjusts volume to fifty percent, or half of full.]
Volume minimum. [Sets the volume to zero percent, minimum, muted state.]

How to Adjust Volume on JBL Boombox by way of your Bluetooth Source Device

You can adjust the volume with the controls on the connected source device too.

Further, you can do the same with paired Android devices as well. But we found that volume adjustments on the speaker do not change the volume setting on our Samsung Galaxy J7 Sky Phone Pro Android device. So for this phone, the volume adjusting the speaker seemed to set the gain of the amplifiers on the speaker itself, and not the phone volume. We hear distortion in the Boombox, when its volume is set to half while the phone volume is at full (100 percent). So, just be aware of this so you can avoid “over driving” the JBL Boombox with your Android device.

In this demo though, we’re playing YouTube videos on our iPad Air, and streaming the audio to this Boombox JBL speaker via the Bluetooth connection.

1. Pair your JBL Boombox

2. Begin Playing a Music Source

Start streaming an internet radio station, a song from YouTube, Pandora, or Spotify for example, or an Audible book. In this demo, we streamed YouTube audio to the speaker, as shown next.

3. Use your Source Mobile Device’s Volume Control Buttons to Adjust the Volume of the JBL Boombox

See this done in the next picture.

Picture of the YouTube app on iOS, as seen during adjusting the volume while playing a video. — YouTube app on iOS, as seen during adjusting the volume while playing a video.

Note the purple arrowed volume setter square with a speaker inside of it in the last picture.

Also note that the volume change you hear on the speaker lags by a second or more, due to the latency (delay) of the commands going across the Bluetooth airwaves.

Again, we’re not discussing here how to adjust the volume for specific apps. So, we leave figuring that out as a reader exercise.

References for How to Adjust Volume on JBL Boombox

JBL Boom Box Power Bank BT Speaker Official Product Page at JBL.com

Revision History

2021-07-31: First published.