JBL Charge 5 Wattage

JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth speaker, front right view.

The JBL Charge 5 is a moderate power desktop unit with enough wattage output to fill a typical size room. It also has a built in power bank for recharging light to moderate duty phones and smaller tablets.

What Power Numbers Tells Us

But what does the wattage of a BT speaker has, tell us about how good it is? Firstly, the watt is a measure of how much power the unit requires and outputs. Plus, this metric is a nifty comparison measure. Why? Because speakers with more wattage tend to play louder than those with less.

Now they do cost more, have bigger, heavier batteries and chargers, along with larger drivers and magnets. Yet they nonetheless offer some big plusses. They have more dynamic range, a deeper bass response, and stereo models offer a bigger soundstage to listeners.

Rear view of the JBL Charge 5. Showing a charging cable inserted.

Thus in general, the more powerful the unit, the better it sounds, even at lower volume. You get better clarity due to higher accuracy reproduction of the bass, midrange, and treble parts of the music. Plus, more reserve power likely means less clipping distortion too, even at higher volumes. So, the maximum wattage output is a primary indicator of speaker quality and performance. And as such, this value is of great interest to audiophiles and novice listeners alike.

In this case, the Charge 5, is a decently loud model for all the bigger it is. Its audio output can fill a small to medium party area with clear and full music. See below for details on its power ratings.

JBL Charge 5 Wattage: The Details

1. Battery Capacity: 27 watt-hours (3.6 volts, 7.5 amp-hours).
2. USB Charger Power: 15 Watts (5 volts at 3 amps).
3. Power Bank Output Power: 10 Watts (5 volts at 2 amps max).
4. Play Time Per Recharge: Up to 20 hours.
5. Total Audio Wattage Output on AC (RMS): 40 (30 to woofer, and 10 to tweeter).
6. Total Peak Audio Power: 42.42 watts.
7. Wattage Output per Channel: 30 RMS (only one channel in this speaker).

JBL Charge 5 Wattage: Additional Notes

1. The 5 may not get enough power from a low power USB AC adapter (below 15 watts capacity). Power levels below this fail to keep the battery from discharging when playing at full volume. This of course depends on what you’re listening to. So it could happen that even with the Charge 5 charging, you could still see the music shut OFF unexpectedly.
2. Thus should this happen, just stop playing the Charge 5 for an hour or two. This allows it to let it build up some reserve battery power. Then, fire it up again for more party enjoyment.