ICONS AND INNOVATORS AT DEFINITIVE AUDIO

Definitive Audio in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle—one of the premier dealerships in the Pacific Northwest—continued its 50th anniversary celebration with an event it called “Icons and Innovators.” Highlighted by showings of the new JBL Everest series and Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus and 801 Abbey Road edition loudspeakers, the event drew a full house to the first of two sessions.

- Jason Victor Serinus

JBL / D'Agostino / dCS / Clearaudio

My first stop was at the first showing of JBL's Summit Makalu loudspeakers ($60,000/pair). The name derives from Makalu mountain near Mount Everest. On hand were Chris Hagen, the principal acoustic engineer for the Summit series; Dave Tovissi, vice president and general manager of Harman's Luxury Audio division; and Jim Garrett, senior director of product strategy and planning for Harman’s Luxury Audio division.

“The Summit series is JBL's latest effort to design a Project Series system consisting of the very best speakers that we can build right now,” Hagen explained. “Created to celebrate JBL’s 80th anniversary, which we'll celebrate in 2026, the Summit series blends current bleeding-edge technology with our proprietary technology that will push the industry further forward.”

“Over JBL’s 80-year history, there have only been five other Project Series speakers,” Tovissi added. “The first was in 1954. This series replaces our flagship JBL Everest and K2 loudspeakers.” The Summit series currently includes The Summit Ama standmount ($25,000/pair, shown in another room with McIntosh and Innuos electronics), the Summit Pumori 10" floorstander (which stood proud in Definitive's hallway), and the Summit Makalu (see photos). Two other, larger speakers are due in 2026. Each is considered JBL's finest loudspeaker ever of its size.

“Virtually everything is new, including the 12" woofer and mid/bass custom made for the Summit,” Garrett said, in reference to the Makalu. “The woofer has a differential drive motor with two voice coils in two magnetic gaps that provide a great deal of control of the moving structure and keep the distortion very low. To complement it, we wanted to create a very low-distortion mid/bass [driver] that has a neodymium motor with a short voice coil suspended in a gap that ensures it remains in the magnetic field. It's the lowest-distortion type of motor you can get.”