When I heard that JBL would be debuting a line of new speakers here at High End 2025, I was half-thinking I’d be checking out some tablet-shaped Bluetooth speaker blasting Taylor Swift five feet away, because there’s a lot of this stuff sold under the JBL brand.
But it was just the opposite. I walked into JBL’s vast exhibition space here at the MOC and found three new additions to JBL’s ultra-high-end Summit-series lineup. Two of these were being demoed in Munich, receiving serious wattage from Arcam’s and Mark Levinson’s latest. There wasn’t a Bluetooth speaker in the place. JBL provided prices in US dollars, euros, and British pounds.
All three feature JBL’s three-layer Hybrid Carbon Cellulose Composite Cone (HC4) drivers for the lows and mids. Highs are delivered by D2 compression drivers loaded by JBL’s Sonoglass High-Definition Imaging (HDI) horn. Of course, the size of the drivers and their implementation depends on the model. These speakers are very well-made, use premium crossover parts and well-braced cabinets, and naturally, cost a whole lot.
The first is the Ama, a two-way ported standmount with an 8″ HC4 midrange-woofer and an HDI horn-loaded D2 compression driver for the treble. The Ama’s mass-loaded steel-and-aluminum stand has adjustable feet by IsoAcoustics. The Ama is going to retail for $19,995 per pair in America, €17,498 per pair in Europe, and £14,998 a pair in Britain.
The other loudspeaker being demoed for the first time was the Makalu three-way floorstander, which boasts a 12″ bass driver and an 8″ midrange driver, both of the HC4 persuasion. Dual flared ports around back fortify the bass response, while high frequencies are once again handled by a D2 driver in an HDI horn. The adjustable feet are again made by IsoAcoustics. The Makalu will retail for $44,995 a pair in the US, €43,998 per pair in the EU, and £36,998 per pair in the UK.
Then, there’s the Pumori floorstander, which was on static display. The Pumori features a 10″ woofer paired with an 8″ midrange driver, and just one port this time. Otherwise, it is much the same as the Makula, just smaller, with a gracefully curved and expertly finished cabinet and feet by IsoAcoustics. The Pumori will sell for $29,995 a pair west of the pond, €30,998 a pair in Europe, and £26,998 a pair in Britannia.
I heard the Ama standmount loudspeakers connected by AudioQuest ThunderBird cables to an Arcam SA45 streaming amplifier ($4999/€4999/£4499), which puts out 180Wpc and is new as of two months ago. I sat down to a sound that really felt live, floating up and in front of the plane of the speakers. I attribute the forwardness at least partly to the HDI horn-loaded compression driver. But don’t think that there was no soundstage depth, because there was. The bass coming from them was incredible given the speakers’ size and their single 8″ drivers. The only criticism I might’ve had was that they sounded a hair too thin, a bit too forward up top, but my judgement may have been clouded by what I’d heard from the Amas’ big brothers next door.
The Makalu was a different beast entirely, and naturally it had a totally different system to go with it. First of all, know that Mark Levinson was premiering its new 600 series at High End 2025, which means the Makalu loudspeakers were driven by the brand-spankin’-new No. 632 dual-mono stereo power amplifier, which will carry a recommended retail price of $30,000 in the US, €33,999 in Europe, and £29,999 in the UK. Control was by the No. 626 dual-mono preamp ($25,000/€27,999/£23,999), which was also being shown for the first time. An older Mark Levinson component, the No. 519 streaming CD player, was the source. The JBL rep told me the 500 Series would likely be discontinued by the end of the year, but that the No. 519 remains available for €26,349. The new 600 Series should go on sale sometime in the second half of this year. Cabling was once again done with AudioQuest ThunderBird wires.
Like the smaller Ama, the floorstander has a sound that pushes out toward the listener, but with an even greater sense of scale and refinement. I again heard a strikingly live, palpable performance, one that cast a wide and deep soundstage that belied the Makalus’ rather modest size. That soundstage seemed to project forward when necessary and yet could sound 6 or 12 feet deep at times, meaning that the sound seemed to wrap around the sizable crowd that had gathered to listen. “The Girl in the Other Room” by Diana Krall was playing, and both the vocalist and the instruments surrounding her seemed truly life-sized. And with those 12″ low-frequency HC4 cones moving the air, the bass seemed to come on like an unstoppable wall, loading the room up but never causing any weird bloat-y sounds or the upper-frequency masking that sometimes accompany heavy bass.
All three Summit-series speakers will be available in either a piano-gloss black finish or a high-gloss ebony veneer finish with gold accents, which are befitting of a loudspeakers of this caliber.
Want a tip from a Munich explorer? Harman opened a JBL store on Sendlinger Straße in Munich’s Altstadt neighborhood a couple of years ago. They’ve just finished building out their listening lounge, which is filled with passive and active speakers for prospective customers to audition. I don’t know when, if ever, they’ll get these one of these new Summit-series speakers. But you should try and hear them if you can, especially the flagship Makalu.
Matt Bonaccio
Contributor, SoundStage!
