Audiophilepure

https://www.hifinews.com/content/jbl-summit-makalu

In the later Allegro non tropo, Shostakovich adds thumping timpani and rasping horns. These JBL speakers responded in kind, the presentation becoming more dynamic and vivid without losing sight of its inherent maturity and control. For those who still view big, horn-loaded speakers as boisterous, the balance of the Makalu may come as a shock. There’s nothing rough around the edges, which should be a given from a £37k speaker.

Notwithstanding this lack of an ‘attention-grabbing’ sound, it doesn’t take long to be won over by the Makalu. Listening to UFO’s ‘On With The Action’ [No Heavy Petting, Chrysalis Records CHRX 1103], the Summit Makalu floorstander punched out the drums and heavy metal guitar riffs on a grand, powerful scale. Arriving at Michael Schenker’s astonishing solo, with the band going at it hammer and tongs, the cohesive nature of the performance held up.

The Makalu’s sound is related to that of the Ama, but bigger, more joined up, and deeper in the bass. There was a greater feeling of the music arriving out of thin air rather than from a set of speakers. A track I had played through the smaller Summit model, Antonio Forcione’s ‘Caruso’ [Meet Me In London; Naim Label NaimCD021], was again startling in its blend of textures – stabs of electric bass interrupting nylon acoustic guitar and the vocals of Sabina Sciubba. But it sounded more naturally staged, open and flowing.