A number of
Stereophile writers have been having unexpected musical moments with JBL's massive horn-loaded K2 9800 loudspeaker at recent shows, but the 2007 CES saw the US debut of the awesome Everest ($60,000/pair).
Designed, like the K2 9800, by veteran JBL engineer Greg Timbers, whom I first interviewed 25 years ago when he was working on the JBL 250, the Everest represents the Californian company's ultimate effort to achieve high-end sound from high-efficiency, horn-loaded drivers.
With a pair of Everests driven by a Lexicon disc player and Mark Levinson amplification, both Michael Fremer (above) and I sat with our mouths open at the lack of midrange congestion, the absence of intermodulation distortion, the low-frequency extension, the superbly stable stereo imaging, and the enormous dynamic range.
Wow!
