When I think Klipsch, I first think fully horn loaded with unheard of efficiency and virtually no distortion.  Next I think of direct radiator / vented speakers with unheard of effiency and still very low distortion.... most of these are rather large. 

Who's to say how the Palladium compares to the Klipschorn or Jubilee?  Won't know until they can be heard.

I do think I remember reading a post or a comment at the Pilgrimage (RP maybe?, the Klipschorn owning former B*** guy) that many in the Asian and/or European market turn their noses up at Klipschorns as they're not expensive enough, I think less than $10k. 

The Palladium will probably appeal to the status crowd (my speakers cost more than yours).

The Palladium models are definitely more decorator and spouse friendly than K'horns or Jubilee.  Got a higher SAF (spousal acceptance factor - there are quite a few married women who are music lovers and will sacrifice perceived good looks for sound quality)

I am sure they will be gorgeous and sound wonderful.... better than K'horns or Jubilees, La Scalas, Cornwalls, or Heresies?  maybe, maybe not, but probably sound different and obviously I'd expect deeper bass than the La Scalas or Heresies can provide.

And for crushing small cube speakers to smithereens?  I think the Heritage models would win hands down ... The PF39 obviously could easily do so, but it'll be awhile before one can find an old empty beat up cabinet to actually do so...

And in the Klipsch tradition will sound better than their non-Klipsch competition, probably even speakers costing much more (so still might lose a few of the status crowd to more expensive brands)

blsamuel:

I do think I remember reading a post or a comment at the Pilgrimage (RP maybe?, the Klipschorn owning former B*** guy) that many in the Asian and/or European market turn their noses up at Klipschorns as they're not expensive enough, I think less than $10k. 

The Palladium will probably appeal to the status crowd (my speakers cost more than yours).

Where the big demand is coming from is China, but only for products made in Hope.  They will pay big money for anything from Hope, thus, guess where the most expensive speakers in the line are going to be made?  They are going to be capitalizing off of the goodwill that exists for Hope products in the Asian markets.

Now if we can only figure out a way to put all of the lead and poison dog food back into the speakers and give it back to them.

Travis

When I think Klipsch, I first think fully horn loaded with unheard of efficiency and virtually no distortion.

Could of just stopped there. It seems odd to call something from Klipsch "the flagship" that doesn't include the folded horn.

DeanG:

When I think Klipsch, I first think fully horn loaded with unheard of efficiency and virtually no distortion.

Could of just stopped there. It seems odd to call something from Klipsch "the flagship" that doesn't include the folded horn.

Yes it does seem odd. 

I'll extend the remark someone else made earlier that the PF39 is "the flagship" of the Palladium line and the Klipschorn is "the flagship" of the Heritage line to "the true Klipsch flagship is fully horn loaded".   

dwilawyer:

I think they are being primary made for the Asian market and most of them are going to be sold outside the US. 

 

They will be made for any Palladium-authorized dealer who orders them, regardless of their location in the world.

They are not the flagship of the Reference Line or the Heritage Line.  The P-39F is the flagship model of the Palladium Line. 

We do not have specs at this time because we have not done measurements on a completed production unit yet. 

It's like a fine wine, guys.  Don't rush it.   

Since no one wants to hear the opinion on sound from a Klipsch employee, I will remain mum.     However, I will say it is the opinion of some folks around here who knew PWK the best....that he would be quite proud of this product.

damonrpayne:

So if you guys were making the call, Klipsch would not produce a speaker without a folded horn bass bin?

Not exactly no but to me a fully horn loaded systems is where the genius of Klipsch shines and sets themselves apart from the competition. IMO PWK left Klipsch a final flagship fully horn loaded speaker which even had a consumer release date at one time. I never have liked the reference line very much and the paladium looks like a big beautiful reference linespeaker. It would be nice to see specs and be able to actually hear paladiums before lumping it in with other reference speakers as that is unfair. I would like a very good demo whenever a pair arrives in Little Rock. Klipsch is trying to capture as many markets as they can and in that pursuit I hope they are successful. The revamped Heritage line ROCKS. The new headphones sound and fit better than anything out there. Then there is the cinema line which is totally cool. They seem to be doing alot of things right. I am just one guy in one niche that is barely on the marketers radar.A niche of a niche of a niche : ) 

So when can we hear a pair of paladiums?

Like I said before, I completely GET where Klipsch has been and what put them on the map.  However, we all know that K-horns flowing out the door does NOT pay the bills for Klipsch these days.  We also know, from our anecdotal observations, that the K-horn does not even have what marketing people would call a "halo effect" since it is not sitting on the floor next to the lower priced speakers.

I find it hard to believe that people insist that the sound quality we can achieve in our homes peaked 30 years ago.

damonrpayne:

So if you guys were making the call, Klipsch would not produce a speaker without a folded horn bass bin?

I wouldn't make that call.

Amy Unger:

dwilawyer:

I think they are being primary made for the Asian market and most of them are going to be sold outside the US. 

 

They will be made for any Palladium-authorized dealer who orders them, regardless of their location in the world.

They are not the flagship of the Reference Line or the Heritage Line.  The P-39F is the flagship model of the Palladium Line. 

We do not have specs at this time because we have not done measurements on a completed production unit yet. 

It's like a fine wine, guys.  Don't rush it.   

Since no one wants to hear the opinion on sound from a Klipsch employee, I will remain mum.     However, I will say it is the opinion of some folks around here who knew PWK the best....that he would be quite proud of this product.

I have no qualms or dispute with any of that Amy, especially that they will be available from any aitjprozed, regardless of location.  However, I am sure there was forecasting for this product, and a target market.  While it is none of my business what the predictions were, or who is targeted, I would bet a bottle of Booker's that it is anticipated that the big demand is going to be in Asia, as opposed to Europe or North America.  In other words, the target market for the P-39F is Asia.

I would love to hear your opinion on how they sound.  If you said they sound better then Jubs with 402's properly set up I would buy them on your reccomendation alone.  Of course I would want to know if you were listening to prototype drivers, or the production drivers that are going to actually go into them.   

As far as how long it takes, I am willing to wait as long as it takes and I for one said I will be happy to come to a P-39F listen in Indy.  Put me at the top of the list.  I was even ready to fly to Denver to listen to them at that show until I found out that they were just mock-ups.  I am hopeful they will be up and ready for CES, but I heard that is not for sure, that it is all dependent on when the drivers can go into production.

I accidently saw prototype cabs in July and have been wanting to hear them from that point on, and after the anouncement in August I was really looking forward to hearing them.  We are now almost in November and I have heard they are still not ready for production or even a listen, but I am looking forward to that day.

Any idea on how long it is going to be?

Travis

jacksonbart:

Palladium has a cooler ring to it than Klipschhorn

Well it was an easy choice, we already owned the name.  

You'll have to settle for pics for now Roger.  Hey Roger, why aren't pics of your sexy home theater up on my System Profiles site ( http://www.klipschcorner.com/SystemProfiles.aspx) ?  You might move into first place.

Center:

http://www.klipschcorner.com/BlogDetail.aspx?guid=3c2c76e4-e150-4395-a0b3-80c390c475d5

http://www.klipschcorner.com/BlogDetail.aspx?guid=2f83ec12-6343-4ebf-bcb6-4202a83aca23

http://www.klipschcorner.com/BlogDetail.aspx?guid=3fd684e8-fa9c-47b7-835e-e35b3235eb2e

Surrounds:

http://www.klipschcorner.com/BlogDetail.aspx?guid=1967daa4-0ddf-42d2-b2fd-51ee55666268

http://www.klipschcorner.com/BlogDetail.aspx?guid=1e0de859-1b76-4074-a885-5176b14bc7e1

Sub:

http://www.klipschcorner.com/BlogDetail.aspx?guid=2735d1cf-f749-4350-bb9e-8c6a53508779

"So if you guys were making the call, Klipsch would not produce a speaker without a folded horn bass bin?"

No, we were speaking in the context of "the flagship" -- the best that Klipsch has to offer.

"...I completely GET where Klipsch has been and what put them on the map.  However, we all know that K-horns flowing out the door does NOT pay the bills for Klipsch these days."

And neither will $15K pairs of Palladiums, right?

"We also know, from our anecdotal observations, that the K-horn does not even have what marketing people would call a "halo effect" since it is not sitting on the floor next to the lower priced speakers."

And we sure won't see the Palladium at Best Buy, which begs the question -- who will be carrying them?

I find it hard to believe that people insist that the sound quality we can achieve in our homes peaked 30 years ago.

I don't think anyone is saying that, and I'm not about to make the mistake of making comments about a speaker I've never heard. With that said, the Jubilee isn't 30 years old, and can be special ordered in a finished version. Four horn loaded 12's have more "horsepower" than six 9" cones. The Jubilee is higher in sensitivity, which means lower distortion at any given volume level -- and the big horn is in a class of its own. PK might have liked the Palladium, but I think he would have flipped out the BS button to someone who said the smaller speaker is top dog. 

DeanG:

"So if you guys were making the call, Klipsch would not produce a speaker without a folded horn bass bin?"

No, we were speaking in the context of "the flagship" -- the best that Klipsch has to offer.

"...I completely GET where Klipsch has been and what put them on the map.  However, we all know that K-horns flowing out the door does NOT pay the bills for Klipsch these days."

And neither will $15K pairs of Palladiums, right?

"We also know, from our anecdotal observations, that the K-horn does not even have what marketing people would call a "halo effect" since it is not sitting on the floor next to the lower priced speakers."

And we sure won't see the Palladium at Best Buy, which begs the question -- who will be carrying them?

I find it hard to believe that people insist that the sound quality we can achieve in our homes peaked 30 years ago.

I don't think anyone is saying that, and I'm not about to make the mistake of making comments about a speaker I've never heard. With that said, the Jubilee isn't 30 years old, and can be special ordered in a finished version. Four horn loaded 12's have more "horsepower" than six 9" cones. The Jubilee is higher in sensitivity, which means lower distortion at any given volume level -- and the big horn is in a class of its own. PK might have liked the Palladium, but I think he would have flipped out the BS button to someone who said the smaller speaker is top dog. 

-Sure, the claim has been made that without horn loaded bass it can't really be a Klipsch "flagship", the best they have to offer.  I argue that this need not be true, and soon may not be true.

-There are 3 levels of Palladium floorstanding speakers.  The "low" end will come in at around the cost of a Klipschorn.  Put the $7k palladium and the $7k Klipschorn in the same showroom, and which one will sell more?  Companies like B&W paid the bills with $8,000 Nautilus 802s for a long time as far as I can tell.  I like the 802s, I don't think I'd call them better than a k-horn, but more sellable? yeah.  If the comments about Hope-made stuff over $10k having a prestige factor is to be believed (I have no personal knowledge of this subject) then this may be a cow named Cash.  So, while we won't seem them at best buy, there are a lot of successful companies making gear that has no floorspace at boxpusher stores.  I argue that the Palladium is more likely to be carried than k-horns.

I don't think anyone specifically stated that the state of the art peaked 30 years ago (how old is the Jubilee anyway? 20 years? 15?) but it's implied in this thread and in many threads in 2ch every day.  Tubes are better than SET which is better than solid state which is better than digital.  Reel to reel is better than vinyl which is better than CD which is better than digital files.  Anything Paul Klipsch designed is better than whatever Klipsch might make today.  The pattern here is that Old trumps New, seemingly automatically.  What the hell are all the electronic and acoustic engineers doing these days?  Making inferior stuff trying to catch up with what people designed years and years ago?  If measurable stats showed that LP has more dynamic range than CD people in here would be jumping up and down screaming "Look what Science says!".  If the same Science shows that <<insert new technology>> is better in every possible perceivalbe/measurable way than <<insert old technology>> then it will be automatically poo-pooed as "wrong" or the claim will be made that "this is subjective".

When I heard the Jub in Hope I was underwhelmed and would rather have k-horns any day unless changes have been made.  I haven't heard the Palladium yet.  I just find it odd that there seems to be an outrage and cries of "treason" at this new product, even when people who knew Paul Klipsch state that he would be smiling and not turning over in his grave if he could see and here this new effort.