Review translated from German into English.
The Mild, Wild One
100% dynamic and zero coloration: The Palladium is the boldest project that Klipsch has undertaken in 60 years.
Music requires dynamics; once in a while, it has to be aggressive. The distinctions between loud and soft notes, quiet passages and the overwhelming ones that shut off all other senses—these bring music to life. Without dynamics, music would be as interesting as a ring tone. Most people would, I think, agree. There’s another side to the question, however: how far can you compromise other important criteria in order to maximize dynamics?
Six Loud Decades
For 60 years, Klipsch has taken a radical position in this discussion. This is how long the legendary Klipschorn has represented the epitome of their principles. Products from the company that Paul Klipsch founded in 1946—on what, previously, was an artillery test area in Hope, Arkansas—should deliver dynamics, dynamics and more dynamics.
The Klipschorn is still being built and is still making rock fans ecstatic, while shocking classical music lovers. However, the horn is now getting support from an equally expensive, highly modernized grandchild; one which combines elementary force with the attributes of an all-rounder. The name: Palladium P-39F. A fleet of smaller models will follow, but it’s up to the flagship to prove that the US-based company not only builds dynamic speakers, but ones that meet all hi-fi criteria at world-class levels.
High Technology Horn
The Palladium uses horns in the high and middle ranges, just like the classic Klipsch speakers of the 40s and 50s. “Horns?” you say, “Don’t they colorize?" Not if you build them correctly. In the last several years, amazing things have happened to this technology. Unlike Paul Klipsch, who had to develop and fine-tune his first horn through intuition, today’s developers can model extremely efficient finite element simulations. With these simulations, you can see how the magnetic fields react in the drivers; visualize the heat dissipation over the basket, or how the smallest change of geometry affects the frequency response of the throat—without having to build a model chassis.
This work has lead to a completely new driver set: three 9-inch woofers, with the topmost adding to the midrange. These drivers are made of an aluminum membrane backed with rohacell-ridged foam, which reduces vibration and reinforces. A total of three strategically-placed neodymium magnets per chassis guarantee that the long moving coil follows a fully homogenous path, even by maximum movement (a whopping 18-mm.) By comparison, the horns have to handle microscopic movements which exert a lot of power. The 4.5-inch inverted diaphragm driver has an aluminum phase plug, covering about 80% of its surface. The back builds a pressure chamber in connection with the front of the membrane. On this and the horn (called Tractrix, after the geometric form of its wall curvature), the developers researched and filed to get rid of the last of the dreaded throat resonance. The high-end horn (with 25mm titanium driver) takes over from 3.5-kilohertz range with the same attention to detail. As you can see in the waterfall diagrams provided by the TESTfactory, the Palladium is as tidy as a house after spring cleaning in the high- and mid-ranges--which is sensational for horn construction.
After hearing generations of Klipsch speakers with a tone to which one had to become accustomed, the Palladiums in the Audio listening room were astonishing. The Klipsch played so perfectly that even my colleague Malte Ruhnke, known for his coloration allergy, had to search long and hard through his CD collection to find a recording of a certain baritone, in order to detect a minute flaw.
Power Without Regret
Even old school Klipsch fans will love these speakers. It's not their coloration that make them exciting; it's their fantastic dynamics and the fact that they are so efficient, they can be pushed by any amp this side of single-ended triodes. When you can hear crescendo, modulation and fine passages where there were none before, it means the speaker you're listening to is better than the ones that did not reproduce them.
Result
Palladium delivers nearly the same dynamics as the Klipschorn and music detail, without "horn problems" --plus, they look much better. The Palladium is an electroacoustic tour-de-force, whose perfection was beyond my expectations.