• On BNET: 3 worst things about the iPhone 3G S
July 29, 2008 5:00 AM PDT

Klipsch's Palladium series: The BMW of speakers

by Holly Jackson

Have around $20,000 and nothing to spend it on? If you love music, why not drop it on the self-proclaimed "Dom Perignon of floor-standing speakers," also known as Klipsch's Palladium speaker series? Designed with help from BMW Group DesignworksUSA, the speakers are high-end in price and sound quality, according to the company.

Klipsch's Palladium P39-F speakers

Klipsch's high-end Palladium floor speakers, the P39-F, retail for $20,000.

(Credit: Klipsch)

The flagship system of the series is the P39-F, which has 9-inch woofers for bass. Like many Klipsch products, the Palladium speakers use "horn-loaded" technology for the high and mid-frequency drivers, instead of a conventional cone driver.The result, the company says, is an acoustic, less distorted sound in which music is heard the way an artist intended.

The rest of the Palladium series, which was expanded this month, includes three floor-standing speakers, a bookshelf speaker, center channel speaker, surround sound speaker, and a subwoofer.

In addition to sounding good, the speakers are also designed to be easy on the eyes. Each speaker in the series is finished with a wood-grain veneer that comes in three different stains to match furniture. With prices ranging from $4,000 to $20,000, the speakers may be perfect for those who want their home audio system to sound and look as good as a BMW drives.

Recent posts from Crave
Poll: Why don't you have an iPod or MP3 player?
Oppo's affordabe high-end Blu-ray player is here
iPhone 3GS jailbreak, 'purplera1n,' hits Web
Apple patents point to haptics, fingerprints, RFID
Friday Poll: We the ppl--imagining a digital 1776
Gadgettes 144: The Childhood Nostalgia Episode
Duet D8 is no iPhone clone
Rocking out with stereo Bluetooth
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (5 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by sinerasis July 29, 2008 6:16 AM PDT
My crave bookmark gets deleted today because ads that get in the way of content. Goodbye cnet.
Reply to this comment
by bleech July 29, 2008 7:48 AM PDT
"Klipsch's Palladium series: The BMW of speakers"
That is not really a good praise for any good, actually.
IŽd rather have the "Mercury", "Buick", or whathever else BUT generic german design. Not for me, thank you very much.

Those two, specially, are trying too hard being so grey and aesthetically correct [to what the usual standards are]. They are like all those metal kitchens, or chairs, or coffee-tables, or...
Reply to this comment
by nerv2010 July 30, 2008 7:24 AM PDT
I'd rather have a pair of Sonus Faber Cremona M at $12.8k
Dom Perignon? More like Mumms. The Sonus Amati's would be even better, let along their flagship Stradivari. Then again the Stradivari at a staggering $45k might not be a "bargain".
Reply to this comment
by mentalretard July 30, 2008 11:00 AM PDT
I think they look great, and more importantly will likely sound amazing. Bleech can keep his rusted out American made automobile and Kirkland brand Costco speakers - Quiet Riot doesn't really require top notch speakers to listen to anyway.
Reply to this comment
by xZero2007x July 30, 2008 12:58 PM PDT
Thinking about speakers like these provoked this random thought: if there are speakers this high in quality and price, would it really be beneficial for what it's advertised for? I mean, I would be wondering if studios themselves use speakers and headphones of this caliber, and if most artists even think about their music being played by these other than in clubs or something. And I'd also imagine that the performance per dollar trend for these speakers would be more skewed towards the dollar amount (the plateaued end of the trend in other words)... But one can dream of speakers like these, right?
Reply to this comment
(5 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Crave topics

Making sense of Windows 7 upgrades

faq The basics and the fine print on Microsoft's options for those eyeing the next operating system from Redmond.
• Full Windows 7 coverage

Road Trip 2009: Big Sky Country

CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman takes his car full of gadgets to the Rockies and the Great Plains in search of tech, science, nature, and more.
• America's Fortress: Cheyenne Mountain

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right