An International Project
The Klipsch Palladium Series has drawn on engineering, design and manufacturing resources from all over the world. In addition to our formidable team in the USA, we have used European industrial designers, British theoreti- cal physicists and manufacturing and production specialists from China.
The Palladium Series is the culmination of over 60 years of research and engineering advancements, having been designed with the most advanced computer aided design (CAD) tools available, rigorously evaluated using our own in-house proprietary software, built to the most stringent quality standards and voiced by a panel of our most experienced listeners. No Klipsch loudspeaker has ever had more care and attention to every detail lavished on it than your Palladium Series loudspeaker.
Although building one pair of loudspeakers is relatively straightforward, building hundreds of loudspeakers is challenging. Measurements play an important role in analyzing loudspeaker characteristics, but the human ear is the ultimate test gear for evaluating its reproduction quality . At Klipsch, every loudspeaker design is strictly evaluated using listening tests designed to expose even the very smallest weakness. All final voicing is performed under blind conditions, using trained listeners and standard audio sound tracks selected based on their particular area of auditory excellence. All information is tabulated and reported back to the designer for analysis. In almost all cases, Klipsch products are evaluated against similarly priced competitive models. It is only in this manner that Klipsch can truly rely on the quality of feedback received, eliminating skewed data that may result due to influ- ences caused by price, brand recognition, or visual appeal.
Design
The P-38F, P-37F, P-17B and P-27C are 3.5-way bass-reflex full range loudspeakers with high sensitivity and extremely low distortion. The drivers consist of either 7-or 8-inch woofers, an advanced 4.5-inch horn-loaded compression midrange driver, and a .75-inch titanium horn loaded compression dome tweeter. Each driver was designed by the Klipsch Engineering team and optimized for superior performance within each transducers bandwidth. Accu- rate driver design minimizes the need for driver corrections in the crossover network. Thus, the crossover is a straightforward design, with extremely high-quality components ensuring minimal insertion loss. By presenting a simple load to the amplifier, overall system perfor- mance is enhanced, a phenomenon rarely found with conventional designs. Each compo- nent used in the crossover, from the air core inductors to the polypropylene capacitors, has been selected to provide an undistorted transition between transducers. The superior com- ponents used in the Palladium Series is complemented by the unique horn and enclosure design and highlighted by the elemental performance of the industrial design. The massive laminated MDF enclosure is based on a curved non-parallel wall structure for minimal reso- nance. Both the tweeter and midrange compression drivers are integrated into a common molded two-element horn optimized for bandwidth, clarity, and efficiency.
Bass Drivers
The woofer utilizes a low mass hybrid Aluminum/Rohacell®/Kevlar® cone with an over hung voice coil. Even under massive dynamic demand, the driver retains linearity and low distortion. A three-part high intensity neodymium magnet is used with a main magnet, plus rear and forward magnets placed to ensure linearity, reduce stray magnetic energy and provide intense field strength in the voice coil gap. Dual Faraday rings on the pole piece minimize unwanted inductance, enhance heat dissipation and minimize dynamic compression.
The metal cone of the woofer is damped with a composite Rohacel and Kevlar layers, which minimizes ringing and maintains low mass, eliminating breakup and other distor-
tion products. As is the case with the midrange driver, the surround uses a flat-sided shape that keeps surround- produced output to a minimum and preserves phase response. The cast aluminum frame assures maximum
heat transfer without any reflection of the back wave of the driver that would otherwise alter the sound. An inverted half-roll low density foam rubber surround completes the clean appear-
ance.
In the P-38F and the P-37F, he woofers see differing pass bands. This preserves con- sistent dispersion through the critical woofer to midrange transition region and has a positive impact on off-axis performance and stereo imaging. This upper woofer covers the entire range from 30 Hz to 500 Hz, where it crosses over to the midrange driver, while the two lower woofers cover only the low and mid-bass. This “tapered-array”
design delivers full bass impact, plus a graceful transition between driver groups in both tonal accuracy and dispersion.
Midrange - “The midrange is where we live.” Paul W. Klipsch
The inverted dome midrange driver operates from 500 Hz to 3.5 kHz and is a unique design, not found on any previous Klipsch product.
The driver sensitivity of 106 dB allows minimal excursion at normal playback volume. As cone excursion reduces, so does distortion. The 4.5-inch aluminum dome is driven by 3 high temperature N35H neodymium magnets, ensuring linearity under a range of listening volumes. The pole piece is topped by a copper cap to minimize unwanted inductive components. The surround has half the density of the material typically used and thus offers reduced mass. Unlike most designs, this midrange driver delivers much more output from the dome and less from the surround. As a
surround is always in motion and always changing shape, output from its surface is high in distortion—minimiz- ing surround surface area is another means to reducing overall distortion.
The midrange unit is housed in its own magnetically-shielded sealed enclosure, which isolates the driver from acoustic energy generated by the woofers. Every effort has been made to ensure great accuracy, as well as long-term durability from this unique driver.
