cutandrun

I've had a pair of P-39f's for about a year and a half now. Of course I'm biased, but everything you've read in the glowing reviews is true. I listen to just about every kind of music and haven't found anything that doesn't sound good on them. And if you want to get loud, this is the speaker to have. I'm currently driving them with a McIntosh tube pre-amp and solid state power amp but I'd love to try a tube power amp. No room in the equipment rack right now. No help on a Bay Area location though--I'm in Socal.

This is kind of like comparing the P39 to the Anat Reference like they did in the review--it's not really fair to either speaker. Is the P39 10 times better than the Imagine T? Probably not. But getting that last 15 or 20 percent is not cheap. I have lived with some very nice $2,000 speakers, but they didn't sound like the Palladiums. I wouldn't mind the Pass though []

I have had a pair of P39-Fs for about a year now. It was great to see Stereo Review put into words just about everything I have been thinking about these speakers. They have the signature Klipsch dynamics mixed with best attributes of some of the other great speakers out there. The best thing about them is that they excel on every kind of music I throw at them. I'm a rocker at heart, but I listen to plenty of jazz, classical, and vocals. Kudos to Klipsch for spending the time and money to produce this speaker. L

No question--Paradigms to Palladiums!

I have had their "Cute Beyond" headphone amplifier for about two years now. I did swap out the stock opamps for Burr Brown OPA 627's (with a BrownDog adapter) and it made a tremendous difference. Not tube, but a great sounding headphone amp that easily drives Sennheiser 600's for about $235, new opamps included. I also have one of their "Spitfire" DAC boxes. I use it because my pre-pro won't output (via "Tape Out") an analog signal from any digital source, like a CD player. This is becoming a big issue that I believe comes with HDMI compatibility. You can't even output digital sources to zone 2 or zone 3. I route the prepro's digital out to the Spitfire for use by downstream analog devices like the headphone amp. BTW, in case you are wondering why I don't just use the DVD player's analog outputs alongside the digital, it's because with HDMI, the analog outputs are disabled.

I've had a set of the P-39F's in my living room for about 2 months now. They are fantastic in every way. The signature Klipsch sound is there, but in a little bit different flavor. To my ears, it's like Klipsch took the best qualities of their speakers (dynamics, liveliness, efficiency, horn technology) and married them to the best qualities of, say, B&W (accuracy, smoothness, control). They are also some of the best looking speakers available. I don't think Watt Puppies would pass the wife test in my house. I have played just about every kind of music on them and haven't found anthing that doesn't sound good. They are less forgiving of poor recordings than other speakers I have heard. I have an LP copy of the remastered version of U2's "Joshua Tree" which has received less-than-glowing marks from some reviewers. It sounded better on my old speakers (Paradigms) than it does on the Palladiums because the lack of range and detail is clearly revealed. Better recorded LPs, like Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms", sound live. There are certainly other fine speakers out there, but you won't regret choosing Palladiums.

A very interesting prediction you made there. I am sure the Jubilees sound fantastic, driven by Crown or just about anything else. I can't compare the sound to Palladiums because I have not yet had the pleasure of auditioning Jubilees, but I would never tell someone my Palladiums were better than whatever they have chosen, because audio is so subjective. I would love to hear from others about their experiences with Palladiums. I have enjoyed perusing this forum for peoples' perspective on other Klipsch products and look forward to the same with the speakers I chose.

I agree that amps do sound different, but I have always prioritized as follows: Speakers Sources Amplification I don't disagree with the old rule of spending half of your 2-channel budget on speakers either. I will probably get around to upgrading my Adcom amp, but I make no apologies for it. It's a multiple mono design, and unlike many other high powered amps, it requires a dedicated 20 amp circuit, so one can actually access the advertised wattage. I hear fewer of its flaws than I would any other link in the reproduction chain.

Thanks for the welcome. I've always appreciated Klipsch speakers. At first they were a challange for me wallet-wise, later it was size-wise (read: wife-wise). I first heard corner horns in the mid seventies and vowed that I would one day own a set. The liveliness of those speakers compared to anything else available at the time was astounding (still pretty much true). I can clearly remember the record used to demo them: Sheffield Lab's "Thelma Houston and the Pressure Cooker", direct to disk. Years later, I have the means to buy them, but they are still a size and placement challenge. Enter the Palladiums. They not only have the distinctive Klipsch dynamics, they also look fantastic and take up about the same floor space as any other speaker, although the are pretty tall. The styling and size easily passed the wife test and the sound will pass any test. I still love corner horns, but I think I can make do with the Palladiums. []

I'm using the Musical Fidelity A5. I don't think they make anything that doesn't sound good.

I got a pair of P-39F's about 2 months ago and can confirm your "amazing" diagnosis. I am bi-amping them with 4 of the 7 channels on my Adcom GFA 7707 at 200wpc (8 ohm), not that they really need that much power but I have it available. The speakers just blow me away. The midrange is sweet, the bass tight but abundant, and the high end smooth. I use them occasionally for movies, but spend hours with them in 2 channel mode almost every day. My record collection is really getting a workout. The only downside I see is that some of my early CDs sound pretty harsh even when playing through a Musical Fidelity tube CD player--the speakers don't hide a thing. I was going to go with Revels, but my neighbor who is a speaker designer for a high-end studio monitor company talked me in to trying the Palladiums. He knows his stuff!