Klipsch Jubilee or Palladium P-39F

[pythagore]

I'm looking for an excellent 2 channel speakers. These speakers will be use for explicitly 2 channel music. And They should be the last money I spend on speakers for the rest of my life. No room for mistake. Keep in mind that I'm in Ottawa, Canada where there are not a lot of Klipsch dealers, and most of them only cary the referrence/Sinergy series.

I only owned Klipsch all my life. People suggested the Revel Salon to me, but since I'm used to Klipsch I'm a little bit concerned to step out that norm.

I've read good reviews on this forum regarding the Jubilee, but no specific details pertaining to their 2 channel musical capability.

I don't see any picture or details on the Klipsch website about them.

In order hand whithout hearing the palladium yet, but based only on the Klipsch reputation I'm assuming they are excellent sounding speakers.

As a matter of fact I never heard any of my Klipsch speakers prior to buying them. All my buying decision were simply advice from this forum fellow members.

What do you think?

Money wise, I can afford the price of the Jubilee+ whatever rewquired mods with no problem, but for Palladium, I may need to cut a few corners to come up with the cash.

[michael hurd]

I have heard the Jubilee with a set of thrown together passive crossovers ( with the K-402 horn on top ), as well as the Jubilee with the K-502 horn on top ) in Indy 2007. Granted it was not the best environment, and I wish that we could have heard the Jubilee in a better environment.

My take on them is that they have excellent polar response with the K-402 horn, you can walk around the room and the sound is more consistent. The K-502 is excellent, but has a limited 'sweet spot' due to it's much smaller horn. Hard to quantify the bass, especially in that environment. I believe that the Jubilee might ( for me ) require some serious subwoofers to keep up on the low end.

I have also heard the P-39F Palladium in June '08 Indy. Very very smooth response, better than anything I have heard to date. The design is basically cost-no-object with a VERY dead cabinet, steel reinforcement in the baffle, neodymium magnetic structures on all the drivers, cast baskets designed as a heatsink, and a refined crossover with notch filters.

I wish I had a chance to listen to both side by side, especially a Jubilee with active outboard electronic crossovers ( steep filters ) on something like an Electovoice Dx-38, driven by a pair of pro amps, like a QSC PLXII 2502. This of course would be a more complex endeavor than simply buying a set of speakers and throwing an amp on it and calling it a day. [8-|]

You may be interested in coming to Hope, AR in March, when all of us 'nuts' get together and have some great fun, brought to you by the great people that make up the Klipsch team. []

There are pro's and con's to both designs, and I would be happy with the Jubilee, a pair of amps w / electronic crossover OR a set of Palladium P-39F's. If I had the scratch, I think I would go for the Palladiums IMO.

[michael hurd]

BTW, I feel your pain for being in Canada... []

[Coytee]

I'm biased since I own a pair of Jubilees. (just so you can water my comments down)

I tried to search and seems with the maintainence that is going on, the search function might not be working? When this is done, do a search on Jubilee and also (here, I forget the title) maybe "one hundred days of ownership" or something like that...maybe "first one hundred days"

The Jubilee was originally intended to replace the Klipschorn. PWK felt it bested the Khorn by such an extent that it warranted its own place in the lineup.

I have heard the Palladiums on...three occasions now. I also heard it next to the Jubilee.

My honest opinion is, in 'absolute' terms, the Jubilee sounds better and bigger. I'd say the Palladium is 90% of the Jubilee (I'm just making up number to point out that it's not a HUGE difference between the two, at the levels I was listening) No one would ever go wrong with the Palladiums, especially given their looks compared to the Jubilee. Then again, you could buy the Jubilee, pay a woodworker to pretty them up and still be cash ahead...

I DO think if the volume was stepped up, the Jubilee might keep going further than the Palladium but, much of that with either one and soon you won't hear either!

Cost wise (US delivery) is something like $7,000 for a pair of Jubilees without any crossover verses $20,000 (MSRP) for the Palladiums. Surely the Palladiums could be had for less? but I doubt you'd get them for 7K

There are some that don't care for the looks of the Jubilee.....enough so that regardless of how they might sound, they'd never buy a pair. Power to them.

Perhaps for this kind of money....it would serve you to make a trip across the border to hear them?

Here's an idea... fly to Atlanta, listen to the Palladiums, rent a car, drive (3 1/2 hours) to me in Knoxville to listen to the Jubilees. Take rental car to Knoxville airport, fly home (probably via Atlanta []) and upon arrival, put your order in for what ever you liked most.

[White_Hawk]

Coytee is right. If this is your "end all" solution - you need to hear them to make the decision. Its a lot of $$$ you're talking about, and you want to do it right and never wonder "what if?". Don't rely on others opinions on the sound quality.

[dtel]

BTW, I feel your pain for being in Canada...

Pain as in frostbite ? []

[DrWho]

To be honest, if I were in your situation, I would make my decision
based on the intended source material and listening room. Also, have
you ever heard a pair of khorns? From what I understand, it seems
you've fallen in love with the signature sound of the Reference lineup?

So
I guess the questions are, what do you listen to, what have you heard
that you liked, how loud do you listen, and how is your listening
environment configured (dedicated? size? seating?)?

After
listening to both speakers in a variety of situations, I would have to
hands down call the Jubilee a more accurate and technically better
speaker. However, the Jubilee is not perfect and I think the P-39f's
shortcomings won't be as noticeable (and perhaps even desireable) for
certain styles of music.

One thing to note is that the Palladiums
like to be out away from the corners, otherwise they're going to sound
a bit chesty/congested. Pulling outta the corners can have an impact on
the bass performance so there can be a little compromise to deal with,
but nothing too major for a room with good acoustics. The Jubilee
really needs to be tucked into the corners (nowhere near as religiously
as the khorn), which imposes some limitations on the room configuration
and all that. I bring this up because force fitting either speaker into
a room not condusive to their performance is going to result in very
lackluster performance.

[Bill H.]

Or you could go with the Jamo top of the line speaker. It's only 7,000 also (deeply discounted). Direct from Klipsch.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Jamo-Reference-R909-Flagship-Floorstanding-Speakers_W0QQitemZ150302590567QQihZ005QQcategoryZ3276QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

[tigerwoodKhorns]

If you are going to spend that kind of money and do not knwo which to buy you shoudl try to go to Hope and hear both. That being said I bought similarly priced speakers unheard (they were very far away) and am very happy with them.

For the amount of money that you are willing to spend you can get your "end all" speakers. You should also speak to those who own the Palladiums and Jubilees (and those who have sold their Jubilees).

[Coytee]

Seems the search function is now working....

Here's two threads that might be worth reading.

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/99200/1001594.aspx#1001594

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/102414/1033671.aspx#1033671