I compared them to my Adam A77X (which were in the same price range at the time). The Palmer speakers are poorly positioned because they sit above the Adams, so the tweeter isn't at ear level when I'm sitting. I switch between sitting and standing.
This is my first experience with coaxial speakers, and I've only ever used Presonus Eris E8s and Adam A77Xs in my home studio.
I have some acoustic treatment (diffuser panels and acoustic curtains). From 200Hz, I'm getting around 300ms on the RT60.
The Palmer speakers look high-quality with their aluminum enclosures. The packaging is neat; each speaker is in a faux-fabric bag.
The display is quite easy to use, accessible, and intuitive.
My first impression is that the bass is quite impressive; I think some people won't even need a subwoofer with them.
There was even too much of it, so I activated the option based on the distance from the back wall, which significantly reduced the problem.
I'm finally discovering the advantages of coaxial speakers. The sound distribution is more even outside the sweet spot, and there's less of a feeling of one speaker being too loud compared to another depending on the distance of your ears outside the sweet spot (if you're too far to the left speaker, for example, the right one is less audible, almost as if you were in mono).
I normally use the Trinnov Nova, but in these two tests, the correction was off. I'm connected directly to the Palmer speakers via AES.
I tested them on different tracks, but here's what I can say about these two:
- Hotel California live by the Eagles (acoustic version):
On the Palmer speakers, the midrange of the acoustic guitars comes through clearly; you can feel the guitar's acoustic character, the attack of the strings is present, and the bass drum reverb is clearly audible.
On the Adam speakers, the acoustic guitars lack body, sounding anemic, like when you go from a recording of an acoustic guitar with microphones positioned in front of the guitarist to one with piezo microphones.
- Battle Drums by Joe Hisaishi (which, for me, is a good test for stereo and reverb):
On the Palmer speakers, you can hear the impact of the percussion very clearly, and the reverb is precise; the high frequencies around the three-quarter mark of the song remain pleasant. On the Adam speakers, the percussion sounds soft and the reverb fades quickly; the high frequencies around the three-quarter mark become aggressive as the volume increases.
The Adam speakers sound brighter (almost acidic compared to the Adam speakers), with a lack of presence in the lower midrange.
The Palmer speakers without correction are closer to the sound of the Adam speakers with Trinnov correction enabled, in that the center channel is very present and the stereo information is clear.
If I correct both speakers using Trinnov (there are two sealed subwoofers with the two speakers, so they have the same operating range):
- the Palmer speakers are still ahead, the sound quality improves and becomes much more precise, and the high frequencies gain clarity. The center channel is well integrated with the rest of the stereo image (as is the case with Trinnov off). This can be appreciated on an album like Diana Krall's *Love Scenes*, where the double bass and vocals blend perfectly. There's very little phase correction; they seem quite linear. The impulse response is already decent without any correction.
While the Adam speakers have their main weaknesses addressed, they still fall short of the Palmer speakers due to a lack of detail and dynamics. The center seems to have a mind of its own and struggles to connect with the rest of the stereo image; this might be due to the AMT technology, which thickens the sound in the upper frequencies.
There's a phase shift around 2kHz. The impulse response needs correction; it dips too low at the beginning. The Trinnov can correct both.
For me, the Palmer speakers are convincing; we'll see how they perform in the long run. I wanted to get rid of the Adam speakers, which weren't working for me. I think this upgrade is a significant improvement, and the price-to-performance ratio is good.
As mentioned, I haven't tested Genelec, Kali or other coaxial type speakers, but I could recommend them for those who don't want to use a subwoofer, since they easily go down to 25Hz, which is quite rare in speakers of this size and price.
I've added screenshots of the Trinnov Nova measurement (I remind you that the Palmer speakers are not at ear level, hence the reduced treble I imagine).
