Of course, Acoustical Systems does not manufacture the generators of its cartridges themselves, but has them built by a renowned West European manufacturer. However, the stylus, as Dietrich Brakemeier notes, is not taken from the portfolio of the said manufacturer, but is purchased in Germany and then supplied to them. It was decided to use a very smoothly polished Q4 Shibata EVO profile, as it was formerly used in Quadro compatible cartridges. Although today's recordings no longer contain tones in the 40 Kilohertz range, the given ample high-frequency tracking ability does have a very positive effect on the upper frequency range of women's voices, for example.

The generators manufactured to Acoustical-Systems' specifications are then "wedded" in Bavaria with the bodies. The body is made of hammered TIMET TIMETAL® 1100, a titanium alloy titled "Ti-6Al-2.7Sn-4Zr-0.4Mo-0.45Si". The surface treatment not only changes the shape – considerably fewer parallel surfaces result thereof – but also the internal structure of the material, so that resonances can spread less strongly throughout the material compared to bodies with parallel surfaces and continuous crystal lattice parameters. The generator is fixed to the body with an epoxy-resin glue at three defined points, while Dietrich Brakemeier dampens the body/generator unit with two different polymers at four points. Naturally, the cartridge comes in a representative package, including a few accessories, such as three pairs of brass screws in different lengths, which were chosen because of their favourable sonic conductance.

Since the Acoustical Systems tonearm was still mounted on the more distant base of my LaGrange turntable, and while it certainly had to be one of the best possible matches for The Palladian, as no one was able to adjust this tonearm better than its developer, I consequently asked him to install the cartridge. Despite the Aquilar offering diversified adjustment possibilities, I fairly quickly was sure that Acoustical Systems' new top model was perfectly adjusted to my turntable. After listening to a few of Dietrich Brakemeiers' test tracks, we then switched to some of my own repertoire, not with the intention to evaluate the cartridge, but only to get some new, insightful songs the other might have. For a critical evaluation, The Palladian simply hadn't collected enough hours of operation. For burning-in the cartridge, I again used Keith Jarrett's solo albums Sun Bear Concerts and Bremen/Lausanne. And already at this point I got the impression that the Palladian was playing in a very open and spacious manner.