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Neumann KH 310A Review (Powered Monitor)

AudioJester

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Does the temperature bass issue only affect Neuman speakers?
 

Blumlein 88

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Does the temperature bass issue only affect Neuman speakers?
It is the only one Amir has shown to be the case. I am virtually certain there have to be other woofers that are similarly effected. Even if most are not.

If Amir would just move to Hawaii with a more stable year round temp it wouldn't be a problem. :)

OTOH, shipping costs to get things measured would be thru the roof. :(
 

richard12511

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Does the temperature bass issue only affect Neuman speakers?

I think it's more that Neumann happens to be one of the few manufacturers with accurate enough data of their own to be able to recognize these small discrepancies caused by temperature.
 

Robbo99999

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Preference Rating
SCORE: 6.2
SCORE w/ sub: 7.6

Frequency response:
+/-2.0dB 100Hz-10kHz
+/-2.4dB 34Hz-20kHz
+/-4.0dB 30Hz-20kHz

View attachment 94748
The horizontal directivity graphs use the average of the + & - angles (and have been so for a while)View attachment 94749View attachment 94750View attachment 94751View attachment 94752View attachment 94753
Only 0.19 better Preference Score than the JBL 308p Mkii when HF Trim Switch set to -2dB on the 308p! :p As seen here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-mkii-studio-monitor-review.17338/post-570903

Well, this is one nice speaker from Neumann, expensive, but hey! (My JBL 308p is cheaper, and only 0.19 worse Preference Score, but yes distortion measurments!).
 

ROOSKIE

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Does the temperature bass issue only affect Neuman speakers?
It affects all drivers to some degree and these affects are not specific to Neuman but they are not going to be the same amount with all drivers.
I live in Minnesota and can vouch for this. ;)

It is also why some speakers change as they heat up (and some folks will say they hear a difference from a cold driver to one warmed up to normal operational temps) and as the drivers get really hot the voice coil can even become soft.

There have been some measurements posted that I lost track of that seem to support minor changes.
 

trl

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As I wrote on Gearslutz, I used to own the O300 and had a mixed impression of it. I didn't like its high crossover point of 3.3 kHz and the woofer/bass felt somewhat constricted. It seems they fixed these issues with the KH310 by significantly lowering the mid-tweeter crossover point to 2 kHz and using a better woofer.
I find very difficult to integrate correctly a tweeter that starts acting from 2KHz, due to the linearity problems for most tweeters (usually they get linear above 2.5KHz), not mentioning that this lower frequency may destroy the tweeter if the crossover is not...well, perfectly designed.

I find the 3.5KHz frequency being a more "safe" one when pairing a mid with a tweeter. In the end it's all about what tweeter you can find and how good crossover you can design, although I don't think we should notice any sound differences due to the crossover frequency, of course, if the crossover is perfectly designed and paired with midrange and tweeter drivers.
 

phoenixdogfan

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Despite being a member here and getting exceptional results from the reviews, they have not reached out to offer any speaker for testing. Suggest contacting them and asking them to do so. :)
Have a hunch they probably don't feel they need to. Best bet is to get a pair from a member.
 

Ilkless

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I'd like to see the Mesanovic RTM10s, the GGNTKT M1s, and the Kef Reference 1s tested.

Reference 1 most of all because it would be great to see the distortion advantages over an R3. An R3 was already excellent in FR and directivity, so I can only imagine max SPL and distortion being the improvements left to make.
 

YSC

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Nice measurements as expected! The bass dip is a bit weird looking but watching the scale that should not be listenable deviation! I am uneducated but may I ask if that is a dsp product or pure analog?

I am sure that all these basically flat speakers are a treat to listen to, what I am getting as an impression for these accurate speakers from my new 8030C is that beside you can’t detect any frequency deviation it’s so clean and never makes you feel tired listening! That didn’t come when I use the HE500 headphones or the old kef x300a where there will always be some kind of song sounds harsh and tiring, I bet it’s the wild frequency response or distortion related?
 

phoenixdogfan

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All good questions. I think the Olive score is the hour hand in a clock. The minute hand is not there and we have to apply that judgement. With so much objective data, once the pandemic is behind us, I hope various groups of audiophiles get together and do some controlled testing to see what their subjective scores are.
I knew there were problems with the preference score when a thrice reviewed mini monitor with a 4 inch mid/woof scored higher than several well engineered floor standers with fairly smooth but not perfect directivity curves that could play 10db louder and go a full octave or more deeper with lower distortion levels. It was clear to me at that point that certain important criterea weren't being properly weighted if they were even factored in at all.
 

BYRTT

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Thanks acoustic review Amir, really sounds Santa must drop two of these on your desk next month :p..

KH 310 beauty verse KH 80..

KH310_verse_KH80_OL_x1x1_800mS.gif
 
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Mnyb

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Do the preference score takes spl in to consideration ?

Sometimes quantity is quality :) it does not help much if the sound quality is of the highest order if you can’t play cleanly and undistorted at levels that fits the chosen music .

Thanks for the review.

And thanks to Neumann for designing this speaker.
 
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amirm

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Do the preference score takes spl in to consideration ?
No. A standardized (more or less comfortable) level is used for all listening tests and evaluations in the research.
 

Doodski

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Do the preference score takes spl in to consideration ?
If I remember correctly max SPL testing was decided to not be done because @amirm did not want to torture test speakers and have issues with them.
 

Mnyb

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No. A standardized (more or less comfortable) level is used for all listening tests and evaluations in the research.

A ok thanks .

Makes me wonder , the calculated scores we see on this site do they consider this listening level ?
 

Mnyb

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If I remember correctly max SPL testing was decided to not be done because @amirm did not want to torture test speakers and have issues with them.

That’s ok , but it is good to know if the DUT can play at useful levels ( in context of course)
 

Doodski

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That’s ok , but it is good to know if the DUT can play at useful levels ( in context of course)
It was a thought that if the DUT was to be tested at high SPL then that might as well be for max SPL and so it was decided not to chance blowing up any speakers and any high SPL tests where simply not going to be done.
 
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