• Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Is this how Neumann KH80 speakers die?

I don't know anything about how the Neumann company operates, but it would appear to be an original manufacturing or design defect. I would ask for support.
 
It’s hard to tell from the pic but did this capacitor vent?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4231.jpeg
    IMG_4231.jpeg
    310.3 KB · Views: 170
You can't start sharing that kind of blasphemy with the hordes of fanatic Neumann disciples here :facepalm:
 
CrapXon and JWCO capacitors.. they really cheaped out. you usually wont find worse ones when sorting by price on alibaba
perfectly engineered to fail after the warranty period.

good to know, im not a fan of active speakers anyway. ive seen all brands and price ranges fail at some point even genelecs
but neumann is no option anymore.
 
Mine are five years old and have shown no issues. They have been plugged into a Zerosurge their entire life and we get at least a half dozen brief power outages a year. I also switch them on and off every day.

Just to add to the anecdata of this thread.
 
m_g_s_g said:
Before opening again the right speaker I decided to open today the left one (the one that broke in similar fashion months before), to compare the pcb "front" side damages. They look extremely and suspiciously similar.
Click to expand...
Indeed. Either these really don't like your mains or there's something else afoot. At this point I would start querying Neumann support about whether they've seen this before and if so, under which conditions. Do you have any issues with low AC voltage / brownouts?

This one has the advantage of controller IC U100 not having a hole in it, so I suggest grabbing a flashlight and testing various angles to better show its markings.

RobL said:
It’s hard to tell from the pic but did this capacitor vent?
Click to expand...
Not sure either but looks like it might have, well spotted. I still wouldn't expect things on the secondary side to blow up the PFC, that has to be an unrelated issue. It's not exactly increasing confidence, of course, though it's not exactly too surprising either.
 
Last edited:
I'm sincerely sorry for OP's misfortune. You buy good speakers with the hope of using them for many years to come.
Personally, this is exactly why I hate active speakers. A circuit burns out, a connector overheats, a capacitor blows, and you end up with a useless product, even its excellent acoustics.
Apparently, this also happens with renowned professional audio brands.
I've had this discussion a thousand times on the site, and I've been told just as many times that it's not a problem.
It is.
 
Talisman said:
I'm sincerely sorry for OP's misfortune. You buy good speakers with the hope of using them for many years to come.
Personally, this is exactly why I hate active speakers. A circuit burns out, a connector overheats, a capacitor blows, and you end up with a useless product, even its excellent acoustics.
Apparently, this also happens with renowned professional audio brands.
I've had this discussion a thousand times on the site, and I've been told just as many times that it's not a problem.
It is.
Click to expand...
OTOH, loads of them work each day in small studios, etc. for years and years without issues. Even the old K&H O300 (OK probably there were better components in them)... Anyway, I hope my both 5 years old active speaker pairs survive the next 10 years. If not, I might really consider switching back to passive.
 
respice finem said:
OTOH, loads of them work each day in small studios, etc. for years and years without issues. Even the old K&H O300 (OK probably there were better components in them)... Anyway, I hope my both 5 years old active speaker pairs survive the next 10 years. If not, I might really consider switching back to passive.
Click to expand...
I would open them and search for the usual suspects, capXon, taicon and the likes and replace them with some decent caps.
Pro-active but better safe than worry.

And as we're talking caps:

20260117_093128.jpg


:facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

I'm really tempted about zapping them and get a video, but they don't worth such a glorious death.
 
m_g_s_g said:
Before opening again the right speaker I decided to open today the left one (the one that broke in similar fashion months before), to compare the pcb "front" side damages. They look extremely and suspiciously similar.

This time I checked the PCB "back" side as well, where the capacitors are located. To my surprise, it looked quite clean. So yes, the damages seemed to be confined around that MOSFET.
Click to expand...
Can you read which regulator IC is in there ?
This one still seems to have its 'hat' on.
That one may be the culprit.

When you would still have had a functioning one you could have found out what values the resistors had.
These were the smoke generators (along with the PCB).
 
Part of the problem are "missing" service manuals.
 
Maybe we can spot the values from the pics of the other thread:

www.audiosciencereview.com

Neumann KH80DSP Teardown

A friend of mine decided to look at the inside of the KH80DSP because he found the Neumanns run hotter than his JBL LSR305P MkII. Seems like there hasn't been any teardown picture of the KH80DSP on the internet. My friend kindly allowed me to share these disassembly pictures on this forum, so...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com
 
This was either a MOSFET or PWM controller failure although clearly, both have popped. That's a rather poor design. The B+ should be individually fused where it feeds each supply rail, which was certainly not the case here. This is completely repairable but will be a pain to clean up. If there is indeed a vented capacitor, it was likely due to the loss of regulation, in which case other components on that rail (AD/DA/DSP) may also have been affected.
 
Probably yes, if one knows the values/part numbers of the destroyed components and the PCB itself isn't too charred.

And then hoping the components that are fed by the power supply haven't received an over voltage just before the meltdown of the converter circuit.

Possibly, when finding which PWM controller chip was used hints for the right values might be found in the manual of the controller chip in application notes.
 
RobL said:
It’s hard to tell from the pic but did this capacitor vent?
Click to expand...
Yes indeed! Good catch. A better picture:

EDIT: The spitted sludge can even be seen over the white hot glue nearby.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20260117_094616391.jpg
    IMG_20260117_094616391.jpg
    247.1 KB · Views: 140
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Small bedroom (~10 m²) nearfield monitoring — iLoud MTM MKII vs Neumann KH80/KH120?
Replies
19
Views
1K
Jiraya369
Jiraya369
C
Neumann KH 750 - BNC connector repair
Replies
17
Views
600
Taker
T
M
How much bass is enough?
2 3
Replies
56
Views
2K
Marin
M
N
Neumann KH120 II decision/Connection questions
Replies
19
Views
1K
dtaylo1066
D
R
Neumann KH80+ KH750 Sub
Replies
0
Views
959
redlightstudio
R
Back
Top Bottom