Neumann KH 150 Monitor Review

[teashea]

Thanks for the review amirm. You are the man! It is as beautiful a speaker as one would have hoped for.

In regards to subbass and subwoofers... Is it really "necessary" to buy a subwoofer for speakers with F6 at 35hz? Is it because it declines to hard below 35hz?

There is very little music distributed with content below 39 Hz. One has to look for a quite a while to find anything. I did a little test and in 100 top songs on Amazon Prime there were none with any content that low.

 

[teashea]

thas was the review I was waiting for!! I am between this and the KH310. I can actually get the KH310 cheaper which seems like a better deal, but this is a newer speaker with DSP included. which one did you prefer between the 2?

Just for clarification for anyone researching the monitors here, the KH 150 has two amplifiers - 145 watts for the woofer and 100 watts for the tweeter.

 

[teashea]

hi Amir,

Thank you for another excellent review, you really doing spoil us.

Can you pls enlarge on your preference for towers over say 2 high quality bookshelf speakers + 2 subs properly integrated with REW & DSP.

Is there a scientific reason?

I agree with Amir that for a large room for pleasure listening I prefer large speakers. While they are not as accurate as something like a KH150, the sound seems more dynamic and open/big.

 

[teashea]

This is as perfect as it gets. Wow! Hats off to Neumann.

Directivity is narrow though, so some people may still prefer less perfect but wider-dispersing speakers. But in the narrow dispersion segment, this seems like the speaker to get.

For use as nearfield studio monitors I find the narrow dispersion pattern to be a significant advantage.

 

[teashea]

my view:
-nearfield LW is the most important and I want it as flat as possible. 2dB are very audible in the midrange
- mid field: if there is only a small LP then still LW first. As soon as you have multiple listening window (aka couch situation) then PIR becomes more important.

With the level of quality of this speaker, it is a lot more room related than related to the speaker.
If the room is very good, then maybe a will have a preference.

Although..... at very nearfield distances, the room (while still significant) is less important.

 

[teashea]

Kind of a shame there's no room in the lineup for an 8 inch two-way - I wonder what Neumann would be able to achieve with that.

I think with an 8 inch woofer, a three way makes more sense.

 

[teashea]

Thanks! A lot to read there, but at first sight it looks like a bargain

After several months with two pairs in my studio - still seems like a bargain.

 

[DearSX]

The AA Sierra LX bookshelf seem like a good passive alternative to the KH150 or Buchard A10 for $2k less. of course no Amps/DAC/DSP etc.

 

[teashea]

Outstanding measurements for sure!
So is the very flat response a result of nearly perfect drivers, or mostly DSP equalization?

What actual low frequency driver does this use?

For reference - In its YT videos, Neumann notes that the performance is the result of mechanical design and DSP. The woofer took two years to develop.

 

[Ze Frog]

I agree with Amir that for a large room for pleasure listening I prefer large speakers. While they are not as accurate as something like a KH150, the sound seems more dynamic and open/big. View attachment 382556View attachment 382557

I think there are a few of us though that would rather have the accuracy over a bigger soundstage. Especially those of us where we have a set-up predominantly catering to a specific sweet spot for enjoyment at a specific seated spot. Admittedly being single makes life easier for me in this regard, I don't have to consider if the sound is wide enough for anything beyond my preferred listening window, and if I have guests I'm not really concerned if they are getting the best sound or not.

 

[Ze Frog]

amirm:

What is the distance in your near-field listening?
Will adding EQ to fill the dip around 1.5 to 2 kHz make it better?

Maybe someone who owns could confirm, but if you buy the MA1, which lets face it should be a definite purchase with these, then maybe MA1 fixes the dip by itself I would imagine.

Anyone with MA1 got anything on this?

 

[bachatero]

There is very little music distributed with content below 39 Hz. One has to look for a quite a while to find anything. I did a little test and in 100 top songs on Amazon Prime there were none with any content that low.

What is your definition of music having content that low?

 

[HQY]

I think there are a few of us though that would rather have the accuracy over a bigger soundstage. Especially those of us where we have a set-up predominantly catering to a specific sweet spot for enjoyment at a specific seated spot. Admittedly being single makes life easier for me in this regard, I don't have to consider if the sound is wide enough for anything beyond my preferred listening window, and if I have guests I'm not really concerned if they are getting the best sound or not.

I’m one of you

 

[songOVERsound]

There can only be one sweet spot

 

[teashea]

What is your definition of music having content that low?

Below 39 Hz.

 

[teashea]

My noob takeaway even if the speakers would work at longer distance with sub the manufacturer actually optimised this for a shorter distance situation and they themselves would probably suggest something else like 310 or 420 depending on distance.

So even they are good there are designs more optimal for longer distances ? I could not say which ones , we have this tread littered with speaker experts , they probably tell us

So then the directivity kink may be inconsequential for the intended use case of a relatively short listening distance ? My guess ?

What’s cool with good pro speakers is that there seems to bee the “same” sound quality the difference is just scale aka your listening distance + you may need a sub for full range

I agree - based upon what Neumann says, based upon what Amir says and based upon my own listening tests in my studio.

 

[teashea]

I think besides very good performance they look very good. They will replace Klein & Hummel P110 (smaller passive speakers with 5,25“ woofers) here. Listening distance is around 2 m. I feel even the P110 works absolutely fine at that distance, however I want some more headroom for ACDC. ;-) I only have some basic room treatment.

I donˋt understand why everybody calls a system with only two subwoofers endgame? Endgame is a perfectly integrated double bass array in my opionion. I already have four BK Electronics XXLS 400 subs (custom made passives with my own external DSP and amping). I will add four more and I am sure it will be a killer system with the KH150.

The end game is a flat frequency response. The number of boxes to achieve this is not the main issue. The bass should be in accordance with the rest of the spectrum - not exaggerated.

 

[teashea]

According to Neumann themselves in this video - up to 6 meter listening distance is feasible .

Feasible is not very satisfactory to me. I am interested in optimal.

 

[teashea]

What about hiss?

Undetectable from six inches.

 

[teashea]

Excuse my Alzheimer if this had been discussed before.

I understand Amir would not really recommend those for farfield. Some might however consider it and Neumann even mentioned up to 6m as faisable.

Neumann highlights the SPL qualities of these KH150 (higher than KH310).

Then, for full ranging these, you might be tempt to want to add subs and add them ideally into the system with MA1. If I understood this correctly, only KH750 would be available for this (correct?). Then you might probably loose much of the benefit of the higher SPL, even if using 2 subs, or?

It would be better to choose speakers designed for farfield.