Neumann KH 150 Monitor Review

[Doodski]

Good job finally a speaker I might buy.

Now Neuman when are you going to release that dual 12” 3 way with a 5-6.5” mid?

That sounds like the party speaker de jour. Lotsa thump and loud too.

 

[JeanKazamer]

The more i look at reviews like this here, the less i am tempted to loose time on a large DIY project for my audio systems.
I mean, add some serious woofers to those and you get some crazy high end audio quality right there.

What would be the expectation of performance on a pair of those as far as distortion goes ?

You guys would recommend using a pair of similarly sized/performing loudspeakers ( + subs obviously ) as music/TV system in a quite large living room ?


Simply thinking about all the components i'd need to purchase, tune and add to the line to get that kind of performance is .... lol

And those are kinda plug and play at this level of performance ?


What other options do we have with similar performance in the active dep in that price range ?

Looks like every year, we add 2-3 small active loudspeakers that makes large expensive products almost pointless ( which is a crazy good thing if you ask me ! )

BigBoss Amir again thanks for the superb reviews on all those products, much appreciated .

 

[oversky]

Listening across a range of tracks was a delight. In my near-field listening, the KH 150 could get as loud as I wanted. Bass response (above sub-pass) was substantial and quite clean (unless pushed hard). Detail was excellent as were the dynamics. My reference test track Io sono metà from the album Musica Nuda was superb:

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?

 

[tktran303]

It’ll be interesting to see the iLoud Precision 6 go head to head with it.

But honestly, from a technical point of view, I can’t see it getting much better, in this format (6.5” ported way, 14L cabinet) as of 2022.

Everything else is just trade-offs.

The standard THD looks very good; in the top tier. I would be interested to see the breakdown of the harmonic distortion components or IMD…

 

[Sancus]

Will adding EQ to fill the dip around 1.5 to 2 kHz make it better?

Filling in off-axis-only dips with EQ makes the on-axis sound worse which is usually worse than leaving them alone.

 

[amirm]

@amirm usually you crank the things to see where the SPL limits are? Did you do that here as well?

I did. There was no abrupt cliff. I *thought* I got the bass to become a bit muddy and even distort some but was hard to be definite about it. It was quite loud by then in near-field condition.

 

[amirm]

amirm:

What is the distance in your near-field listening?

About 4 to 5 feet/1.5 meter.

 

[amirm]

Will adding EQ to fill the dip around 1.5 to 2 kHz make it better?

I didn't try it as it sounded so good as is. It is worth a try though.

 

[amirm]

You guys would recommend using a pair of similarly sized/performing loudspeakers ( + subs obviously ) as music/TV system in a quite large living room ?

I prefer a large speaker in a large room unless that is not possible.

 

[Tangband]

The more i look at reviews like this here, the less i am tempted to loose time on a large DIY project for my audio systems.
I mean, add some serious woofers to those and you get some crazy high end audio quality right there.

What would be the expectation of performance on a pair of those as far as distortion goes ?

You guys would recommend using a pair of similarly sized/performing loudspeakers ( + subs obviously ) as music/TV system in a quite large living room ?


Simply thinking about all the components i'd need to purchase, tune and add to the line to get that kind of performance is .... lol

And those are kinda plug and play at this level of performance ?


What other options do we have with similar performance in the active dep in that price range ?

Looks like every year, we add 2-3 small active loudspeakers that makes large expensive products almost pointless ( which is a crazy good thing if you ask me ! )

BigBoss Amir again thanks for the superb reviews on all those products, much appreciated .

Its almost impossible the get results as good as this as a DIY:er.

You need a proper loudspeakerstand for these outstanding loudspeaker if you use them in a livingroom. Putting them directly on a tv bench and those fine measurement results will fly away. I would get a stand about 60-63 cm in hight . I use customdesign RS 304 for my 8340.
With a proper stand you can easily find the best loudspeaker position in the room.

 

[respice finem]

Perfection, as expected. For this level of performance, relatively inexpensive IMHO.

 

[kimmosto]

Filling in off-axis-only dips with EQ makes the on-axis sound worse which is usually worse than leaving them alone.

No. On-axis is just one response with it's own acceptable tolerances. Using that tolerance for balancing LW, ER, PIR, SP and all-individual off-axis responses is the best what can be done for (that) speaker which sounds stuffy with factory settings to everywhere else than on-axis.

 

[JeanKazamer]

I prefer a large speaker in a large room unless that is not possible.

When can we expect a learning lesson on tubes?

Do you mean this as a personal taste or there are some physical limitations in play here?
Looking at reviews, i have hard time understanding what would prevent the use of those small box crazy monitors as a full fledge living room system .
Is it a problem of SPL output ?
Lost of larger column type speakers have very similar width and tweeter , so i'd guess the mid and mid bass might not be sufficient ? surely the region covered by the tweeter would behave similarly ?

 

[JeanKazamer]

Its almost impossible the get results as good as this as a DIY:er.

yeah even some at sub 1000$ active monitors would be totally impossible to do as diy .

As for stands, i mean that is quite an easy part for any diy enjoyer .

With smaller loudspeakers like that, placement is really easy compared to large horn or larger boxy stuff
Literally can position then any where without any obstruction .

My living rooms is ( not a closed room and not a rectangle either ) roughly 25ft X 30ft with a 12ft ceiling which is opened with the first floor kitchen/dining room for like 50 something ft total length .. obviously the rear waves will never be a problem but unsure how much audio pressure we will loose due to the width and higher than regular ceiling.

Spacing/position won't be an issue for sure though lol .

 

[Henridesmetal]

Thank you for this great test Amirm. I took a pair of KH150 and a pair of 8350a to be able to compare them. Ultimately I prefer the Genelecs and will be sending the KH150s back, but what's certain is that it was in the details. The KH150 is truly impressive for its size. And wow, what bass!

 

[tktran303]

Its almost impossible the get results as good as this as a DIY:er.

It’s totally possible, but NOT if you are new to DIY.

If you DIY because you had to- you built custom speakers for decades because there was nothing you could buy ( mass produced ) that were as good; then that’s a different matter. It was done a decade ago.

Eg. Dutch & Dutch started as a DIY projects
Sigfried Linkwitz speakers started as DIY projects

In fact if you look at virtually all the speaker manufacturers they started as a garage DIYers.

Today the hardest thing for DIYers is access to low cost amplifiers on a plate with DSP and FIR and TWS and WISA and Airplay 2 and all the other buzzword compliant specs…

 

[tktran303]

Filling in off-axis-only dips with EQ makes the on-axis sound worse which is usually worse than leaving them alone.

That’s not true.

If the designer targets the predicted in-room response to be smoother and flatter, would sound a little different? Better ? Worse? Or just a little different? Or no real perceptible difference?

That would be an interesting experiment for @amirm to do; if he dialled in the EQ for a perfectly smooth and gently down-sloping PIR.

IME this is what I mean as a design a compromise- and I believe it is somewhat room/program material/listening position dependant.

 

[JeanKazamer]

It’s totally possible, but NOT if you are new to DIY.

It's not impossible to achieve similar performance for sure ... but no way you are going to do it for a similar price tag .
Specially not if you take 8030c level .
And then add to it, the ease of use + your time ...

I will really have to consider all those before investing my time into a large project.
And at this point, i can def not recommend anyone without extensive experience in diy projects,
to try and build loudspeakers for non pro use.

Was a time where normal folks like me thought 5000$/pair + loudspeakers and expensive amps/dacs were required to achieve basic high level quality.

That time is over now, we have the measurements now ( thanks to Amir / ASR and few others )

Just look at DACs for example .. 200$ DACs that rival 5000$+ equipment and often exceeds their performance.

Amps are going similar trend .

Now we have all the crazy recent active loudspeakers designs that are breaking the performance barrier every year or so and with really reasonable prices .

The most important part here, is that now we are AWARE and we can share this knowledge .

Reward the hard working manufacturers, push the greedy ones to start going quality products again .

What an awesome time for audio enthusiasts !!

 

[kimmosto]

It’s totally possible, but NOT if you are new to DIY.

Exactly. I have listened many DIY speakers and speakers designed by ex-diyers which sound better than KH150 (due to unbalanced directivity and power). Also in category of small speakers with 6.5" woofer.

Nowadays costs are big problem for both DIY and commercial, but mass production using plastic boxes and cheap electronics helps big commercial manufacturers to produce modern featured products.

 

[Rja4000]

This is a review, listening tests and measurements of the Neumann KH150 DSP 2-way studio monitor (active speaker). It is on loan from the company and costs US $1,750 (each).
View attachment 248927

The design language is not changed of course. The main woofer is 6.5 inches now powered by 120 watt dedicated amplifier. While it is about 3X larger than the KH 80 DSP, it is still light and quite manageable. Here is the back panel with all the expected connections/controls:
View attachment 248928

As bad luck would have it, I yet again managed to test a Neumann speaker during colder weather here (around 56 degrees F). I kept the speaker indoor prior to testing with Klippel NFS speaker measurement system. Reference axis was on the outside top of the woofer.

Neumann KH 150 Speaker Measurements
As usual, we start with our "spin graph" of the anechoic frequency response:
View attachment 248929
I never stop being shocked when I run the computational phase of the Klippel NFS out and pops up a frequency response that is ruler flat! It is as if I am measuring a piece of electronics. There is tiniest bit of shelving down below 200 Hz and a bit of droop at the top end, neither of which Neumann sees in their measurements.

What is uniquely impressive here is the bass extension to incredible 39 Hz for such a small speaker! Very nice.

There is a change in directivity due to Tweeter waveguide which could have probably only been avoided if the crossover point was lower in frequency.

Early window reflections show the classic issue we see in 2-way speakers with vertical directivity not being as good:
View attachment 248930
You can help that as noted with absorption or high distance (from ceiling). Or let it be as vertical dispersion is not as important as horizontal. Predicted-far field response is still quite good:
View attachment 248931

Near-field measurements of the port and drivers shows extremely good control of internal resonances:
View attachment 248932

Most impressive bit is the very low distortion from such a compact speaker:

View attachment 248933

View attachment 248934

Once again, at 86 dBSPL we are talking THD numbers that are in domain of electronics! See how the response essentially hugs the 0 dB axis. Even at 96 dBSPL, speaker is cruising above 100 Hz. Very remarkable.

Horizontal dispersion is a bit narrower at 50 degrees (as opposed to typical 60 degrees in my other tests):
View attachment 248935
View attachment 248936

Vertical dispersion as noted has the classic hole but otherwise, straightens out nicely:

View attachment 248937


CSD waterfall shows very nice control of resonances (as we could tell from spin data):
View attachment 248938

Finally, here is the step response for fans of that:

View attachment 248939

Neumann KH150 Monitor Listening Tests
As usual, I pulled up my female vocals to test for tonality. I was immediate hit with a warm signature that I am not used to hearing with small speakers/monitors. This persisted across many tracks which I contribute to nice bass extension. That led me into thinking subbass response would be good as well. That was not the case. Much of it is filtered due to sharp drop off in response. So for that, you still need a sub or a much larger monitor.

Listening across a range of tracks was a delight. In my near-field listening, the KH 150 could get as loud as I wanted. Bass response (above sub-pass) was substantial and quite clean (unless pushed hard). Detail was excellent as were the dynamics. My reference test track Io sono metà from the album Musica Nuda was superb:

The detail in strings and the warmth from subtle bass response was to die for.

Conclusions
Even though I expect excellence from Neumann I was still pleasantly surprised by the bass extension, very low distortion and manageable weight and size of the KH 150. The price is up there to be sure but so is the performance. For that cost you get a speaker that will surprise you in how full range it plays yet it is not a giant box on sides of your desk.

It is my pleasure to recommend Neumann KH 150.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Nice to read. That's obviously a good speakers.
I'm still thinking I prefer spending on a second hand pair of Genelec 1032A, with their 10" woofer, or a pair of serious floorstanders, which perform very well... and may be purchased for around the price of one single unit of those, though.