Neumann KH 150 Monitor Review

[daftcombo]

Great review, most expected, Amir!
Still, those are expensive and for that price tag one can afford a pair of 8350 with 8'' woofer, for instance.
So, I see those good when space is an issue.

Seing the KH120 review one day would still be nice!

 

[MZKM]

Note: Rating meant for far-field listening

Preference Rating
SCORE: 6.9
SCORE w/ sub: 8.5

Frequency response: +/- 2.0dB 39Hz-20kHz ; +/- 1.0dB 100Hz-10kHz

​

 

[Fidji]

Great addition to the line-up. KH120 were bit too small for HT duty.
I will be expanding my home theatre and KH150 will fit nicely as height speakers.
Screen KH420, surrounds KH310 and heights KH150 as you probably can go down with something like 60Hz crossover

 

[Sokel]

I would like two of those on my desk for near field listening.
Is there any way to predict their performance placed on a desk with those nice foam-ish stands that we see around?

 

[Haskil]

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

Thank you for the test !
But if you use this speaker with a Neumann subwoofer designed to work with it, doesn't it become a big speaker if you use one subwoofer per speaker?

 

[milosz]

Impressive. Not cheap, but very good value for money.

 

[amirm]

But if you use this speaker with a Neumann subwoofer designed to work with it, doesn't it become a big speaker if you use one subwoofer per speaker?

I don't think so. A 6 foot tall speaker projects sound from its tweeter on top and you get a wall of sound that is quite tall/large. At shows, I have listened to even larger column speakers and they image even taller. For orchestral/big band/etc. that can be a captivating effect. I can also pump 1000 watts if needed into my tower speakers which lets them go beyond the SPL of powered monitors.

All of this is subjective though. Maybe in a blind test I wouldn't have the perception of height that I have of tower speakers. But it is my opinion right now.

 

[Tangband]

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…

To get the objective result on par with kh150 you need custom designed drivers and a klippel measurement system .
Add to this the know-how of Neumanns engineers and you are read to go.

 

[MCH]

Wow, very impressive indeed. What would be the genelec to compare against in terms or size and performance (spl, Bass extension...)?

 

[Vini darko]

Great results thanks for the review Amir. What does the Ethernet port do?

 

[Tangband]

Wow, very impressive indeed. What would be the genelec to compare against in terms or size and performance (spl, Bass extension...)?

8340 SAM has about the same spec. regarding spl and bass extension.

8340A SAM™ Studio Monitor - Genelec.com

www.genelec.com

 

[sweetchaos]

Finally a worthy competitor to Genelec 8340 !!

Kudos to Neumann.

 

[Waxx]

Great speaker, like we are used to from Neumann and it's original, the Klein & Hummel since decades. And it has to be said, it's a prime example on how not to screw up a legendaric heritage of a brand taken over by a big company. Mostly it's reverse, but Neumann (actually Senheiser who owns Neumann) did it right, and keep doing it right. And i'm very happy for that...

 

[Savi]

To get the objective result on par with kh150 you need custom design drivers and a klippel measurement system .
Add to this the know-how of Neumanns engineers and you are read to go.

Compare amir measurement with kimmosto's (with a small time window because of its room contraints so pretty smooth) and you can easily imagine that a klippel system is not mandatory if kimmosto had done in in a sport hall. Follow vituixcad measurment tutorial with a good xlr mic is just phase one, then there are still lot of work and skills needed.

 

[Tangband]

Another review with teardown.

https://en-de.neumann.com/product_files/11571/download

 

[Rja4000]

Currently sold ar 1299€ per unit by a few shops in France

 

[3125b]

Another review with teardown.
https://en-de.neumann.com/product_files/11571/download

Complaints about the caps in 3...2...1...

 

[oversky]

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

But we are hearing the sum of on-axis and reflections from off-axis.
That's why Estimated In-Room Response comes in instead of on-axis only.

 

[amirm]

What does the Ethernet port do?

I haven't looked but I think it can play AES streams over it. I suspect they also have a control app/webpage as there is a switch to indicate local or remote control of the settings.

 

[Tangband]

But we are hearing the sum of on-axis and reflections from off-axis.
That's why Estimated In-Room Response comes in instead of on-axis only.

I would say that the direct sound is about 60% important and 40 % for the inroom response from listening position. Because of the precedence effect and because the microphone and the ear/brain works very differently. The microphone takes up all the sound, the brain starts select sound after 5 ms soundtravel- starting fokusing on the direct sound and attenuating the sound from the room with up to - 10 dB, depending on the room size.

The ability to hear in this way, saved us from starvation when hunting 10 000 years ago.

Edit: below 250 Hz the inroom response is totaly dominant.