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Neumann KH 150 Monitor Review

Rate this studio monitor

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 4 0.7%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 45 8.3%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 492 90.9%

  • Total voters
    541
Thank you. I'm actually just interested in adjusting settings like logo brightness without buying the mic. I'm not interested in correction. Can the software be used without the mic?

I'm used to GLM which requires the GLM box since the speakers connect to the box, then the box to the PC, whereas the Neumanns connect directly to your home network.
Yes, you can adjust logo brightness with the MA-1 app without the MA-1 mic. I don’t have the MA-1 mic and I can totally access my KH150s over Ethernet, update the firmware and adjust logo brightness.
 
Thank you. I'm actually just interested in adjusting settings like logo brightness without buying the mic. I'm not interested in correction. Can the software be used without the mic?

I'm used to GLM which requires the GLM box since the speakers connect to the box, then the box to the PC, whereas the Neumanns connect directly to your home network.
The iOS app is different to the MA1 software, works without the mic and can adjust the logo.

Oops Enrico was faster.
 
The iOS app is different to the MA1 software, works without the mic and can adjust the logo.

Oops Enrico was faster.
The iOS app doesn’t work with the KH150/KH120 II. It only works with KH80.
 
Thank you. I'm actually just interested in adjusting settings like logo brightness without buying the mic. I'm not interested in correction. Can the software be used without the mic?

I'm used to GLM which requires the GLM box since the speakers connect to the box, then the box to the PC, whereas the Neumanns connect directly to your home network.
You only need the serial number for "entering" the software. You can find a picture of the mic with these numbers online - so you also can use the software.

But why aer you not interested in the correction software? This works pretty good and you can finetune the results with room curves etc.
 
You only need the serial number for "entering" the software. You can find a picture of the mic with these numbers online - so you also can use the software.

But why aer you not interested in the correction software? This works pretty good and you can finetune the results with room curves etc.
No, you don’t need the mic serial number to enter the MA-1 app. Just need the KH150s plugged into the network, enable the Network mode on the back of the speaker and that is it.
 
Hi,
if someone from Neumann is here (or anyone else), I've got a question : why this poor coax digital input (spdif) ? given the price of these gears... coax is cheap... coax is "no way" when dealing with digital signal !
why not a basic AES input ? but so much more efficient vs clock recovery from the digital signal !

cost between both options is equal
"space" in the casing => equal +/-

so,
coax => daisy chaining with coax when it's for home use, you face directly a limit vs cable length (I daisy chain my Core59 active speakers with a 7.5m AES cable btw
using AES3 => using AES 110ohm cables => top notch for home use !!
7.5m btw speaker left to speaker right using coax => you loose vs clock recovery & 3D vs SQ => no go !

Conclusion => KH150 have coax digital plugs => ok... => they are only for desk use so.. like a Logitech 2.1 combo :cool: (Deluxe ! of course !)
but for home use => no go

... why Neumann put this crappy RCA digital plug ?... and the poor clock recov behind this "plug"... very strange...

On paper, the AES67 version looks promising. Any feedback on this version ?

But, a basic KH150 can't stand in front a Dyn Core 7 (= price) with its AES3 input. And KH is KO when you use properly the Core with AES in combination with their word clock input ! :) (Core7 = my Core59 vs elec. design)

(of course, I expect a speaker with digital input, works better on this input than using the analogue plug.... as anyone would expect.... :cool: )

so, thanks in advance from a Neumann guy to explain why "RCA" digital plug ! :)
Rgds
 
Hi,
if someone from Neumann is here (or anyone else), I've got a question : why this poor coax digital input (spdif) ? given the price of these gears... coax is cheap... coax is "no way" when dealing with digital signal !
why not a basic AES input ? but so much more efficient vs clock recovery from the digital signal !

cost between both options is equal
"space" in the casing => equal +/-

so,
coax => daisy chaining with coax when it's for home use, you face directly a limit vs cable length (I daisy chain my Core59 active speakers with a 7.5m AES cable btw
using AES3 => using AES 110ohm cables => top notch for home use !!
7.5m btw speaker left to speaker right using coax => you loose vs clock recovery & 3D vs SQ => no go !

Conclusion => KH150 have coax digital plugs => ok... => they are only for desk use so.. like a Logitech 2.1 combo :cool: (Deluxe ! of course !)
but for home use => no go

... why Neumann put this crappy RCA digital plug ?... and the poor clock recov behind this "plug"... very strange...

On paper, the AES67 version looks promising. Any feedback on this version ?

But, a basic KH150 can't stand in front a Dyn Core 7 (= price) with its AES3 input. And KH is KO when you use properly the Core with AES in combination with their word clock input ! :) (Core7 = my Core59 vs elec. design)

(of course, I expect a speaker with digital input, works better on this input than using the analogue plug.... as anyone would expect.... :cool: )

so, thanks in advance from a Neumann guy to explain why "RCA" digital plug ! :)
Rgds
I'm always fear that the RCA plug of the coaxial cable will break off , given that they are plugged vertically in to KH150s and has to bear full weight of the cable.
 
But, a basic KH150 can't stand in front a Dyn Core 7 (= price) with its AES3 input. And KH is KO when you use properly the Core with AES in combination with their word clock input ! :) (Core7 = my Core59 vs elec. design)

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but the Dynaudio Core 7 costs quite a bit more than the (non-AES) KH 150, and even more than the KH150 AES, at least here in Germany.
 
If someone from Neumann is here (or anyone else), I've got a question : why this poor coax digital input (spdif) ? given the price of these gears... coax is cheap... coax is "no way" when dealing with digital signal !
why not a basic AES input ? but so much more efficient vs clock recovery from the digital signal !
Why is SPDIF Coax worse than AES/EBU?

First of all both protocols are basically identical, AFAIK there are just 2 bits which have different meaning (SPDIF: preemphasis and copy control). The PCM data are the same. So there is nothing here which gives an audible advantage.

The only difference is that AES/EBU uses much higher voltage which is an advantage when you transfer data over a long distance (say 100s of meters) with lossy cables. In domestic environments no advantage.
 
Next newbie question is for the SPDIF connection, are you still using an RCA cable or is a different one required?
 
why this poor coax digital input (spdif) ? given the price of these gears... coax is cheap... coax is "no way" when dealing with digital signal !
why not a basic AES input ? but so much more efficient vs clock recovery from the digital signal !
75 Ohm coaxial is THE right type of cabling for AES/EBU signals. 110 Ohm XLR cable is not an optimal choice, particularly that XLR connectors are not designed for RF signals. Coaxial cable supports much longer runs than XLR (several km vs 150 m) for AES signals.

See here: https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/other/aes-ebu-eg.pdf
 
75 Ohm coaxial is THE right type of cabling for AES/EBU signals. 110 Ohm XLR cable is not an optimal choice, particularly that XLR connectors are not designed for RF signals. Coaxial cable supports much longer runs than XLR (several km vs 150 m) for AES signals.

See here: https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/other/aes-ebu-eg.pdf
XLR is a connector, not a cable. According to the cited document connectors per se are suited for digital signals (3.1, last paragraph).

According to 3.2 you have to use 110 Ohm cable. Standard twisted pair with shield is good for up to 150 m.

According to 3.3 you can use 75 Ohm coax cable to spare costs and reuse existing video cables but it requires impedance converters (transformers) on both cable ends.

So it depends on the required cable length which type of cable one should use. In a recording studio where 150 m is never exceeded I would always prefer XLR connectors over RCA into additional impedance converters, due to ruggedness and ease of usage.
 
According to 3.3 you can use 75 Ohm coax cable to spare costs and reuse existing video cables but it requires impedance converters (transformers) on both cable ends.
Why do you think Neumann's inputs are not correctly terminated?

XLR is a connector, not a cable.
Exactly. And it's not very well suited for RF signals. It would work given the lengths and voltages, but to say that coaxial physical layer is inferior to 110 Ohm twisted pair + XLR connectors is simply not true.
 
Why do you think Neumann's inputs are not correctly terminated?
Who said that? According to the manual the KH150 has an SPDIF input with 75 Ohm RCA for coax cable with 75 Ohm wave impedance, according to SPDIF specification. Of course you won't need an impedance converter to connect the KH150 to a 75 Ohm coax cable.

However SPDIF coax is not AES/EBU which per specification has 110 Ohm input/output impedance and requires per specification a cable with 110 Ohm wave impedance, hence your statement "75 Ohm coaxial is THE right type of cabling for AES/EBU signals" is plain wrong as you need additional impedance converters on both ends - especially for very long cable lenghts.

Exactly. And it's not very well suited for RF signals. It would work given the lengths and voltages, but to say that coaxial physical layer is inferior to 110 Ohm twisted pair + XLR connectors is simply not true.
No one disputed that coax can be better suited for very long distances. For shorter distances though AES/EBU cables are better to handle because the XLR connector is much more stable and has a lock so it can't fall out when pulled. For studio work much preferred. But I repeat myself ... and of course you need components with AES/EBU IO in the first place.
 
Have had these for about three weeks replacing yamaha hs8. To me there's an incredible improvement with many sound details/instruments being way more audible than on the hs8. Strings particularly sound absolutely beautiful, didn't think a flatter frequency would affect it so much but there it is. I feel like I can work with string samples and sounds way longer before getting annoyed than with hs8. I expect MA1 to do magic once that arrives. Though like half the reason for ditching the hs8 was their self generated noise and prone to interference noise all being too loud.

The kh150 were completely silent which was such a relief, and instruments fading into pure silence was absolute bliss, until unfortunately one of the monitors started to emit a faint fizzling or crackling sound from the tweeter heard up to 1.5m in silence, while the other monitor is still silent. Has anybody else had this with a neumann monitor and should I just get a replacement? I've tried all the typical stuff of swapping and removing cables etc it happens when it's connected to any socket. Sometimes it disappears for a while and comes back later. Tried moving all the rear switches.
Additionally, something my hs8 never did, both the neumann monitors will a few times over the day randomly emit a popping or crackling sound. Thinking it was in the music I played it back and it did not repeat. Only one monitor does it at a time.
 
Have had these for about three weeks replacing yamaha hs8. To me there's an incredible improvement with many sound details/instruments being way more audible than on the hs8. Strings particularly sound absolutely beautiful, didn't think a flatter frequency would affect it so much but there it is. I feel like I can work with string samples and sounds way longer before getting annoyed than with hs8. I expect MA1 to do magic once that arrives. Though like half the reason for ditching the hs8 was their self generated noise and prone to interference noise all being too loud.
It's not only FR but also less distortion which improves SQ.
The kh150 were completely silent which was such a relief, and instruments fading into pure silence was absolute bliss, until unfortunately one of the monitors started to emit a faint fizzling or crackling sound from the tweeter heard up to 1.5m in silence, while the other monitor is still silent. Has anybody else had this with a neumann monitor and should I just get a replacement? I've tried all the typical stuff of swapping and removing cables etc it happens when it's connected to any socket. Sometimes it disappears for a while and comes back later. Tried moving all the rear switches.
Additionally, something my hs8 never did, both the neumann monitors will a few times over the day randomly emit a popping or crackling sound. Thinking it was in the music I played it back and it did not repeat. Only one monitor does it at a time.
Definitely contact your dealer for a repair or replacement (or advice at least, so he knows there is a problem). This is not normal behaviour. Could be an opamp (had something similar in a mixing console). Don't wait until warranty time has exceeded.
 
The kh150 were completely silent which was such a relief, and instruments fading into pure silence was absolute bliss, until unfortunately one of the monitors started to emit a faint fizzling or crackling sound from the tweeter heard up to 1.5m in silence, while the other monitor is still silent. Has anybody else had this with a neumann monitor and should I just get a replacement? I've tried all the typical stuff of swapping and removing cables etc it happens when it's connected to any socket. Sometimes it disappears for a while and comes back later. Tried moving all the rear switches.
Having a silent room and dead silent monitors is often undereestimated! Without you can't hear the finer details, you should have at LEAST 60dB S/N when listening. (At 85dBC "norm" level that's 15-25dBC or dBA room noise + monitor noise level. Get your computer out of the room ...)

Get your speaker back for replacement! That should not happen but of course can happen sometimes. Such a "sometimes here" error is hard to detect at quality control but I'm sure they swap it out.
I got one KH120 repaired out of guarantee time for free. They care, at least in Europe this should be easy to fix.
 
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