Neumann KH 150 Monitor Review

[thewas]

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.

I agree, for nearfield LW dominates strongly the perception and for higher distances a compromise between LW and PIR must be found and the bigger the compromise is the worse the loudspeaker will always sound even with any EQ.

 

[tktran303]

@pierre

Nice one.

Here is an example. Nearfield I would not use an EQ. A bit farther away, you can improve a bit on the PIR by giving up some flatness for LW and ON.
Harman score is 6.9 and would be 8.6 with a perfect sub. EQ doesn't improve things much.
View attachment 248975

But I can see now why Neumann didn't choose this EQ option (IMHO).
I mean, of course, with the DSP they can dial this in easily, and even have a 2nd preset that allows the user to switch in/out of this mode.

But a peak in the On axis and LW around 2KHz?
Is that ever going to have a positive effect, even at the LP of 2, 3, even 5+ metres away?
Not in my experience; peaks can really be annoying, dips are much easier to live with than peaks.

Here I intentionally dialled in a dip for the On axis / LW @4Khz..., to have avoid a rising PIR and power response.

@amirm Will you get a chance to dial in the aforementioned KH150 EQ settings, for a test listen?
Or it is already back to home base, with other things to review ?

 

[DJBonoBobo]

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

Yes. I don't have the KH150, but the KH310 with KH750DSP subs, and the result of the MA1 correction is very good (for me, better than Dirac). I'd recommend it to everyone buying Neumann DSP speakers. The software is not complete yet (multichannel and some other things are not yet supported), and there are still some bugs, but i think it is a good deal.

 

[kimmosto]

You mean that those DIY designs had unbalanced directivity and power response?

No. KH150 has unbalanced directivity. DI steps up to low treble due to dimensions and shape of the wave guide. It should be listened close to on-axis. KH150 is a "monitor" so all that could be irrelevant for many others (but not for me).

 

[bennybbbx]

I think if use a HP filter to reduce lowest frequency it should be possible to disable it. the Kali LP 6 seem have such a Filter . result is that it is 10 db lower at 27 hz in compare to the focal alpha 65 evo . the distortion in compare look not much higher. speakers and microphone are at same place you see a bass drop soon and down to 42 hz they are near same but lower as 42 hz the focal bring more level and distortion look also good. the distortion is done on hearing position. I have since some day 8 qm 5 cm basotek. it is best but in FR it change nothing important. On distortion measure on hear pos can see much diffrence. distortion on hear position is reduce and RT 60 is shorter and it sound much better for my ears. But for the important problems in room it do not help, the FR is near same worse as see here with

this messures i do with the same eq settings in Bass range. because all my speakers need this 90 hz upto 400 hz reduce. I also notice with foam i can use sharper EQ and it sound not bad.

thisis to show that a high pass filter for bass cut that is not switchable is no good solution

 

[kimmosto]

kimmosto had done in a sport hall.

That was measured in our living room. Net height between carpet on the floor and 40mm acoustic panel in the ceiling is only ca. 240 cm. Method and 1 m distance to mic causes some error at mid-range with complete speaker. Measurements don't include exact on-axis response and full baffle loss and baffle step of the woofer.

 

[Ra1zel]

Look at that distortion, that's a showcase of what modern state of the art drivers can do. No sign of resonances like in genelec one series.

If it's neumann I can vote great without even seeing the measurements at this point.

 

[Savi]

That was measured in our living room. Net height between carpet on the floor and 40mm acoustic panel in the ceiling is only ca. 240 cm. Method and 1 m distance to mic causes some error at mid-range with complete speaker. Measurements don't include exact on-axis response and full baffle loss and baffle step of the woofer.

Yes you mentioned it in the other post. My sentence was "you can easily imagine that a klippel system is not mandatory if kimmosto had done in in a sport hall."
My point (already discussed in other thread) was that klippel measurement is not mandatory to design a great speaker (contrary to TangBand proposition)

 

[PusBesar]

KH 150 is 130$ cheaper than Genelec 8331 here in Indonesia, wonder which one should I choose for my desktop setup with 1m-1,2m listening distance

 

[oversky]

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.

5 ms equals to 1.7 m in sound speed at room temperature.
For near-field desktop application,
it is hard to make the path difference between the reflection from the desktop and on-axis larger than 1.7 m.
That's why KH 80 has a switch for desktop mode.
However, I can't explain why the desktop mode usually deal with low frequency only,
not the 1.5 to 2 kHz we are talking about.

amirm made a note in Early Reflections: Avoid vertical reflections (absorb).
I think this confirms that off-axis reflections do matter even in this frequency range.

 

[supercargo]

Waking up to a new speaker review is a great way to start the weekend. Thanks!

 

[dickiefunk]

I’m currently using the KH120’s with an Eve TS108 sub. I’ve had the KH120’s for around 10 years and when I bought them, I a/b’d them against quite a few other monitors within the price range and some more expensive monitors. The KH120’s were my favourites in my room and I still haven’t heard anything within the same budget that I prefer.
Whilst the KH120’s offer a very impressive full range sound for their size, I would ideally like something that can give me a little more bass extension (hence why I bought a sub). The Eve sub sounds great and the remote control feature is wonderful but it the integration with the KH120’s isn’t perfect. Also, I would prefer to just have a single pair of monitors instead of a 2:1 system due to room size and clutter.
The KH150’s look like a great option but sadly out of my budget of £2000. Focal have the new Solo6 ST6 which I can get a really good deal on and IK Multimedia have their new iLoud Precision 6 which also comes within my budget.
I would love to hear your review on the new Focal Solo6 ST6 and IK Precision 6 compared to the KH150/KH120 if possible please!? I’m aware Neumann will be releasing a KH120II at some point and would love to see your review of that when it’s released!

 

[poxymoron]

Thanks Amir. What a speaker, fantastic.

 

[Sokel]

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 guess is the same reason apparent in Genelec's recommendation.
The missing woofer section.

Imagine my disappointing with my room volume at 300 m³ and the 1235A 45000€/pair - 1236A 80000€/pair recommendation.

 

[AudioSceptic]

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/

I suspect some will think this poor perceived value because of the small size, regardless of the great performance. It doesn't look much for $3.5/pair.

 

[Ra1zel]

I'd say armed with knowledge foremost, software, calibrated mics, sota ad/da converters, rented anechoic chamber time (optional) a DIYer can still do better. Mostly because you can overkill everything if you wish so, obviously that's not an exercise in value for money then.

 

[Rednaxela]

And patience I’d say.

The things it takes to arrive at something SOTA are incredibly boring and mind-numbing. The exciting bits of DIY are only a couple % of the work if SOTA is your goal.

 

[oversky]

you're not hearing -/+ 40 degrees vertically off-axis, more like -/+20 degrees at best.

It depends.
For far field, yes.
For near field, early reflections may be from off-axis at larger degree.

 

[thewas]

No. KH150 has unbalanced directivity. DI steps up to low treble due to dimensions and shape of the wave guide. It should be listened close to on-axis. KH150 is a "monitor" so all that could be irrelevant for many others (but not for me).

Can you please show then measurements of 2-way DIY loudspeakers of similar size and directivity which have better balanced directivity as you claim?

 

[abdo123]

It depends.
For far field, yes.
For near field, early reflections may be from off-axis at larger degree.

Why would it change over distance?