Neumann KH 150 Monitor Review

[Pearljam5000]

Get KH150…. (Trying to convince myself too as I have not pulled the trigger yet) as a stepping stone to get KH420 or 8361 later…. Isn’t that how we slowly keep building our systems by selling the old adding more money and buying newer and better ?? Half the enjoyment is the search… you don’t want to end the game… there is still time left

Yes
On the other hand you lose a lot of money unfortunately when buying and selling and buying again

 

[RobL]

Yes
On the other hand you lose a lot of money unfortunately when buying and selling and buying again

Buy once, cry once…

 

[Berlin]

Yes
On the other hand you lose a lot of money unfortunately when buying and selling and buying again

It depends, I paid 9.70 EUR per month for the ATC SCM11s, which is bearable. When buying/selling used equipment you lose even less...

 

[Pritaudio]

There are few/no people who could improve the KH150 by messing around with altering it. Joe Blow in his garage is not quite up to the standards of the Neumann audio engineers working for three years.

Ok, sure.
but diyers have access to more exotic drivers, hypex amps, and Minidsp flex for dsp.
a lot of the work is in the enclosure and picking up larger drivers that distort less at higher outputs. I know it won’t be linear, but this may be viable.

 

[Pritaudio]

Little digress on the Nemann rang: My best friend who bought my JBL 705p just added a KH705 DSP. We spent a couple of hours yesterday setting it up. So I tried the Nemann App. Once a damn Ipad found (Gosh who has that in 2023?) We connected the sub to the router by ethernet cable. I measured the impulse with REW. I have to admit that the App is really, really friendly to use. You can apply delays and all kinds of filters. I did not find a way to change the bass management (the crossover is by default 80Hz which was perfect for the 705p). You can use the DSP for speakers as well but you have to take the analogue signal from the sub to the speakers. We did not, All speakers were fed by AES. (JBL lsr 705p has inboard dsp as well). The result was outstanding. seamless crossover, time aligned etc. The sub sounds super clean, deep and controlled. thumbs up for Neumann.

Would it be better off choosing something like svs pro subwoofer which some dsp eq, much higher output volume, and much cheaper price.
this is of course if you have non Neumann main monitors.

 

[DJBonoBobo]

Buy once, cry once…

That may be right for the Genelec 8361, but in a small room, the KH420 IMHO could be actually worse than a KH150 or KH310, because it is H U G E. It also has not all of the features the 150 has. So, i would say the 420 not necessarily the better choice, even if money is out of the equation.

 

[teashea]

Little digress on the Nemann rang: My best friend who bought my JBL 705p just added a KH705 DSP. We spent a couple of hours yesterday setting it up. So I tried the Nemann App. Once a damn Ipad found (Gosh who has that in 2023?) We connected the sub to the router by ethernet cable. I measured the impulse with REW. I have to admit that the App is really, really friendly to use. You can apply delays and all kinds of filters. I did not find a way to change the bass management (the crossover is by default 80Hz which was perfect for the 705p). You can use the DSP for speakers as well but you have to take the analogue signal from the sub to the speakers. We did not, All speakers were fed by AES. (JBL lsr 705p has inboard dsp as well). The result was outstanding. seamless crossover, time aligned etc. The sub sounds super clean, deep and controlled. thumbs up for Neumann.

good to hear it works with other speakers

 

[teashea]

Ok, sure.
but diyers have access to more exotic drivers, hypex amps, and Minidsp flex for dsp.
a lot of the work is in the enclosure and picking up larger drivers that distort less at higher outputs. I know it won’t be linear, but this may be viable.

There are no better drivers than the Neumann drivers in the KH150.

 

[Pearljam5000]

That may be right for the Genelec 8361, but in a small room, the KH420 IMHO could be actually worse than a KH150 or KH310, because it is H U G E. It also has not all of the features the 150 has. So, i would say the 420 not necessarily the better choice, even if money is out of the equation.

They're both big
What makes the 8361 work in a small room vs the KH420?

 

[neunoir]

Is it possible to connect the KH150 to WiiM Pro and control the volume + stream to it without needing anything else?

I have the KH150 connected to Bluesound Node (Wiim Pro not yet available in EU) by digital coax.
The Node controls volume / inputs (so both music and tv run through them with auto-select)
Nothing else is needed, except digital coax cables and perhaps a KH 750

 

[DJBonoBobo]

They're both big
What makes the 8361 work in a small room vs the KH420?

I don´t know the 8361. It is smaller, though.

https://comparesizes.com/comparison/KH410-vs-8361/16741432508646888 (typo: i meant 420 of course)

Also i guess at least it is more flexible (shorter minimum listening distance) because of the coax drivers. GLM is a big plus, too.

 

[teashea]

I have the KH150 connected to Bluesound Node (Wiim Pro not yet available in EU) by digital coax.
The Node controls volume / inputs (so both music and tv run through them with auto-select)
Nothing else is needed, except digital coax cables and perhaps a KH 750

Neumann recommends that two 750's are needed as subs for a KH750. I think that is an indication of how good the bass is on the KH150. I have a KH750 with a pair of KH120's and that combo works well. I am not going to add a sub to my KH150's because for my purposes it is not necessary.

 

[Pritaudio]

There are no better drivers than the Neumann drivers in the KH150.

Reconsider that statement.
alternatively, are you saying there are no coaxial drivers with lower distortion.

 

[Pritaudio]

I have the KH150 connected to Bluesound Node (Wiim Pro not yet available in EU) by digital coax.
The Node controls volume / inputs (so both music and tv run through them with auto-select)
Nothing else is needed, except digital coax cables and perhaps a KH 750

How well does the remote work with the node. Are there any glitches.

Also, if you are changing the volume on the node, does it degrade the signal sent to the kh150.

 

[teashea]

Reconsider that statement.
alternatively, are you saying there are no coaxial drivers with lower distortion.

I was referring to someone trying to replace the drivers in Neumann monitors with other drivers.

 

[gino1961]

I suspect that IMD is the reason why the Kh310 is still higher in Neumann´s hierarchy than Kh150. Neumann proposes the Kh150 for bass extension and headroom with low distortion (kind of oriented to urban/modern music monitoring in smallish/home studios).

Hi clearly the 310 is a superior product with the wonderful mid driver and more full range

Their words seem to imply that for maximum fidelity (such as needed for classical music monitoring) they have better options. Once we have arrived to a certain plateau of excellence in speaker design, isn´t IMD the worst offender?

This was exactly my question about which I would love to get advice

I recall there is a paper somewhere in Neumann´s site that illustrates the dramatic improvement in IMD when the Kh310 is helped with the Kh-750.

I asked about the convenience of using a small 2 way as satellite above a kh750 (one per channel) because in the kh750 specs i read usable up to 750Hz
Even the smallest kh80 can be an option with a conveniently high low cut
In general is good to have the woofer segregated in another box for an easier vibrations control

 

[gino1961]

Neumann has already designed the KH150 with low woofer distortion as a key issue. This is done by the physical desgn of the woofer and the DSP filters.

There are physical constraints impossible to overcome
However for near field use the 150 must be perfect with the only possible exception of very good coaxials like Genelec
If you listen from 10 feet or more you could want more impact than that offered by the 150?
Imhe more is always better than less

 

[Rahan]

Would it be better off choosing something like svs pro subwoofer which some dsp eq, much higher output volume, and much cheaper price.
this is of course if you have non Neumann main monitors.

The SVS subs are great however I don't think they have digital input. My friend don't use any external DAC, we needed spdif or AES input.
In pure nearfield setup the KH 750 have enough power to blow you away. I saw streaky who use a couple of kh 750 with a pair of kh420. No doubt the KH420 spl capabilities are higher than the KH750 but it still rocks. The 705p is a tiny beast. They don't need more powerfull sub.

 

[mj30250]

I finally got my pair in from Germany this afternoon after they circled around customs at the Philadelphia airport for several days.

These are my first true active speakers, and I'm using them at my desk at a listening distance of just over 3ft.

My very early subjective impressions are extremely positive. I have not touched a single thing yet beyond simply plugging them into my E70 and spinning up some test tracks. They remind me of listening to very high-end head phones except without the weird every-sound-is-coming-from-inside-my-head sort of "thinness". So far I'm most impressed with how full and completely balanced they sound in the midrange. Until now, that's something I've only really heard achieved with good 3-way speakers. The almost complete absence of distortion is clearly heard when blasting more bass-heavy music. I'm looking forward to pumping up the bass more to my tastes and seeing how they react. I'm not accustomed to a subwoofer-less system.

 

[teashea]

Hi clearly the 310 is a superior product with the wonderful mid driver and more full range

This was exactly my question about which I would love to get advice

I asked about the convenience of using a small 2 way as satellite above a kh750 (one per channel) because in the kh750 specs i read usable up to 750Hz
Even the smallest kh80 can be an option with a conveniently high low cut
In general is good to have the woofer segregated in another box for an easier vibrations control

The KH310 is not so clearly superior to the KH150. I have a pair of both in my studio and they are both quit excellent. Before I received the KH150's I expected that the 310's midrange would be superior. However, after having compared the two systems (in the same studio room), I cannot say that. Neumann's audio engineers have done a superlative job in designing the KH150. The mids are smooth and lovely and flat without coloration. Exactly what I was for music production.