Neumann KH 310A Review (Powered Monitor)

[Pearljam5000]

It's called the pricing power. All costs have explode.
The market will decide if it's the good price or not.

Then i hope people will be smart and won't buy until prices will come down again.
Let's just hope 1992 Toyotas won't increase in price also

 

[respice finem]

I'm afraid this is an "academic" discussion. Neumann is in a market position (at least in Germany) allowing them to have these prices.
They have no need and apparently no intention to satisfy the mass market. They don't even bother to have other colours than "mouse gray".

BTW the primary design is much older than 10 years, the Klein und Hummel O 300, late nineties, yes, the last millennium...
If an item is designed for perfection, it's easier to spoil it by "modernizing", than to really improve anything IMHO.

 

[respice finem]

...Let's just hope 1992 Toyotas won't increase in price also

I wouldn't be surprised, considering the current market SNAFU (sorry for OT).
But here we have rather an old S-Class than a Toyota...

 

[Bamboszek]

Where are yours KH310 produced? My previous KH120 as expected had "Designed in Germany, Made in Ireland", much like at Amir's KH310 photos in first post.
I was a bit surprised to see "Designed in Germany, Made in Czech Republic" when I bought my new KH310 last week.

Let's just hope 1992 Toyotas won't increase in price also

Actually prices of used cars increased even about 20-30% year-over-year. Inflation is getting wild, probably because of pandemics.

 

[respice finem]

Czech Republic. As usual, lower wages, lower taxes...

 

[Frgirard]

I'm afraid this is an "academic" discussion. Neumann is in a market position (at least in Germany) allowing them to have these prices.
They have no need and apparently no intention to satisfy the mass market. They don't even bother to have other colours than "mouse gray".

BTW the primary design is much older than 10 years, the Klein und Hummel O 300, late nineties, yes, the last millennium...
If an item is designed for perfection, it's easier to spoil it by "modernizing", than to really improve anything IMHO.

You forgot you have three actors
The manufacturer.
The distributor.
The dealer.

 

[Frgirard]

Czech Republic. As usual, lower wages, lower taxes...

All Europeans cars coming from Eastern Europe or Maghreb, Nike or Addidas from China... IPhone from India or Mexico...

 

[respice finem]

BTW, the manufacturer (Sennheiser) is "restructuring" - I can't remember a single case when this brought down prices.
https://audiomediainternational.com/daniel-andreas-sennheiser-interview/
I am relatively confident, the KH 310 will cost more, not less, a year from now.
The serial numbers of mine (bought about 6 months ago) are under 600.000, which for me is part of the answer, why this is so.
Under 300.000 pairs - for the world market, a drop in the ocean.

 

[Pearljam5000]

BTW, the manufacturer (Sennheiser) is "restructuring" - I can't remember a single case when this brought down prices.
https://audiomediainternational.com/daniel-andreas-sennheiser-interview/
I am relatively confident, the KH 310 will cost more, not less, a year from now.

The HD8XX is a lower priced HD800S

 

[Frgirard]

Th

BTW, the manufacturer (Sennheiser) is "restructuring" - I can't remember a single case when this brought down prices.

The reason is the high success on ASR. The KH310 will beat the ns10 sales record.
?

 

[Pearljam5000]

Czech Republic. As usual, lower wages, lower taxes...

Let's just hope not lower quality as well

 

[respice finem]

Sales record? If Neumann is able and willing to make so many.
The "philosophies" of such manufacturers are sometimes strange.
We will see in a year or so.

 

[respice finem]

Let's just hope not lower quality as well

Judging by their cars or guns, the Czech quality is very good.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Judging by their cars or guns, the Czech quality is very good.

Yeah but who knows if it's as good as the ones made in Ireland?

 

[respice finem]

The subs are, I guess, and there were a few (only a few) sporadic quality complaints at the beginning.
BTW now also Czech Rep.: https://www.thomann.de/de/neumann_kh_750_dsp.htm
That said, a human can always make a "lemon", but it's difficult with Neumann's QC, they measure every single speaker.
https://en-de.neumann.com/philosophy

 

[Frgirard]

Yeah but who knows if it's as good as the ones made in Ireland?

Did you think the German are irreproachable?
The country does not matter. It's the production process the most important and the Czechs or the Chinese do as well.
Did you forgot the desiel gate?

 

[respice finem]

Lowering the quality would IMHO be suicidal in this market segment.
It takes a long time to build a reputation, but it can be gone in no time - see Opel's "Lopez effect", they've never really recovered from it.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Did you think the German are irreproachable?
The country does not matter. It's the production process the most important and the Czechs or the Chinese do as well.
Did you forgot the desiel gate?

This is absolutely not true
For example A Toyota made in Japan is of higher quality than one made in Turkey or China or whatever.
There's something beyond simple QC.

 

[respice finem]

Just curious: Which Toyotas are still made in Japan? (to enable this comparison)
Basically I tend to agree, there is something like a "technical culture", leading to better overall quality (even with no restrictive QC).
In Japan it is their Kaizen philosophy, in Germany it is (or in large parts, was, alas) the "pride and honour" of their craftsmanship.
But with really good QC, even without this, you can achieve flawless quality, it's just harder at the beginning.
And, as always, you get what you pay for. As Jim Marshall once said, "you pay bananas, you get monkeys".

 

[Pearljam5000]

Just curious: Which Toyotas are still made in Japan? (to enable this comparison)

Land Cruiser and some other models
Anyways whoever bought them 6 months ago made a smart move and got a good price ansd possibly better build quality