Neumann KH120 II Monitor Review

[unpluggged]

Now I use the setup name to include the input method to remind myself.

Yes, that's how I work around this, too

 

[Xyrium]

I have a pair of KH120II monitors connected via coaxial cable to an ADI-2 PRO. Occasionally, I hear brief ~0.5-second 'squeaks' from either of the monitors. These occur very rarely, less than once a day, and only when the speakers are on but not receiving any input. Has anyone else encountered this issue?

Any chance you can switch to XLRs and see if it stops?

 

[Xyrium]

BTW, not sure folks saw this on the new 120

 

[Gstp]

I ended up getting the Buchardt A10 bookshelf speakers which was about $4k (pre-order price). All these speakers were going in my living room so looks played a role in my choice. I was not too enamored with the KH120ii looks for the living room. I really liked the idea of streaming straight to the speakers, going wireless, having different EQ and Masters tuning options, room correction, quality components, good bass extension, good resale value and the all natural wood cabinets.

I like the A10 more then the KH120ii overall, but do wish for more volume. I'm going to still plan to get larger speakers in the future, but for now all round the A10 is a good speaker to chill out and enjoy the music at low and moderate volumes. Have not used my pre-amp, cables, DAC etc. in a while now Its super hot these days and my huge A biased A/B amp doubles as a radiator, so don't miss it right now.

I'm still curious about the KH150, but I think I will go even bigger next purchase, at least KH310ii so I can party more Going from online measurements I expect the KH150 to measure better then the A10, even in bass, but waiting for more A10 data.

The A10 sounds even better than the KH 310 in my opinion. (Except for spl maybe). But for imaging, stage depth, and precision of the included dac, it is fantastic. With the hub, you get a good room correction software and Peq that you need to pay extract with the KH310. Try the sub with A10 first in my opinion.

 

[kaiyang]

Hello everyone! I am a new user and I just bought the second generation of KH120.
I found that the situation that everyone mentioned that the speaker cannot be awakened in standby mode has also happened to me once. I wonder if my experience can help you.
Of course, I use the analog interface of ADI2. I think the reason why the speaker cannot be awakened in standby mode is that the level of the sound source is too low. This is the reason why I could not wake up the speaker that time.
Later, I kept the level of ADI2 above -40db to wake up the speaker, and it never failed to wake up. The previous wake-up failure came from the fact that the level of ADI2 was about -60db at that time.
And when using different music to wake up the speaker, it may be the left or right side that wakes up first each time, not necessarily hahaha. I suspect it is also related to the different levels of the left and right channels of the music used at that time.
I hope it can help you. Thank you!

 

[Dimension]

Hello everyone! I am a new user and I just bought the second generation of KH120.
I found that the situation that everyone mentioned that the speaker cannot be awakened in standby mode has also happened to me once. I wonder if my experience can help you.
Of course, I use the analog interface of ADI2. I think the reason why the speaker cannot be awakened in standby mode is that the level of the sound source is too low. This is the reason why I could not wake up the speaker that time.
Later, I kept the level of ADI2 above -40db to wake up the speaker, and it never failed to wake up. The previous wake-up failure came from the fact that the level of ADI2 was about -60db at that time.
And when using different music to wake up the speaker, it may be the left or right side that wakes up first each time, not necessarily hahaha. I suspect it is also related to the different levels of the left and right channels of the music used at that time.
I hope it can help you. Thank you!

Hi all new member.
I'm waiting for my kh120ii from thomann. How long you have the monitors? Have you done the latest firmware update? This problem was supposed to be fixed in one of their firmware updates.

 

[unpluggged]

This problem

Which problem?

 

[Randyman...]

Which problem?

Wake from Standby...

 

[unpluggged]

Wake from Standby...

@kaiyang did not describe any problem. −40 dB (too bad they don't mention the actual voltage or at least the ref level set on the ADI-2) is a reasonable threshold for analog input.

 

[Randyman...]

@kaiyang did not describe any problem.

Hello everyone! I am a new user and I just bought the second generation of KH120.
I found that the situation that everyone mentioned that the speaker cannot be awakened in standby mode has also happened to me once.

The previous wake-up failure...

He was sharing his "Solution" to his "problem"... FWIW, My KH150 Center generally wakes up first as I generally wake it up while watching TV/5.1. Only when L/R bed comes in do the L/R wake up. I have yet to have any type of wake-from-standby issue on KH150's with Analog inputs - but I'm only 1 month in...

 

[jhaider]

I think the reason why the speaker cannot be awakened in standby mode is that the level of the sound source is too low. This is the reason why I could not wake up the speaker that time….

This issue has been reported to Neumann and they’re working on it.

 

[Dimension]

Which problem?

The standby problem that some people had.

 

[Randyman...]

What's the latest on input level control and Analog/Digital input selection using open source software? And I'd love to be able to dim the very bright logos w/o paying for MA1 when I use Dirac and DLBC in the AVR.

It seems like a "we know you'll buy MA1 now - even if only to dim your LED's hahaha" situation. Why doesn't Neumann offer a stripped down GUI or Phone App for these rudimentary controls that have no other option aside from 3rd party commnuity-based projects or an expensive MA1 package I don't need? Not even asking for access to the EQ filters (but that would be nice too )...

 

[unpluggged]

The standby problem that some people had.

But not @kaiyang.

What's the latest on input level control and Analog/Digital input selection using open source software? And I'd love to be able to dim the very bright logos w/o paying for MA1 when I use Dirac and DLBC in the AVR.

It seems like a "we know you'll buy MA1 now - even if only to dim your LED's hahaha" situation. Why doesn't Neumann offer a stripped down GUI or Phone App for these rudimentary controls that have no other option aside from 3rd party commnuity-based projects or an expensive MA1 package I don't need? Not even asking for access to the EQ filters (but that would be nice too )...

I don't get it. AFAIR, the MA 1 software is freely available. It's only when you make a measurement it asks for your mic's SN and calibration code, am I wrong?

P.S. And I don't agree it's expensive. For what you get (a calibrated well-performing measurement microphone that you can use with any audio interface and third-party measurement tools), the price is very reasonable.

 

[Randyman...]

But not @kaiyang.


I don't get it. AFAIR, the MA 1 software is freely available. It's only when you make a measurement it asks for your mic's SN and calibration code, am I wrong?

Whoa - are you serious? I just assumed since MA-1 is a "Paid Upgrade" that it must be licensed - and saw people talking about open source solutions. I'll look into this now! Grazie kind sir.

Found it - DL'd it, but I'm at work. Will try to install over my weekend and report back. Dunno how I missed this - but the "Open Source" thing led me to believe the was not an option w/o paying for the license...

 

[HilberTraum]

What's the latest on input level control and Analog/Digital input selection using open source software?

As others have said, the MA-1 software is free but it can't do everything. You can't manually change EQ settings for example. Thankfully there is also an open source command line tool, khtool (which I've contributed to a bit), that can be used to change all kinds of things, including EQ settings. I haven't tried input selection, but I don't see why that wouldn't work.

I've also used khtool to write a little SwiftUI menu bar GUI for mac to get faster access to volume control and EQ settings without the MA 1 software. But the GUI is very rough and probably a pain to install for anyone but myself. But if anyone's interested, please let me know and check it out.

Here is the GUI: https://github.com/KendrickLamarck/kh_network_control_mac

 

[Randyman...]

As others have said, the MA-1 software is free but it can't do everything. You can't manually change EQ settings for example. Thankfully there is also an open source command line tool, khtool (which I've contributed to a bit), that can be used to change all kinds of things, including EQ settings. I haven't tried input selection, but I don't see why that wouldn't work.

I've also used khtool to write a little SwiftUI menu bar GUI for mac to get faster access to volume control and EQ settings without the MA 1 software. But the GUI is very rough and probably a pain to install for anyone but myself. But if anyone's interested, please let me know and check it out.

Here is the GUI: https://github.com/KendrickLamarck/kh_network_control_mac

Thank you @HilberTraum and @unpluggged (again ). I'm ashamed to say I still haven't had time to get this going. Between some persisting vehicle issues and then a freak winter storm in Houston, time has been very tight! First thing I'll be doing is dimming my logos! lol. Input Selection will be nice as I only used the SPDIF once for initial testing (primary setup is Analog from AVR, but will supplement with PC via SPDIF for certain tasks).

This brings up a question - I assume I'll be able to "network" all 3 L-C-R KH150 speakers and control them in unison? Since a Multichannel version of MA-1 now exists, I would hope so My biggest use would be to control the L/R pair (Input Selection, and level control while SPDIF input is selected) - but having all 3 L-C-R speakers available in a single app/instance would be ideal - Especially if the EQ is not too difficult to wrangle from the khtool open source project.

 

[unpluggged]

This brings up a question - I assume I'll be able to "network" all 3 L-C-R KH150 speakers and control them in unison? Since a Multichannel version of MA-1 now exists, I would hope so My biggest use would be to control the L/R pair (Input Selection, and level control while SPDIF input is selected) - but having all 3 L-C-R speakers available in a single app/instance would be ideal - Especially if the EQ is not too difficult to wrangle from the khtool open source project.

You can create a setup within the MA 1 software that includes all your speakers, and set the output level from there. To create such a setup would require you to purchase the multichannel add-on license. Also, I can't see a 3-channel stereo (L-C-R) configuration among the supported options.

Alternatively you can create a batch script that runs the khtool for each of your speakers at once to set their output level and other accessible parameters together.

 

[Miguelón]

Is astonishing how can monitors reveal nowadays: I like realism in speakers but since I bought Genelecs 8030C I hate some recordings that before were more pleasant in comercial speakers.

But I couldn’t tolerate the total clueless transparency of Neumann KH 120 II, in comparison 8030C is relatively forgiving.

Too much perfection to me, I reserve some place to error…

 

[jzpchen]

Interesting take. In my case, since I bought KH120II, my music becomes more interesting. My previous speakers were merely PSB Image B25. I am in the process of listening through my collection. It is super fun. I couldn't believe a pair of speakers can make such a big and nice difference.