Neumann KH120 II Monitor Review

[ernestcarl]

The resonances are the result of squeezing so much low end out of such small cabinets. These monitors chuff and fart under 50Hz when playing genres like rap and electronic music. The small front ports are not sufficient enough, and the rear panel also produces resonances when playing the lower range of frequencies. It's not as obvious below the 80dB level.

Most (if not all) "compact" bass reflex monitors will chuff if not highpassed passed a certain SPL (and absent some kind of overly intrusive DSP limiting) so that should be expected -- i.e. no surprise at all. The rear panel producing audibly bothersome resonances is a surprise to hear for me, however. I had heard background resonances from my speakers playing at higher SPLs but much it came from the surrounding mounting gear (like a loose L-bracket) and room structures or objects nearby. The only speakers I had with the most obvious bothersome resonating back panel/internal boards was from the cheaply made JBL LSR305s -- again, kind of expected.

 

[Oink-Oinko]

How loud do you play them? I use mine in nearfield, never with any such issues. Have Owned for about a year now. The red turns on when too loud is all.

 

[HilberTraum]

If you can cope with running python there's khtool.

@Dan1210

Once again taking the opportunity to plug my side project SSC Control (https://github.com/LeanderBlume/kh_network_control_mac): A macOS and iOS app to control these speakers in a more convenient way than with the official MA 1 software. It has progressed quite a bit and is now available on TestFlight. You can join the beta by clicking this link:

Join the SSC Control beta

Available on iOS

testflight.apple.com

Hope it's helpful to some of you.

By the way, also weighing in on the crackling issue: One of the two speakers I bought from Thomann also had this issue quite bad and they replaced it immediately. The replacement also has it to some degree, but much less, I don't notice it in daily use with the new unit. I've been too lazy so far to message Neumann or Thomann about it. Overall disappointing that it seems to be so common.

 

[Hemi-Demon]

Thank goodness I have never experienced any of these issues after having owned my pair for two years, as these are not cheap speakers. I always run my pair with the 750 and MA-1 processing, so I can't speak to any resonances. I would have been livid if I was hearing noises like some of the posted examples. I run my set through the digital input. I wonder if that makes a difference?

 

[Dimension]

@Dan1210

By the way, also weighing in on the crackling issue: One of the two speakers I bought from Thomann also had this issue quite bad and they replaced it immediately. The replacement also has it to some degree, but much less, I don't notice it in daily use with the new unit. I've been too lazy so far to message Neumann or Thomann about it. Overall disappointing that it seems to be so common.

I got a replacement but it took them more than month to replace it. This was the second faulty unit. What are you going to do if it becomes louder and you actually listen to it while playing music or doing mixing? This is unacceptable for a professional product that cost so much money.

 

[Dimension]

Thank goodness I have never experienced any of these issues after having owned my pair for two years, as these are not cheap speakers. I always run my pair with the 750 and MA-1 processing, so I can't speak to any resonances. I would have been livid if I was hearing noises like some of the posted examples. I run my set through the digital input. I wonder if that makes a difference?

It doesn't matter if you use the monitors analog or digital because the noise is there even with just the power cable with nothing connected.

 

[markstein]

Sounds like the implementation of the digital amplifier is problematic.
It would be interesting to get a feeling about the percentage of defect units know to Neumann, however, such info of course is top secret. We will never know.
Unfortunately, Neumann also does not comment the high number of failure reports in this forum. I personally find this concerning, and if I had to choose a new speaker right now, it would not be a new Neumann model.
Btw. never had any issues with my KH310.

 

[Dimension]

Sounds like the implementation of the digital amplifier is problematic.
It would be interesting to get a feeling about the percentage of defect units know to Neumann, however, such info of course is top secret. We will never know.
Unfortunately, Neumann also does not comment the high number of failure reports in this forum. I personally find this concerning, and if I had to choose a new speaker right now, it would not be a new Neumann model.
Btw. never had any issues with my KH310.

Yes if I could buy new monitors right now i would choose Genelec. From the first month I got the Neumanns I had problems.