Neumann KH150

[Henridesmetal]

Hello,

Here I am again to give you my impressions after receiving and testing the KH150 and 8350a.

Already out of the box the KH150 are more compact than the 8350a, on the desk it works better than the Genelec. The connections on the KH150 are a little more difficult to access than on the 8350a, but that's a detail (as a reminder, I connect the 2 pairs of speakers in XLR/jack to an SSL2+ audio interface connected to my PC).
When the speakers aren't playing music, the KH150s are quieter than the 8350a, on which I hear a very slight background noise at 80cm. But this is barely audible, and disappears as soon as music is played.

After in terms of sound:

- the first thing that strikes the KH150 is its bass. They are impressive for a speaker of this size. Wow! However I find that the bass of the 8350a has a little more grounding, and I noticed on certain passages of certain music that the 8350a goes slightly lower. But not much either.

- today I worked part of the day with a different speaker on each side of the screen. I was surprised to find that at an equivalent volume level, the KH150 plays less loudly than the 8350a. More precisely, to have good stereophony with the two speakers, I have to raise the KH150 to level 7 when the 8350a is at level 4, sometimes 5. By raising the volume, we therefore end up with the KH150 at 40 and the 8350a at 28 for an identical feeling in terms of sound power.

- in terms of sound now, I preferred the 8350a quite clearly, whatever the song played (I listen to everything, pop, metal, classical music...). The sound is more open, seems more precise and with more foundation. After there is not a big gap between the two speakers. I liked to listen to the KH150, and when I switched to the 8350a there were small differences that made me say: oh yeah, that's how it should sound!
Afterwards, these are only my neophyte impressions, another person will certainly have a different opinion than me, and you must not forget that my piece is not treated!

- and precisely, that brings me to the use of GLM: it's simple to set up, on the other hand I haven't noticed any improvement in my room. Even worse, I must admit that I prefer the sound without the GLM calibration. If you read correctly! This may show you how untrained my ears are lol ! On the other hand I will keep GLM because the big volume button is great and it saves me from having a lot of things on the desk. And if in the future I embark on the acoustic treatment of my room it could be useful to me. But I have no desire at the moment, for me it's perfect like that.

In summary, I will definitely keep the 8350a and return the KH150. If I hadn't had the Genelec at the same time, I'm sure the KH150 would have suited me perfectly. The Neumanns sound great, they sound bigger than their size, and their impressive bass is almost on par with the Genelec 8-inch. It's a real feat for the size! I imagine the upcoming Amirm test will be very positive. I had read the complete SOS test which was more than excellent.

Now my wife hates me because I keep the 8350a and they find them bulky and ugly (EDIT: huge and awful she tells me lol !), plus I chose them in white

In terms of price, it was discussed in previous messages, I was lucky to have the 8350a and KH150 at a good price: I paid €3200 for a new pair of 8350a (€1600 each) at the instead of around 4000€ per pair with us (in France), with 3 years of warranty and 2 additional years with Genelec.
And the KH150 was also a bargain because I got them for €2,558 a pair, new (€1,279 each) instead of the usual €3,200 a pair. Besides, they are currently at 1321€ at Stars-Music.fr (where I bought them) and 1299€ at Sonovente.com. These prices can make the KH150 more interesting, and position it halfway between the KH120 and the KH310.

Thanks for reading, and see you soon!

 

[Mario Sanchez]

- in terms of sound now, I preferred the 8350a quite clearly, whatever the song played (I listen to everything, pop, metal, classical music...). The sound is more open, seems more precise and with more foundation. After there is not a big gap between the two speakers. I liked to listen to the KH150, and when I switched to the 8350a there were small differences that made me say: oh yeah, that's how it should sound!

I'll hazard a guess that these small differences are due to the way Neumann does things. If the 8350's dispersion is anything like the 8050B's, then the HF dispersion of the Genelecs would be a tad wider, and while off-axis isn't as big of a factor in desktop use (nearfield listening), I think that extra 2-3dB of sound power in mid-high frequencies of the Genelec could give it a slightly more wide-open, spacious signature, despite both speakers having similarly flat on-axis performance.
And a quick question, about how much bigger is the 8350 compared to 150?

 

[Henridesmetal]

Hi Mario,
Here are some pictures to compare. I find that the 8350a is a little bigger in real life than in the photos.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Hi Mario,
Here are some pictures to compare. I find that the 8350a is a little bigger in real life than in the photos.

How much bigger is the 8350 soundstage compared to KH150?
And in general how much smaller the KH150 sounds compared to 8350?
I mean do you really feel you're listening to a small speaker vs a big one?

 

[Mario Sanchez]

Really curious if they're still using a (customized) peerless driver for the woofer as well.

 

[oversky]

Now my wife hates me because I keep the 8350a and they find them bulky and ugly (EDIT: huge and awful she tells me lol !), plus I chose them in white

Show your wife 8351B, she may prefer the design.

 

[oversky]

 

[fuzzychaos]

Would like to hear comparison between 8340 vs KH150.

Hello,

Here I am again to give you my impressions after receiving and testing the KH150 and 8350a.

Already out of the box the KH150 are more compact than the 8350a, on the desk it works better than the Genelec. The connections on the KH150 are a little more difficult to access than on the 8350a, but that's a detail (as a reminder, I connect the 2 pairs of speakers in XLR/jack to an SSL2+ audio interface connected to my PC).
When the speakers aren't playing music, the KH150s are quieter than the 8350a, on which I hear a very slight background noise at 80cm. But this is barely audible, and disappears as soon as music is played.

After in terms of sound:

- the first thing that strikes the KH150 is its bass. They are impressive for a speaker of this size. Wow! However I find that the bass of the 8350a has a little more grounding, and I noticed on certain passages of certain music that the 8350a goes slightly lower. But not much either.

- today I worked part of the day with a different speaker on each side of the screen. I was surprised to find that at an equivalent volume level, the KH150 plays less loudly than the 8350a. More precisely, to have good stereophony with the two speakers, I have to raise the KH150 to level 7 when the 8350a is at level 4, sometimes 5. By raising the volume, we therefore end up with the KH150 at 40 and the 8350a at 28 for an identical feeling in terms of sound power.

- in terms of sound now, I preferred the 8350a quite clearly, whatever the song played (I listen to everything, pop, metal, classical music...). The sound is more open, seems more precise and with more foundation. After there is not a big gap between the two speakers. I liked to listen to the KH150, and when I switched to the 8350a there were small differences that made me say: oh yeah, that's how it should sound!
Afterwards, these are only my neophyte impressions, another person will certainly have a different opinion than me, and you must not forget that my piece is not treated!

- and precisely, that brings me to the use of GLM: it's simple to set up, on the other hand I haven't noticed any improvement in my room. Even worse, I must admit that I prefer the sound without the GLM calibration. If you read correctly! This may show you how untrained my ears are lol ! On the other hand I will keep GLM because the big volume button is great and it saves me from having a lot of things on the desk. And if in the future I embark on the acoustic treatment of my room it could be useful to me. But I have no desire at the moment, for me it's perfect like that.

In summary, I will definitely keep the 8350a and return the KH150. If I hadn't had the Genelec at the same time, I'm sure the KH150 would have suited me perfectly. The Neumanns sound great, they sound bigger than their size, and their impressive bass is almost on par with the Genelec 8-inch. It's a real feat for the size! I imagine the upcoming Amirm test will be very positive. I had read the complete SOS test which was more than excellent.

Now my wife hates me because I keep the 8350a and they find them bulky and ugly (EDIT: huge and awful she tells me lol !), plus I chose them in white

In terms of price, it was discussed in previous messages, I was lucky to have the 8350a and KH150 at a good price: I paid €3200 for a new pair of 8350a (€1600 each) at the instead of around 4000€ per pair with us (in France), with 3 years of warranty and 2 additional years with Genelec.
And the KH150 was also a bargain because I got them for €2,558 a pair, new (€1,279 each) instead of the usual €3,200 a pair. Besides, they are currently at 1321€ at Stars-Music.fr (where I bought them) and 1299€ at Sonovente.com. These prices can make the KH150 more interesting, and position it halfway between the KH120 and the KH310.

Thanks for reading, and see you soon!

I like Genelec and wish I could find the 8350a's for that price, but they are almost $5000 here in the States. I tried the baby brother (8340a) which is closer to the Neumann's in size and price. With the 8340's I preferred the Neumann's better bass and, perhaps, the more forgiving treble of the Neumann. With the 8340a's (without correction) the treble was too hot for me and it made badly recorded songs almost unlistenable in my moderately treated room (there could be several factors and not a jibe at Genelec).

Congrats on the Genelec's and it's awesome you got them at such a great price. I may have had a differing opinion had I tried the 8350's but that $1400 was just too much of a difference for me to see them as comparable.

 

[Henridesmetal]

How much bigger is the 8350 soundstage compared to KH150?
And in general how much smaller the KH150 sounds compared to 8350?
I mean do you really feel you're listening to a small speaker vs a big one?

In terms of sound stage size I find both monitors to be very good, with a slight advantage to the 8350a. I find it a little more "airy". I also feel like I'm gaining some detail and authority with the 8350a. But each time the gap is not huge.
And I think that with my eyes closed I won't really be able to detect a difference in size between the two monitors, but rather a difference in sound signature which suits me a little less well on the KH150.

 

[amirm]

My review of KH150 is posted: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/neumann-kh-150-monitor-review.39922/

 

[Henridesmetal]

Show your wife 8351B, she may prefer the design.

Good idea, but this time it's for the budget that she's going to hate me lol !
For the moment the 8350a suits me perfectly, I must say that it is even beyond my expectations in terms of sound. Compared to what I had before to listen to music on my desk (edifier e1100), I come from very very far. The kef LSX was already much better, but here we are in another dimension. I had never heard that before.
But maybe one day why not switch to an 8351 if the difference in sound is really significant, or an 8361 for my living room. It's a high budget for me, but if I have a huge crush it's a possible purchase.

 

[Henridesmetal]

I like Genelec and wish I could find the 8350a's for that price, but they are almost $5000 here in the States. I tried the baby brother (8340a) which is closer to the Neumann's in size and price. With the 8340's I preferred the Neumann's better bass and, perhaps, the more forgiving treble of the Neumann. With the 8340a's (without correction) the treble was too hot for me and it made badly recorded songs almost unlistenable in my moderately treated room (there could be several factors and not a jibe at Genelec).

Congrats on the Genelec's and it's awesome you got them at such a great price. I may have had a differing opinion had I tried the 8350's but that $1400 was just too much of a difference for me to see them as comparable.

Thank you Fuzzychaos, yes I was lucky to have them at this price. Unfortunately, I can't compare to the 8340a because I haven't listened to it.

 

[SlothRock]

Hello,

Here I am again to give you my impressions after receiving and testing the KH150 and 8350a.

Already out of the box the KH150 are more compact than the 8350a, on the desk it works better than the Genelec. The connections on the KH150 are a little more difficult to access than on the 8350a, but that's a detail (as a reminder, I connect the 2 pairs of speakers in XLR/jack to an SSL2+ audio interface connected to my PC).
When the speakers aren't playing music, the KH150s are quieter than the 8350a, on which I hear a very slight background noise at 80cm. But this is barely audible, and disappears as soon as music is played.

After in terms of sound:

- the first thing that strikes the KH150 is its bass. They are impressive for a speaker of this size. Wow! However I find that the bass of the 8350a has a little more grounding, and I noticed on certain passages of certain music that the 8350a goes slightly lower. But not much either.

- today I worked part of the day with a different speaker on each side of the screen. I was surprised to find that at an equivalent volume level, the KH150 plays less loudly than the 8350a. More precisely, to have good stereophony with the two speakers, I have to raise the KH150 to level 7 when the 8350a is at level 4, sometimes 5. By raising the volume, we therefore end up with the KH150 at 40 and the 8350a at 28 for an identical feeling in terms of sound power.

- in terms of sound now, I preferred the 8350a quite clearly, whatever the song played (I listen to everything, pop, metal, classical music...). The sound is more open, seems more precise and with more foundation. After there is not a big gap between the two speakers. I liked to listen to the KH150, and when I switched to the 8350a there were small differences that made me say: oh yeah, that's how it should sound!
Afterwards, these are only my neophyte impressions, another person will certainly have a different opinion than me, and you must not forget that my piece is not treated!

- and precisely, that brings me to the use of GLM: it's simple to set up, on the other hand I haven't noticed any improvement in my room. Even worse, I must admit that I prefer the sound without the GLM calibration. If you read correctly! This may show you how untrained my ears are lol ! On the other hand I will keep GLM because the big volume button is great and it saves me from having a lot of things on the desk. And if in the future I embark on the acoustic treatment of my room it could be useful to me. But I have no desire at the moment, for me it's perfect like that.

In summary, I will definitely keep the 8350a and return the KH150. If I hadn't had the Genelec at the same time, I'm sure the KH150 would have suited me perfectly. The Neumanns sound great, they sound bigger than their size, and their impressive bass is almost on par with the Genelec 8-inch. It's a real feat for the size! I imagine the upcoming Amirm test will be very positive. I had read the complete SOS test which was more than excellent.

Now my wife hates me because I keep the 8350a and they find them bulky and ugly (EDIT: huge and awful she tells me lol !), plus I chose them in white

In terms of price, it was discussed in previous messages, I was lucky to have the 8350a and KH150 at a good price: I paid €3200 for a new pair of 8350a (€1600 each) at the instead of around 4000€ per pair with us (in France), with 3 years of warranty and 2 additional years with Genelec.
And the KH150 was also a bargain because I got them for €2,558 a pair, new (€1,279 each) instead of the usual €3,200 a pair. Besides, they are currently at 1321€ at Stars-Music.fr (where I bought them) and 1299€ at Sonovente.com. These prices can make the KH150 more interesting, and position it halfway between the KH120 and the KH310.

Thanks for reading, and see you soon!

Man, how do I get the KH150's for $1,279 each instead of $1,750? Any chance you could DM who you worked with? I'd buy them in a heartbeat closer to $1200 each than $1800 each

 

[Henridesmetal]

Man, how do I get the KH150's for $1,279 each instead of $1,750? Any chance you could DM who you worked with? I'd buy them in a heartbeat closer to $1200 each than $1800 each

Hello,
On this website the kh150 has been at this price for several weeks (the store where I bought it offered it at 1279€ each, but their price has risen slightly to 1321€).

 

[Pearljam5000]

Part 4 of the video

 

[Pearljam5000]

Hello,
On this website the kh150 has been at this price for several weeks (the store where I bought it offered it at 1279€ each, but their price has risen slightly to 1321€).

Its now 1599 euros

 

[teashea]

My review of KH150 is posted: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/neumann-kh-150-monitor-review.39922/

A terrific and very useful review. This review was a significant factor in my decision to purchase a pair of KH150's.

 

[teashea]

Actually before I found out the result, my guess was a 50:50 split between the R3 three-way and BMR Tower 3-way; with the R3 in the lead by a hair.

What came in at 2nd place was far behind, and the R3 closely behind it.


From:

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/philharmonic-audio-dennis-murphy.1348949/post-61943997

I agree that one shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

There are a variety of factors that could sway the preference to one speaker or another, for instance room acoustics and speaker placement.

But the take home message for me is that a having a waveguide is neither necessary nor sufficient to create a class leading speaker.

Why? Because I had an waveguide/coaxial design in mind for the largest speakers in this series: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...nts-purifi-and-scan-speak.37425/#post-1361511

Well, the new reviews of the KH150 certainly show that its waveguided design is superlative. It work - amazingly well.

 

[teashea]

I find the discussion of this speaker to be exemplary for a weakness of spinorama-, distortion- and aluminium-metrics based approaches:
Seemingly, people here are interested in using this speaker music listening in a midfield setting, like from 3 meters distance, on their couch. But no discussion about the dispersion pattern. The image will most probably be narrow. It will be beautifully exact, but with little spaciousness. JBL M2 is one of the few waveguided two-way speakers with a 120 degree horizontal pattern, like many dome tweeter speakers have. People who own KEF LS50 might comment how satisfied they are with a 100 degree pattern. There is so much more than SPL and F3. BTW, I am pretty sure F3 of this speaker is satisfying most needs, but need cannot be satisfied from afar.

1) https://www.soundandrecording.de/app/uploads/2022/10/KH150hor-580x357.png
2) https://static-neumann.s3.amazonaws.com/global_images/image/file/658/Horizontal_directivity_plot.png

For me the narrower dispersion pattern is an advantage. I will be using mine in my recording studio at a distance of 1.2 meters. The narrow dispersion pattern actually helps to minimize room reflections.

I know that a significant number of people are discussing the use of this as a hi fi speaker at greater distances. I must admit that I am a bit skeptical about this but there have been several comments on the forum explaining that the KH150 will work just fine in this capacity.

 

[teashea]

So the Kh150 would be the bad choice if you got under 1.5m listening distance? As a music producer its within that range you mostly listen.

I believe that Neumann recommends it as close as one meter.