>room-specific target curve calculated by the software
I wonder if this just means they are merely looking at the aggregate listening position FR or differentiating between direct and reflected sound in calculating it.
One would hope the latter! Given the know the directivity of the speakers, it shouldn't be too hard to surmise what the target curve should look like at different distances, though I wonder how room treatment will come into play. Could actually be a good solution for haphazardly treated rooms. I imagine there are a number of amateur studios with poorly thought out treatment, creating uneven in-room response.
Given Neumann´s background and the purpose of this monitors, their default target must be neutrality, flat response at the listener´s position. Harman´s famous target curve (elevated-fattened bass, recessed-sweetened treble) seems a good commercial tool to please the greatest number of consumers. I am not interested in additives, please give me the real sound of instruments and voices. If I get tired, I turn off the stereo and I have silence, which is a marvelous sound.
You seem to be significantly misunderstanding the Harman curve for speakers
. The Harman curve is quite literally what happens naturally when you take a speaker that is flat anechoically and has good directivity and put it into a typical room, listening from a typical distance. Targeting the Harman curve in a typical living room setup simply means targeting flat anechoically.
Put differently, if you place the Neumann KH80 or another flat speaker with good directivity in a living room, and perform a spatial average around your listening position, you will get something akin to the Harman Curve. This is how it was determined in the first place: by taking the average in-room response of the flattest speakers.
However, per the same reaearch this target should likely vary to some degree depending on listening distance and the directivity of the speakers. A wide directivity speaker could benefit from a less tilted target curve, as setups where one is listening closer to the speakers than the ~10 feet/3m used to determined the Harman curve.
Under no circumstances should a speaker be perfectly flat at the listening position, unless you are listening in an anechoic chamber.