I not too long ago visited our good buddies at Georg Neumann GmbH at their manufacturing facility in Wedemark, Germany. Whereas we had been there, we listened to the total vary of Neumann studio screens in a number of totally different areas, together with rooms that weren’t closely acoustically handled. One pair instantly caught my consideration: the Neumann KH 150s.
They’d the readability and imaging I count on from a high-quality nearfield monitor, however what actually shocked me was the low finish. These are comparatively compact two-way audio system, but they sounded full, managed and genuinely helpful for making combine choices. I needed to know whether or not that impression would maintain up outdoors Neumann’s personal listening rooms, so Neumann kindly despatched us a pair to assessment at Wise Music.
This was the essential a part of the check. A monitor can sound great in a fastidiously managed demonstration room, however how does it carry out in an actual working studio, positioned behind a large-format console and surrounded by all of the acoustic compromises that include that?
What Is the Neumann KH 150?
The KH 150 is a bi-amplified, DSP-controlled nearfield studio monitor constructed round a 6.5-inch woofer and a high-resolution tweeter. Neumann specifies a frequency response of 39 Hz to 21 kHz, ±3 dB, which is spectacular for a monitor of this dimension. The amplifiers ship 145 watts to the woofer and 100 watts to the tweeter, offering loads of headroom for shut and mid-distance monitoring.
The speaker additionally makes use of Neumann’s Mathematically Modelled Dispersion waveguide and DSP-based part correction. In keeping with Neumann, its part response stays linear inside ±45 levels from 105 Hz to 16 kHz. In sensible phrases, that expertise is meant to enhance transient accuracy, stereo imaging and the sense of depth inside a combination.
Most significantly for this check, the KH 150 integrates with Neumann’s MA 1 Automated Monitor Alignment system. MA 1 measures how the audio system work together with the listening place and the room, then shops the ensuing correction within the screens themselves.
Setting Up the KH 150s at Wise Music
We positioned the screens on isolation pucks behind the console and organized them in an equilateral triangle, with roughly 42 inches between the tweeters and the listening place. I entered the serial quantity for the Neumann measurement microphone, confirmed the speaker positions and allowed MA 1 to run its full collection of measurements.
The outcomes instantly revealed how a lot the room and console had been affecting what reached the listening place.
There was a substantial buildup by the low mids, particularly round 150 to 200 Hz, together with one other pronounced drawback round 350 to 400 Hz. It is a acquainted problem when screens sit behind a big console. The console floor can create reflections and boundary results that exaggerate or cancel elements of the low-frequency and low-midrange response.
With out correction, these buildups had been substantial sufficient to affect combine choices. If a room is including an excessive amount of vitality round 350 to 400 Hz, for example, you could take away that vary from a vocal to compensate. The combo may sound balanced in that room, however skinny and hole in every single place else.
After alignment, the response on the listening place was significantly flatter. MA 1 decreased the exaggerated low-mid vitality, tidied the bass and preserved a mild low-frequency goal curve quite than making every part sound unnaturally lean.
After all, no correction system can change good positioning and smart acoustic therapy. It can’t eradicate each null or change the legal guidelines of physics. What it could possibly do is tackle issues that stay after the audio system and listening place have been arrange in addition to the room permits.
How I Take a look at Studio Screens
Once you audition screens, use music you understand intimately. Ideally, hearken to recordings you made or blended your self. If that’s not potential, select data you might have heard a whole lot of instances on many alternative programs.
I have a tendency to make use of recordings I’ve spent months residing inside as a result of I do know what each factor is meant to sound like. Throughout this assessment, I moved between my very own productions and basic jazz, folks and orchestral recordings. I needed to listen to how the KH 150s dealt with low-end weight, vocal presence, drum transients, acoustic devices, stereo width, front-to-back depth and dense musical data.
Low Finish You Can Truly Combine With
The primary monitor I performed was The Fray’s “Easy methods to Save a Life,” specializing in the ultimate part of the track. The drums had been recorded within the giant stay room at my former studio, so I do know the decay of that room extraordinarily properly.
There isn’t any pattern reinforcing the snare. Every hit excites the drum and the room slightly in a different way, and I pay attention for whether or not a monitor reveals these variations quite than smoothing them into one generic sound. I additionally pay attention for the air across the 24-inch Rogers kick drum and the low-frequency motion on my combine bus.
The KH 150s delivered glorious low finish. I might hear the deep weight I want for mixing with out the bass turning into imprecise or indifferent from the remainder of the equipment. These screens attain low sufficient that, for a lot of nearfield mixing conditions, I’d really feel comfy working and not using a subwoofer.
That doesn’t imply a sub isn’t helpful. In case you are producing materials with essential data under the KH 150’s working vary, or constructing a bass-managed immersive system, a correctly built-in sub can nonetheless be invaluable. However the KH 150 doesn’t really feel like a small speaker with a big piece of the music lacking.
Vocal Midrange With out the Mud
Subsequent, I listened to “Hey Now” by Augustana. The vocal on this monitor is intentionally shut and ahead. After recording it, I used detailed acquire rides to carry elements of phrases so the efficiency would stay intimate with out counting on extreme compression.
This was the place the impact of the room alignment grew to become particularly apparent. With MA 1 bypassed, the buildup round 350 to 400 Hz made the vocal sound congested. It was not a refined tonal desire; it was the type of coloration that would lead me to make the incorrect EQ choices.
With the alignment engaged, that cloudiness disappeared and the vocal regained its meant focus. Crucially, the correction didn’t make the music gentle, boring or overly well mannered. I’ve heard correction programs take away a lot vitality that the midrange loses its pleasure. That didn’t occur right here. The vocal remained outlined, current and emotionally direct.
That stability is extraordinarily essential. A helpful monitor ought to expose issues with out taking the life out of the recording.
Flooring Tom Weight, Vocal Element and Section Coherence
Trevor Corridor’s “Inexperienced Mountain State” is one other monitor I do know extraordinarily properly. The recording options Carl Restivo’s Ludwig equipment, with a flooring tom whose physique and air are glorious exams of low-frequency definition. Trevor’s vocal was recorded by my Neumann U 47 right into a BAE 1028, with the preamp pushed proper to the sting. It has weight, harmonic vitality and a really ahead presentation.
After alignment, the physique of the ground tom was dramatically clearer. The measured change round 70 Hz was only some decibels, but the audible outcome felt a lot bigger. The vocal additionally misplaced the undesirable low-mid “ah” that the room had been including, whereas retaining its pure physique.
My impression was that the development was not coming from tonal correction alone. The stereo picture grew to become extra secure and the low finish appeared to lock into place. That’s according to the mixture of the KH 150’s phase-corrected DSP design and MA 1’s alignment of the monitoring system on the listening place.
Jazz, Acoustic Music and the Sound of Actual Recordings
I additionally listened to John Martyn’s “Could You By no means” from Strong Air, one in every of my favorite acoustic guitar and vocal recordings. Even many years after it was made, it sounds remarkably fast. It is a superb reference for the connection between a voice and an acoustic guitar, particularly when each must really feel intimate with out turning into harsh or unnaturally shiny.
The KH 150s preserved that upfront character superbly. They didn’t attempt to modernise the recording or exaggerate its element. They merely introduced the efficiency with readability.
On “Blue in Inexperienced” from Miles Davis’s Sort of Blue, I listened to the brushes on the snare, the horns and the mono piano sound typical of the interval. With the alignment engaged, the piano got here alive and the position of the devices grew to become simpler to learn. Decreasing the room’s low-mid buildup allowed the character of the recording to emerge quite than imposing a contemporary hi-fi sheen on it.
That is a crucial distinction. Accuracy just isn’t the identical as making each report sound pristine. A revealing monitor ought to let an previous recording sound previous whereas nonetheless displaying you its depth, tone and musical intention.
Stereo Width and Entrance-to-Again Depth
Throughout denser modern materials and orchestral recordings, one of the noticeable enhancements was the stereo picture. The left and proper edges felt extra clearly outlined, however the change was not merely a synthetic widening impact. I heard higher separation, extra secure placement and a stronger sense of front-to-back depth.
Elgar’s “Nimrod” was notably revealing. With the alignment bypassed, the recording felt smaller and flatter. Switching it again on opened the soundstage and made the layers of the orchestra simpler to observe. The presentation grew to become deeper and extra involving with out sounding hyped.
A few of that enchancment comes from eradicating the low-mid vitality that was masking element. When a speaker is not reproducing extreme room-induced buildup, the remainder of the frequency spectrum turns into simpler to listen to. Section and time alignment additionally seem to play an essential function within the elevated focus I heard.
The MA 1 System Is Extra Than an EQ Curve
It’s tempting to consider monitor alignment as nothing greater than corrective EQ, however the listening expertise suggests one thing extra full. MA 1 measures the screens on the listening place and creates a coordinated correction for the system. With suitable Neumann DSP screens, that correction operates contained in the audio system, so it stays lively no matter which DAW session or playback supply you employ.
That removes one of many widespread dangers of software program correction positioned on a DAW’s grasp bus: forgetting to make use of it when enjoying reference materials, or by accident printing the correction into a combination bounce.
The goal curve will also be adjusted. I loved the equipped curve, which retained a modest quantity of low-end weight whereas remaining very flat by the mids and highs, so I left it alone. In case your workflow or most well-liked reference calls for a special stability, the software program permits you to form it.
Probably the most spectacular facet was that the system corrected severe room interplay with out erasing the persona or impression of the music. The aligned presentation was clearer and extra reliable, nevertheless it was nonetheless thrilling.
Closing Ideas: Are the Neumann KH 150s Value It?
I beloved the KH 150s after I first heard them at Neumann, and listening to them at Wise Music confirmed that the impression was not depending on Neumann’s rooms.
They ship deep, managed bass from a compact cupboard, a extremely informative midrange and glorious stereo imaging. They’ve sufficient low-frequency extension to make severe combine choices with out mechanically requiring a sub, and sufficient readability to disclose atmosphere, small variations between drum hits, vocal congestion and the depth of advanced orchestral materials.
The combination with MA 1 is a significant a part of their worth. In our room, the big console created substantial low-mid issues that would simply have led to poor EQ decisions. As soon as the system was aligned, the monitoring grew to become flatter, clearer and much more usable. Extra importantly, it did so with out making the music uninteresting.
No monitor or calibration system removes the necessity to study your room, examine towards trusted references and verify mixes on different programs. However the KH 150 and MA 1 mixture provides you a way more dependable place to begin. It helps the audio system inform you what’s genuinely within the recording as an alternative of what the room is including.
I’m actually having fun with these screens, and I think you will note fairly a bit extra of them within the new setup.
Neumann equipped the KH 150 screens used for this assessment. As all the time, the listening impressions and opinions are my very own.
Have you ever blended on the KH 150s, KH 120s or one other monitor from the Neumann vary? Please let me know what you assume, and as ever, have a marvellous time recording and mixing!
KH 150 Key Specs
- Two-way, bi-amplified, DSP-controlled studio monitor
- 6.5-inch high-precision woofer
- Frequency response: 39 Hz to 21 kHz, ±3 dB
- Amplification: 145 W for the woofer and 100 W for the tweeter
- Most short-term SPL: 108 dB(C) at 1 metre in typical listening circumstances
- Linear-phase response from 105 Hz to 16 kHz, ±45 levels
- Really helpful listening distance: 1 to 2.5 metres
- Analogue XLR and digital S/PDIF connectivity
- Community management and room-adaptive calibration with Neumann MA 1
Official product data: Neumann KH 150
