Review: Neumann KH120A
The most famous microphone manufacturer on earth has a new active nearfield monitor. Eh?
28 October 2011
Review: Mark Woods
As we’re all well aware, microphones are typically the first link in any recording chain, making their ability to accurately capture a sound source arguably the most important factor in producing high quality recordings. Studio monitors take up the slack at the other end of that chain (unless you’ve wired a speaker up as a DIY ‘speaker mic’) and while they don’t directly affect the quality of the recorded audio, they invariably play a central role in how sounds are captured, used, mixed together and finally presented as a finished product. It’s well known that Neumann has long been the world’s leader in microphone technology and while it doesn’t necessarily follow that being good at making mics gives you the inside running on speaker design, there’s an instinctive appeal to having some of that established credibility at the listening end of the recording process. Neumann’s new KH120A active nearfield speakers are the first in a range of studio monitors that Neumann has planned.
MEAN & KEEN
Ultimate audio quality has never been the main criteria for judging nearfield monitors. Traditionally, it’s been more about their ability to predictably transfer what the engineer creates into the real world of radios, MP3 players, car stereos and nightclubs. When I first started out in the recording game the standard affordable monitors were Auratones (sometimes called Horror-tones) and while these speakers had no bass at all, and hardly any treble, they were quite flat across the midrange. As long as you didn’t try to force too many highs or lows into your sounds, mixes done on them translated quite well… sort of. Then the Yamaha NS10Ms came along; passive two-way monitors that possessed more bark and bite than the Horror-tones, but still negligible amounts of bass response. They were hard sounding speakers to be sure, but if the bass drum was kicking the woofer cone out about an inch and the tweeter was starting to peel the skin from your face then the ratio of high to low was probably about right. During the ’80s and ’90s these monitors were the default standard in studios worldwide. Then the floodgates opened and now there are countless nearfield monitors on the market. It’s into this market that Neumann has taken the plunge yet I suspect the world of nearfield monitors will never be the same.
EVOLUTIONN
The Neumann KH120A actually evolved out of Klein & Hummel’s O100 studio monitors after that company was purchased by Sennheiser back in 2005 (Sennheiser is also the parent company of Neumann). Productive corporate co-operation since has seen the original K&H speaker re-designed, re-branded as a Neumann product, and offered for sale at a lower price than the original. An active design, the KH120A is powered by integrated 80W + 80W Class AB analogue amplifiers and managed by in-built limiters and protection circuits.
Out of the box the feel of the KH120As is solid at 6.2kg, resonance-free and cool, literally, as the cabinet is made from painted aluminium. The front panel is distinctively shaped with the one-inch titanium fabric dome tweeter centred in a sunken, elliptical waveguide. This has been designed to offer wide horizontal dispersion, for a wide sweet spot, but narrow vertical dispersion, to avoid reflections from the console or operating surfaces. The 51/4-inch long-throw composite sandwich dome cone woofer is protected by a metal grille and mounted forward of the cabinet body, above two bass reflex ports. The design is strictly Bauhaus and while they look purposeful it’s the optionally-illuminated Neumann logo that lets you know you’re looking at an up-market product.
The rear panel has quite a bit going on. At the top are acoustic control settings that cut bass and/or low-mids, and boost or cut the highs to compensate for environmental placement issues. There’s a helpful section in the manual that details typical situations that may require response compensation (hard walls, corners, live/dead rooms) and the suggestions were spot-on for my control room. Alongside the acoustical controls there’s a four-position sensitivity selector and an input gain knob. There’s a large cut-out at the bottom of the rear panel to connect the IEC power and XLR audio leads, and while it’s not easy to either access or see back there, it is neat once the leads are connected. The plugs end up enclosed within the cabinet’s dimensions, pointing upwards, so the speakers can be mounted in as small a space as possible without the plugs sticking out. There’s a power switch beside the IEC socket that can be activated by reaching along the side of the cabinet and stretching your fingers around the back to find it… once you know where it is. The speakers have been designed to fit into OB vans or other tight spaces but the rear panel contains cooling fins that still require a minimum of two-inches of air space, so I guess that’s the access to the power switch if they are built-in. Between the power socket and the XLR input there’s a bank of four jumper switches. These contain a ground lift and settings to switch the illuminated Neumann logo off or on, or switch it between bright or dim. To see or operate these you have to be behind the speaker and have it turned upside down but these are generally set-and-forget switches that don’t need to be accessed often.
NEED TO KNOW
NEW PERSPECTIVE
There is always a sense of anticipation when trying new monitor speakers. Engineers get familiar with their own choice of speakers so they can hear subtle differences between microphones, recording positions and audio processing devices, but new monitors mean everything is heard differently. I always get slightly nervous about playing tracks I’ve recorded through new speakers. Are they going to expose fundamental flaws or make me realise I’ve only been hearing half the sound?
I turned them on and the first thing I heard before playing a track was nothing; the KH120As are extremely quiet when on and idling. I started with a track that I knew sounded good; several acoustic instruments in the intro, then the vocal, with the bass kicking in after about 30 seconds. I hit play and instantly noticed how good the instruments sounded and the outstanding stereo image. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘just wait for the bass’. The bass kicked in and to my ear it was just right – more than what I was expecting… it was what I had hoped for. I had a smile on my face by now and spent some time happily playing tracks I’d recorded, as well as selections from my folder of mastering examples just to hear what they sounded like. It’s a cliché but the Neumann KH120As were letting me hear things I hadn’t noticed before; subtle low-level sounds, transient details, room sounds and stereo placement were all enhanced.
Pleased with what I was hearing at normal volumes I tried them up loud with some aggressive content and discovered two things. Firstly, they sound as good up loud as they do at low or moderate levels. Maximum volume is quoted at over 111dB SPL, and that’s probably true, even though they started to load up and develop some distortion before the illuminated Neumann logo started to flash red to indicate the limiters were working. Overall they are surprisingly loud given the speaker size and there’s enough clean volume for anything I do. Secondly, heavy/metal music sounds great through them: punchy, but clear and detailed.
A large part of why these speakers sound so good is their accurate frequency response and it’s worth noting its all-analogue design. Cabinet, drivers, crossover and amps… not a DSP in sight. I have noted before that the frequency response of many speakers is far from flat and it’s quite common for speaker manufacturers not to include a frequency plot with their products, despite the fact that it’s a fundamental measurement of a speaker’s accuracy and/or colour. Neumann has not only provided a frequency plot but it’s as flat as I’ve seen for a loudspeaker: 52Hz – 21kHz (±3dB), 54Hz – 20kHz (±2dB) is outstandingly flat. Below 50Hz they roll off sharply but for most applications the bass extension is fine and it’s surprisingly full and warm all the way down to 50Hz. (Speaking of warm, one quirky feature is the way the whole cabinet acts as a heat sink and gets warm after they’ve been in use for a while – handy as a hand-warmer in winter).
If you want more depth to the bottom end you can always add a sub. The K&H 0810 ($4366) is recommended. The trouble is it costs almost as much as four KH120A speakers, and while it has integrated processing for up to 7.1 surround sound and reaches down to a rumbling 18Hz, it’s a big investment with more features than many users would ever need. I’m sure there are other subs out there that would do the job for less.
GOING IT ALONE
I put my usual monitors away and started using the KH120As during recording sessions and after a little familiarisation I found them to be friendly, non-fatiguing and trustworthy. What you hear is what you get, and no detail goes unnoticed. Mixing seemed easier than normal and the exceptional stereo image and depth-of-field made placing instruments a pleasure. Their wide horizontal dispersion means you can move across the mix and still hear the whole sound. They’re great for mastering too (I wear a lot of hats here in central Victoria) with an ability to create confidence in my EQ and dynamic processing decisions. These are genuine all-rounders. Tracks that I already knew sounded great did sound great, but neither did the speakers flatter everything that went through them. I tried some tracks I was still mixing and they quickly exposed both balance and tone issues that I hadn’t got right yet. The KH120As have an honesty to them that marks them as genuine reference speakers; if a track has faults, particularly with its overall frequency shape, it’s easy to hear.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL
There are optional extras too. Each speaker has two M8 mounting points on the rear panel and there’s a wide range of mounting brackets available to suit different applications and mounting situations. For casual transport, a soft carry bag for a pair of KH120As is available and there’s also a flight case for added protection on planes or trucks.
The Neumann KH120A will eventually be joined by the KH120D, which uses the same cabinet, speakers and amps but features digital inputs, remote volume control and the ability to delay the signal, but this looks unlikely to hit the market until at least this time next year.
Neumann might be entering the studio monitor market at the right time. It’s possible the audio world is ready for a new standard in nearfield monitors that can be used for recording, mixing, mastering or any sort of broadcast or post-production application. They’re a convenient size, the sound can be tailored to different placements and they’re very well made. Neumann claims its manufacturing standards are so tight that any two KH120As can be considered a matching pair. The highest sound quality, established brand credibility and the perceived symmetry of having high-end products at both ends of the recording process should ensure they become a familiar sight in studios both large and small. Even the pricing seems reasonable, particularly compared to many of its microphones. As well as being a fantastic recording tool the Neumann KH120As will have you pulling out your favourite tracks just to hear what they sound like. I want a pair.
RESPONSES