Recording - January 2012 - 24

BY LORENZ RYCHNER

The box With dimensions of 107/8 x 71/8 x 85/8 inches it is of average size for a nearfield monitor that can also do an excellent job in a surround setup. The onepiece front panel shows two portholes in the bottom corners, flanking the 51/4" woofer that sits behind a rigid and contoured grille, beneath the 1" tweeter located in an open waveguide. The overall look is discreet and unassuming, and the only visual highlight is the elegant Neumann logo that is backlit in white when the power is on, turning red and flashing during severe signal overload conditions. The logo can be dimmed or turned off with DIP switches in back. The cabinet is made of aluminum, magnetically shielded, and constructed with non-parallel sidewalls to minimize internal standing-wave resonances. Connections are made in the rear, by pushing connectors up into sockets in a recessed area—a bit fiddly to reach but not something you need to do often: XLR for audio (pin 2 hot), IEC for power, and there’s a power switch. Also in that recessed area are the DIP switches: 1 turns the Neumann logo on/off, 2 dims it, 4 connects/disconnects the internal ground lift, 3 has no function. Along the top, above the fins of the heat sinks, are the acoustical controls and the output level and input gain controls. Controls Neumann has supplied studios and other audio facilities for so many decades that the company anticipates any and all practical problems a user of its products might run into. Hence the long list of optional accessories that give the user full control over where and how he uses the KH 120, from transporting them to mounting them in a variety of ways, if desired by way of the screw holes on the back plate of the unit. Much of the user manual is devoted to placement suggestions for best results. (Download it from http://tinyurl.com/5tlw2b2)

Neumann KH 120 A - Active Studio Monitor
A venerable mic maker puts its marque on the other end of the audio chain
Announced late in 2010 and shown at trade shows before finally being released a few months ago, the KH 120 A has created considerable interest because it is the first ever studio monitor in Neumann’s long history. As the letters KH convey, the 120 A began life as a product from Klein + Hummel, a company that was acquired by Sennheiser/Neumann a few years ago. So now Neumann truly has both ends of the signal chain covered, from transducer to transducer. Klein + Hummel never had the market penetration in North America that the brand enjoyed in Europe and elsewhere, where it had a long history of excellence. Upon the acquisition, its installed-sound product line was taken up by Sennheiser, and the studio monitors came under the Neumann brand. The K+H manufacturing facilities remain but were modified and updated to Neumann’s high-end standards, as were the product designs and specifications. I first heard the 120 A on show floors, and that meant that I could walk right up to a speaker and listen from an unrealistically close distance (to block out the ambient tradeshow noises...), but even though I was impressed with what I heard, there was no way that I could form a meaningful opinion. Now I’m glad to have a pair of the 120 A to myself for evaluation (there is also an otherwise identical model 120 D with digital inputs that should be available mid-2012), and here’s what I found.
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RECORDING JANUARY 2012

Once installed, the monitors can be adjusted to sound right in a variety of locations. With all acoustical controls at zero, a flat frequency response can be expected in anechoic conditions. Neumann knows that you and I don’t live in that kind of environment, so we get the following options: Bass 0 / –2.5 / –5.0 / –7.5 dB; Low-Mid 0 / –1.5 / –3.0 / –4.5 dB; Treble +1 / 0 / –1 / –2 dB. The manual suggests a list of settings for various circumstances before going on to recommendations for adjusting the acoustic level, starting with an input gain of –15 dB and an output level of 94 dB SPL. While a broadband pink-noise test signal at –20 dBFS is fed to the monitors, use a soundlevel meter (C-weighted, set to slow integration time) and adjust the input and output controls of the speakers to your liking. Sound My first impression was that the KH 120 A sounds pleasantly hi-fi-ish. Not smiley, not lacking bass either (practically flat to 60 Hz), but also not sizzling, brash or forward. Located out in the open, away from walls or from horizontal surfaces like that of a console, it gives me a balanced sound that works without inducing any kind of fatigue. As I kept listening to my usual variety of material in many styles, and while I wasn’t surprised to hear familiar material sound “different”, as happens with every change of speakers, I couldn’t for the longest time put my finger on one constant notion that percolated just below the surface of my consciousness: What was different? Then I put on Maria Schneider’s Jazz Orchestra CDs and Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and it hit me: The difference between the KH 120 and other monitors I had been hearing recently is a bit like the difference in tonal approach between the European and the American orchestral brass sections.

http://www.tinyurl.com/5tlw2b2

Recording - January 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2012