[NGD] New studio monitors

  • Yep, they are KH120A.


    At the beginning I connected them to Kemper with XLR<->XLR and they were very loud. I looked back then, they were at 0dB GAIN and 114db SPL.


    I set GAIN to -10dB and SPL to 100dB and now they are playable :)


    What a sound of this little beasts.

  • Being a technical fellow, Skoczy, you might appreciate this:


    Max. SPL in full space / half space - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 105.1 / 111.1 dB SPL
    Max. short term SPL with IEC-weighted noise - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 107 dB(C) SPL
    Max. short term SPL with music material at 2.3 m - - - - - - - - - - - - 97 dB(C) SPL (full range)
    Max. short term SPL with music material (typical conditions) - - - - -104 dB(C) SPL (with subwoofer)
    Max. long term SPL with pink noise at 2.3 m - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 88dB(C) SPL (full range)
    Max. long term SPL with pink noise at 2.3 m (typical conditions) - - 89dB(C) SPL (with subwoofer)


    At 114db SPL, I reckon you might have pushed them just a tad, mate. ;)

  • I've had these speakers since October 2013 and they are stunning IMO.


    Unfortunately, one of them died just before Christmas. I actually bought them from DV247 who give a 3 year guarantee so it's currently off for repair..... It was working perfectly and then just suddenly powered down and wouldn't go back on again. The trouble shooting guide seems to suggest there is an internal fuse and the fix is 'send it back'.


    I wasn't even playing it loudly at the time. Honest :) Cannot wait to get it back as those plus some reasonable home-made room treatment mean that I no longer bother listening to music in the living room. I just come into the Batcave and crank it up :)

  • Hey Gary, I can relate to that, mate, as I'd not even owned a home stereo (ever!) before upgrading successive Alesis monitors (20 years) to my current (final, I hope) ones. Talk about a whole new world.


    I'm glad I caught you, mate, 'cause I've made a point of monitoring (pun intended) a thread where I issued an expansive and heartfelt apology to you for a misunderstanding. The thread's been dead (did I kill it? LOL) ever since (Dec 16th 2015). I reckon you'd remember the "incident" if you "know" me even a little as what you thought I'd meant would surely have seemed way, way out of character for the Monkster.


    Anyway, here 'tis; I'd hate for such a comprehensive effort to go to waste but didn't want to push you via PM to read it, figuring I'd wait 'til I bumped into you on the forum at some point:


    (2) Spring reverb, again, again, again..... - Page 6 - Feature requests - Kemper Profiler User Forum


    I sincerely hope you accept that no ill will was intended, mate. Cheers Gary.

  • Just read that - I'm sorry to you for having not replied!


    No apology needed and I really appreciate you having taken the time to reply to me. I'm sorry in turn for my tardy response. Work + Christmas + life in general have meant very little guitar playing and, as such, I've been skim reading the forums very briefly.


    No hard feelings taken, given or anything - I've always found pretty much everyone here (you included) extremely helpful and polite. Hearts are generally in the right place which is not always the case on a forum.


    I shall have a beer in your honour because, well, why not? :)

  • You're a gem, Gary. Thank you mate!


    You know, I really don't feel any apology should be necessary on your part; the fault surely lies with my incompetence in dealing with the bizarre tech issues which arose that evening. Had I been able to split quotes properly (and do multiples), I'd have been able to express myself accurately.


    That said, if you're anything like I am, I very much understand your wanting to do so anyway; I find admitting fault, no matter how insignificant it may be, a liberating and personal-growth catalysing endeavour.


    You're a champ, mate. I'll have a beer for you too when I've recovered properly from this Christmas-unduced salmonella saga that dragged on for a couple of weeks.


    Go you good thing, Gary!

  • Congratulations for the upgrade. The Neumann (formarly Klein&Hummel) speakers are great for strictly analytic listening, so I'm sure you'll love the upgrade from your previous set of speakers. But ... :)
    I really hate these Neumanns, no matter if it's the 120 or even the 310. They just have no "soul" at all. I've been forced to use Klein&Hummel speakers for the better part of the last 28 years on a daily basis and I never fell in love with them when it comes to music. If someone reads this and plans to go for outstanding studio speakers, do yourself a favour and try KS Digital, they are just so much better. They have "soul" and they have a MUCH better stereo image.


    Sorry, didn't want to kill the party. :) They are good speakers, no doubt. But their popularity has a couple of reasons not directly related to their quality (for music applications).One of the reasons is that they can be found in studios all over the world and once you got used to them, it's much easier for you to get adapted to another pro studio environment using the same speakers ... which is pretty likely to happen with Neumann (Klein&Hummel) speakers. That's a big benefit of using these speakers ... and if you plan to use them for very analytic listening to uncover every single flaw in your mix without caring much about the "enjoyable" part of music, then you can't go wrong with them.


    If you're looking for high-end monitors that give you the same qualities with added "musicality" or "soul" and a MUCH better (more detailled, transparent) stereo image, then you really want to check KS Digital before you make a decision.


    Hope this helps someone :)
    Martin

  • I haven't heard of KS Digital, but for me, the Neumann (Klein&Hummel) set do exactly what I want them to : be a brutally honest window into a mix.


    If I was only going to listen to music on them for enjoyment, I'd rather have the Mackies or something similar, something a bit more 'hifi', with a smile curve :)

  • Enough with the manhugging already - get back on topic!! :D


    You gettin' jealous, Michael? LOL


    OK... I get where Martin's coming from, Sam; it's nice to have a little mojo as well as "surgical" accuracy. I'm sure you'd agree 'though that it's a dangerous path to venture down. That's why I love my Opals. The accuracy's there, but somehow they're always exciting and non-fatiguing to listen to.


    I didn't suggest the OP look at anything else as he appears to be more than happy with his new babies, and I'm happy for him. Almost inevitably 'though, these threads tend to attract suggestions of alternative models, not least because we tend to settle on and then fall in love with our monitors and subsequently want to share the love, so to speak.


    Skoczy, bro', champion non-verber, I'm very happy for you, bud. Enjoy!

  • I guess it's a matter of both being able to do "surgical work" and getting a true image of the what the sound REALLY is like, but also being able to be drawn into the music for the more artistic aspects of mixing rather than being at arm's length. Some people might have a hard time doing one or the other on certain speakers. That's why it's said that choosing monitors is a very personal thing, and not only a matter of frequency plots.

  • @Monkey_Man Ah, Opals! One of the other sets that I hanker for! Great monitors you got there, and one of the few sets that balance mojo with surgical precision. I guess they're cheaper over there, being Aussie (cost an absolute fortune in DK).


    @Michael_dk As always, sir, you've hit the nail squarely on the noggin.

  • I think you really misunderstood my recommendation. :)
    I'm talking about seriously good and brutally honest studio monitors, not about some living room speakers only for enjoying. :)
    But the difference to the KH speakers is the added brutally exact stereo image which is a pleasure to work with, plus an added level of depth in the overall sound that gives you this extra bit of "3D sound stage" feel as opposed to the slightly more 2-dimensional wall of sound from the KH speakers.
    It's impossible to describe the difference in text, all I can do is to recommend you to try them. They are a game changer, promised. Not looking back. ;)