Neumann KH 120 II

Sources split, but lopsidedly. ASR, Sound On Sound, AMAZONA and delamar all hear a neutral, uncoloured balance, and most owners agree, including one who compared it with Genelec 8030s at 90 cm in a treated room and found the Neumann tiring at first but more honest. A minority find the same balance dull: an ASR owner who called it boring next to his Genelec 8030 at home, and a Reddit user who, after three years of daily use, finds it fatiguing for arranging, though still right for mixing.

A strength for the size, and the most common surprise. ASR heard warm, present bass at over a metre, SOS found it extended and informative, delamar calls it full and detailed, and owners coming from 8030Cs or JBLs hear more low end than they expected. In small or boundary-loaded rooms two owners turned the bass switch down 2 dB. The limits are the usual ones for a 5.25-inch woofer: ASR's sub-bass torture track distorted until a 35–40 Hz high-pass was added, and AMAZONA and delamar suggest a subwoofer, or the KH 150, for bigger rooms and bass-heavy productions.

“But what I immediately noticed was the warmth of the bass out of this little speaker!”

amirm, Audio Science Review (one speaker, 1+ m)

“KH120 II bass is both impressively extended and usefully informative of pitch and dynamics”

Phil Ward, Sound On Sound

“bis auf die vielleicht etwas zu schlanke Abstimmung im Bassbereich”

Jörg Hoffmann, AMAZONA.de

Sources split, lopsidedly. Most describe the top end as clear and airy without harshness, fine for long sessions: delamar, an ASR owner listening at 84 dB, and a Thomann buyer comparing it with Genelec 8030s. An 8030C owner hears the Neumann as less bright than the Genelec. One owner coming from Adam A7V ribbon tweeters heard it as dull over the analog input and much crisper over S/PDIF.

Consistently praised. SOS heard extraordinarily well-focused stereo images, and AMAZONA found imaging very good out of the box and sharper again after MA 1 calibration. Owners describe a precise stereo image and good separation. One owner coming from 8030Cs at under a metre heard better instrument separation from the Neumann, but a slightly smaller stage at low volume.

“its ability to create extraordinarily well‑focused stereo images speaks of really well sorted electro‑acoustic design”

Phil Ward, Sound On Sound

“Schon bei den ersten Tönen fällt der Zugewinn an Abbildungsschärfe und Präzision sofort auf”

Jörg Hoffmann, AMAZONA.de (after MA 1 calibration)

“The Neumann's are more analytical but astoudingly musical.”

Xyrium, ASR review thread (desk, within 1 m; coming from Genelec 8030C)

A clear strength, and the reason many buy it. SOS says it reveals mix detail 'throughout the audio band', and owners describe hearing far more detail than on Genelec 8030s or Focal Alpha 50s, making it easy to tell a great mix from a merely good one. An owner upgrading from the original KH 120 heard a small but audible gain in upper-mid clarity, especially on vocals.

“The KH120 II reveals mix detail and insight throughout the audio band in a way that makes mix work a pleasure.”

Phil Ward, Sound On Sound

“I realized that I could hear SO much more detail with the Neumann's.”

Rüte, Thomann owner review (vs Genelec 8030, 90 cm, treated room)

Plenty of clean output for nearfield work. ASR reached very impressive levels from one speaker at over a metre with no distortion above the sub-bass, and SOS can't imagine running out of level in a reasonable work scenario. Owners describe no audible distortion at high volume and more headroom than the Genelec 8030C. The caveat is port noise: one owner hears it from about 75 dB on solo bass notes below 60 Hz.

“I could get to very impressive levels with no hint of distortion above sub-bass”

amirm, Audio Science Review (one speaker, 1+ m)

“I can’t really imagine running out of nearfield volume level in any reasonable work scenario with the KH120 II.”

Phil Ward, Sound On Sound

“port noise is prominent from 75 db and up and only when playing solo parts that play at low frequency <60hz.”

bitels, ASR review thread

Placement guidance more than disagreement, and it depends on the room. The front ports and rear-panel BASS and LOW-MID switches are designed for walls and desks, and owners use them: −2 dB bass in a small 3 × 2 m room, and −6 dB bass and −6 dB low-mid on a desk against a wall in an untreated room, which was still far from flat at the seat. One owner with an 8351B and KH 120 II finds all the KH models low-mid heavy in-room until corrected. delamar found the sweet spot fairly wide. ASR advises listening on the reference axis because of the usual two-way vertical dip. Neumann recommends 1–2 m listening distance.

“2-way non-coaxial speakers show the classic dip off-axis so best to stick to reference axis (upper ring of the woofer)”

amirm, Audio Science Review

“Bei den Neumann KH120 MKII ist der Sweet Spot relativ breit”

Michael Kilian, delamar.de

“Even at a nearfield listening position, the frequency response is no longer ruler flat.”

Cinnamaker, r/audiophile (in-room REW, desk against the wall, untreated room, 2.5–3 ft)

Strong agreement among people who mix on it: mixes made on these hold up elsewhere, problems are easy to hear, and 'there's no guesswork' (SOS). Owners report hearing the car-test problems at the desk and trusting them through long days. Even the Reddit user who finds them tiring for arranging calls them great for critical mixing.

“I expect that if you can make a mix sound full and vibrant on them, the mix will translate anywhere.”

Rüte, Thomann owner review

“All I need is trust in referencing. I trust them in my room.”

Sonic_Ally, r/audioengineering

“my mixes are translating well”

FenceF, r/audioengineering (3 × 2 m partly treated room, MA 1)

Sources split, and the split looks like unit-to-unit variation rather than two views of one sound. Several owners call the pair silent or near silent, one even at very close range, and one who disliked the speakers still praised how quiet the hiss was. Others report a tweeter hiss audible from the seat at 1.2 m, static or crackle that appeared after weeks or months, a burst of noise audible from several metres, or full-volume white noise on waking from standby. Neumann told one owner the developing tweeter noise was a hardware defect.

The DSP and MA 1 room alignment are the headline, and reviewers who ran them were impressed. SOS calls MA 1 a safety net even in a decent room, AMAZONA says only with MA 1 do you get the speaker's full quality, and owners describe the change as 'night and day', particularly in small or partly treated rooms. The dissent comes from an owner who found the calibration finicky and sensitive to desk height and seating position. Two practical points recur: MA 1 is a roughly $300 extra, and it needs an Ethernet network (one owner needed an IPv6-capable switch). Inputs are XLR and S/PDIF coax.

“it definitely adds a confidence‑building safety net”

Phil Ward, Sound On Sound (MA 1, in his studio)

“The results: mindblowingly fantastic.”

FenceF, r/audioengineering (3 × 2 m garden-office studio, partly treated)

“The room calibration turned out to be finicky and very dependent on a lot of things going on in the room like the desk height and my position.”

danila, ASR review thread

The day-to-day handling draws more complaints than the sound. Owners report units that would not wake from standby, or woke out of sync, needing a power cycle, and firmware updates have only partly fixed it. The MA 1 software is called buggy and laggy, and one owner spent hours getting the network working. ASR found the vertical power and XLR sockets fiddly to plug in, and a Thomann buyer found the bottom switch positions hard to reach. AMAZONA found the calibration itself very simple once connected.

“it is a bit of a pain to get the cables to go in and stay properly”

amirm, Audio Science Review

“The faulty unit could only be restored by manually switching it off at the backplate, waiting 5-10mins, then switching it back on.”

BubbleBuddy, ASR review thread

“But beware, the neumann software is very buggy.”

zwap, Gearspace

Sources split, and this is the record's main warning. Reviewers find the speaker solidly made and well finished, and some owners report years of trouble-free use. But the enthusiast threads and retail reviews carry a long run of owner failure reports: units that would not power up, a speaker that smelled of burning and stopped, a replacement that short-circuited with a bang, pairs where both speakers failed within months, and one buyer who returned five pairs, then four more monitors, over crackle and low-end cabinet resonance. Several ended in warranty repairs taking weeks. These are self-reported and there is no failure-rate data, but the pattern is consistent across ASR, Gearspace and Thomann.

Sources split. SOS and most owners see a top-tier small monitor at a sensible price, and several feel the upgrade from budget monitors outweighs the cost. The other camp found the difference small for the money: one owner heard little over a $100-a-side JBL LSR305, another nothing to justify about €1,800 with MA 1 over his Yamaha HS80Ms, and some ASR members would take the cheaper Genelec 8030C with EQ elsewhere. Even a happy Thomann buyer calls it a premium over similarly specified rivals.