Hi. Seeking advice - particularly from those of you with experience in multichannel setups and Neumann kh120II.

Im going to prepare a quad setup for my Buchla. Multichannel stuff haven`t grapped my attention or interest before, but i feel quad can make very much sense in the Buchla universe, which is kind of designed for quad from the ground up, and it can easily be integrated in the creative process from the beginning in a meaningful way i think….
Anyway - i need two more speakers. I’d like 4 equal sized/powered monitors - two front and two rear. I’m in a 12-15 m2 room that is semi treated - i have put up a bunch of GIK panels and thats it. I know the best investment would be to do full proper treatment first, but i`ll most likely be going to another room in the near future, so i dont want to do the whole acoustic-shabang here and now.
I am currently using two 310’s that i love very much even though they might be a bit overkill for my needs and my room. I’d like to stay in the neumann-corner of the monitoring world, but i am open to other suggestions as well….

I have narrowed it down to these options:

1. Add two more 310’s. Expensive and perhaps quite overkill - if two 310’s s overkill, four must be over-overkill. I am still drawn to this solution however. I really like the 310’s and sometime down the line i could add a 5th and sub for an awesome 5.1 setup.
2. Sell the 310’s and get four 120ii. Would be the most economically wise decision since i could do it without getting that much money out of my pocket. I am intrigued by the new 120’s and the dsp thing. Could most likely do something good in my under treated room here and now. I’d have to say goodbye to my 310’s however (sob). This setup could also be expanded down the line to a more elaborate multichannel setup if i wish.
3. Keep the 310`s and add four 120’s. Also a bit overkill - and perhaps the least meaningful of the three. I’d get to keep my 310’s though and have a separate quad setup with four equal monitors. Its just a lot of monitors for my needs. Not sure if this setup would make any sense regarding further multichannel upgrades down the line….i guess i could add three 310’s and a sub for a 5.1.4 atmos setup.

What would you do? 4x310 or 4x120? Or perhaps 2x310+4x120? Right now im mostly interested in a great quad setup, but down the line i might feel like experimenting more with surround and perhaps atmos/spatial stuff. What setup would make most sense if i want to keep a door open for future multichannel upgrades?
Looooong post - Thank you for your inputs…..

Hi,

Quad is not 5.1 etc. and all speakers must be the same.

When I did a lot of 5.1 stuff in the 00's, I collected a lot of old 70's quad stuff and we even got a little international community trading going on. I had to move my speakers to conform to Quad rather than ITU 5.1.

A random person even sent me from the US the complete Pink Floyd in Quad as he had heard something I had mixed and thought I might like it. No idea who they were but warmed me heart to random internet contacts.

I assume you will still be doing some Stereo so would be reluctant to sell the 310s.

if you love your 310 don‘t sell them!

I‘ve mixed in many different surround setups and I don‘t believe the same speakers are necessary for the rears as long as they are a good (enough) match to the front and from the same family.

if your position during listening stays facing the front, the differences just from the off axis from your ears to the rears and the drastic change in room acoustics/response will outweigh differences in the speaker tentimes.
but carefull placement, some additional traps and proper delay alignment should not be overlooked.

if bass response and enough headroom are important I would consider kh150 for the rears.
haven‘t heard the mk2, but the original 120 lack a little bit in this department.

Ah yes have you been mixing true Quad?

Go cheap if you're planning on experimenting with equal-timbre n-channel surround configurations.

I use two-way active JBL LSR305s, which are ridiculously inexpensive (in the US, anyways) and are consistent from batch to batch. (I've even had luck with pawn shop orphans, they're that consistent!)

If you cannot get them to sound good, it's your fault! They have their imperfections, but err on the more neutral side, rather than the bright side.

I have an experimental multichannel setup with two main speakers plus eight smaller ones surround-ish: three to the left, three to the right, two in the back).
The eight small speakers are assigned in pairs, so I can send sounds "through the audience" from front left to back right etc., and they all had to be the same, small, good-sounding, relatively loud and affordable. I chose four pairs of active M-audio BX5 D3 speakers and never looked back.
During the pandemic I even used these speakers as the main PA for live performances in small venues like galleries - one pair in the room and one pair outside on the street.
But with your existing pair of 310s adding another pair of those would be the premium thing to do. If I were you, though, I'd start with snatching two used pairs of BX5s for really cheap and see where they might lead you...

Cheers,
Bert

no and I never been in a room with a true quad-setup in my life.
so for me they seem virtually non existent.

so the question to the op is -> is this purely for self enjoyment in this room and this synth only.

or should this also function as a window to the outside world and listening from outside material and mixing for others should be possible with this setup?

both are totally valid approaches.

Thank you for the inputs!

For now i am mostly considering doing a quad monitor setup so i can create and compose in quad on the Buchla - as in using quad integrated in the compositional process and not as a kind of after thought in post production.
I dont plan on releasing stuff in quad format as such - or starting a business here and now mixing in quad. My music might possibly find its way to theater or installation - who knows….but here i of course wont have to think of how the end listener will be able to play true quad.
I will however definitely dive into spatial/atmos/immersive sound and experiment with making the quad music translate here. I do think this area is very exciting, and that it gives some new possibillities in this regard….so i’l definitely dive into this.
Guess this is also why i consider what the possibilities are with my monitor setup down the line. If i go for 2x310 and 4x120 for instance. I could add 3 more 310’s and a sub and have a good (?) atmos - 5.1.4 starting point, if i want. Who knows - i might also discover this is a wild goose chase not leading anywhere meaningful to me and then i’ll take it from there….

Thank you for your input!

Yes….in quad i will definitely need/want identical speakers (size/power etc) - possibly in an ideal world. Perhaps the neumann software is a good option for matching the four speakers?

And yes - i will still need to be able to do stereo…..figure i will just use the front speakers when i need “just” stereo. This is also a reason why i would like to keep the 310’s (so nr 1 and nr 3 in my above options - unless of course i go for something smaller and cheaper for my quad system). Aaaaand if i need/want/like dsp control of the 310’s i’ll need to add a neumann sub to do the digital stuff…..hmmmmm - all those (expensive) options….

Yes….i think indeed in surround you can have different (smaller) speakers in the rear….but i believe quad has to have equal speakers in every corner. But if my quad setup ALSO can do surround (or even atmos) down the line with some additional speakers, that will be a factor with some importance for me….