Have you tried Sonarworks or other room-correction software? I used it for a bit but decided the transient smearing wasn’t worth evening out the spectrum a little. I’m sure it could be done better.

My current sub seems to be dying (lots of weird clicking noises) so I’m starting to think about switching speakers or adding the Neumann sub.

Regardless thanks for the post. Let us know if your opinion changes!

I would say the Neumann correction software is in a different league to sonarworks. I don’t get any of the smearing that I experienced and eventually pushed me away from SW. At the moment i’m running the 750 and 120s and it works really well. It’s a little fiddly to setup but at least now you can store correction profiles.

Haven’t tried SonarWorks. The Neumann software is indeed a bit fiddly at first, but once you figure out getting it switched over to network control and set the rest of the switches and knobs appropriately, it’s straightforward from there. The result is sublime, but I’ve also boosted the output on the sub a bit post-calibration to get a little bit more oomph (there is plenty in tap).

Somewhat annoyingly, albeit par for the course, it’s also helping me hear some of the areas where I need treat better / differently.

This echoes my experience - see post here on the 750/MA1 thread:-

Neumann KH 750 - read before you buy it

Very similar boat having had the 120s for nearly 10 years.

750 + MA1 is a legit 'game changer' as they say, and I hate that term!

Nice to see some other similar experiences, and 100% agree. Someone in that thread mentioned not seeing their 310s as congested, but after the sub and calibration being able to spot the bottlenecks. Perfect description of the change, although I’d say with the 120s it is almost like an entirely new speaker. Massive, massive upgrade.

I used sonarworks for a bit, but I don't like how it makes you take measurements from 28 different points. Or more that you don't have the option to choose to measure just the mix position if you happen to have a small home setup. You can get much more accurate results for single mix position setups if you only measure from that spot. Maybe they changed that by now but I haven't used it in a while.

Now I use minidsp 4x10. I like that because it's a dedicated unit that allows 5 parametric EQ bands per channel, and an extra 2 for the inputs. My listening position is so much more accurate now, I don't care what the room correction opponents say.

Do you mean that at the lowest possible input gain you can still hear the self-noise? Even while listening to music?

I am about to dive into the Neumann sub thing, after talking to my acoustician friend, he said there's less of a risk of having to move everything around by adding the kh750 than swapping both kh120 for 8 inch ones, and that the added flexibility of being able to "correct" the room first by just moving the sub around (including putting it up!) is at least worth the shot.

As for Sonarworks, I used it for a while and grew to seriously dislike it. I always used to turn it on and off, and although that competently adjusts amplitude, they have no idea how to program unobtrusive filters. Heard that mess on headphones, and heard that mess on the speakers, as an equalizer it's just subpar and nothing close to transparent. All I hear when I turn it on is "now there are filter artifacts over a more linear output."

Makes it really hard to judge everything else, especially if we're training our ears over the years to hear what EQ'S do to the sound. Transient smearing is just a small part of what -very bad- sounding filters represent. Reducing the actionable points to six nodes is already less risky than the mess Sonarworks does even with the same code, and I believe Neumann has a better idea about FIR filters. Plus latency, 1.2ms for the Neumann system seems acceptable, software processing and loopback over the DAW or system wide does not.

I'll post this update here since I've seen a few users looking around for the same answers. I may have written something similar in another thread as well, but at this moment I am quite impressed by what I'm listening, so here it goes.

After Neumann released the KH120 mk2, which is a DSP based system that goes 8Hz lower than the 120A, I was tempted to simply swap them for the allegedly great linearization and amplitude correction, but it's also obvious that selling 120A's now will be bad, low prices and few interested, so in the end, after browsing around for other setups I just decided to double down and get the KH750A.

I tested three positions in my studio which looked doable, the simplest one (under my desk) left me with a pretty even response everywhere except for a +-4db dip at 45Hz. My studio is well treated, with a relatively odd listening position but made of drywall except for 2 walls and the floor, which makes everything easier to work with acoustically.

The last position involved raising the sub 1m off the floor and putting it behind the desk towards a recessed end of the room, not really in the corner, but sort of going towards it. And insanely, putting the basses there (which is one of the greatest advantages of working with a sub, the crossover and repositioning the lowest frequencies in the room without changing your mains and your listening position), took care of the last dip. The measurement shows a couple dips and boosts when untreated of less than 6db until about 700Hz (the highest most likely a phase issue), and the end result of the MA1 setup is mind-blowingly flat. Nothing is boomy, nothing hangs anywhere, and the 120A's sound the best they've ever sounded.

Just an expensive delight. This is now a 3.000€ setup, and it sounds like it. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have achieved this with "normal" bigger speakers, because I didn't want to change everything around, and where I had a boost at 60Hz and a dip at 70Hz with no sub, both of them are entirely gone even before running the correction. After finishing the DSP setup, and adjusting a couple EQ points to taste while listening to my trusted references (also delightful), everything sounds mind-blowingly right. I have no doubt this will help me a lot with my next productions, mixes and masters.

Also to add, connecting through AES is great, the converter for the KH120 A's is now the sub, and that also sounds amazing. No "regular" sub would've brought me anywhere close to that, and now the pointless process of buying newer versions from the same speakers (only to end without the last 1 1/2 octaves where music happens just the same) is just a past idea. BTW, I believe even if I do change my mains at some point, I'm keeping this sub. Surprise, surprise, it's as good as people who rave about it say it is.

Thanks for sharing your experiences scolfaro. I’m currently using the KH120’s with an Eve Audio TS108 sub. This works quite well but there is clear room for improvement in evening out the frequencies in my room. I have various modes in my room that need addressing when using a sub in my room. I’m getting a much flatter frequency response when just using the tops and I’m torn between changing to a pair of KH150’s without sub or change the TS108 to the Neumann KH750.

You're welcome Dickie, you helped me decide as well

I was about to do something similar (had two slight dips and one more relevant bump that disturbed me before the sub). Got torn between new mains or the kh750 (and a couple big traps I'm building, even though I have lots of panels in the room :D ).

Cost issues aside, my acoustician told me that a sub was actually easier to fit in a functioning room than new bigger speakers (1 point to move around vs 2 with endless possible combinations). His concluding Argument was "it could be you'll just replace your speakers and it'll work right away, but it's not guaranteed, with a sub you can just move the sub around if it doesn't work." Ditto.

Quite literally, one dip in the next to best spot (the worst and unresolvable by the dsp) became a bump with less than half the amplitude just by moving the sub around here, and then the DSP just flattened it all out.

Also I need to add, the sub without DSP sounded a bit crazy, manual alignment was already better than no alignment, and when the MA-1 was used it was just amazing. The 150s look great, but if you can buy from somewhere with a 30 day return policy, the 750 is probably a safe bet for you for a bit more than half the cost.

How are people liking these? Mk 2 better? Supposed to be without the aluminum interior…. I think it’s finally time to upgrade my Mackies lol ?