Neumann KH 150

I was mixing with an old pair of Genelec 8040. My room is suboptimal (quite small, rather overtreated but still with substantial spikes in the low area), so I also used ARC2&3 and then “Reference 4” for calibration. With this system (especially with “Reference 4”) the situation became quite decent, in fact everything sounded good. However my mixes were poorly translated in other systems. Especially in hi end loudspeakers (my friend’s ATC 50 for example),there was an obvious mess in the low area and an overall lack of clarity. I decided to trust KH150 and MA1. At last I have a clear “view” of what is happening below 80-100Hz and indeed this makes a big difference in the overall mix. Clarity across the whole spectrum is also enhanced. My first impression was that the sound in the studio is not that “pleasant” any more, but the truth is that this applies for my previous mixes, not the reference tracks :-). Seriously now, my new mixes translate really better in other systems, which is the whole point I think. Finally I would like to mention that I focus in the area of folk/ world music, mixing natural instruments (or quality samples of natural instruments), with some electric elements (which has nothing to do with the EDM that Neumann mentions in their KH150 presentation and is rather unfair for these speakers).

I went over by budget with these speakers, but I have to say it was all worth it. The sound coming out from them has no coloration and it's pure. The bass is deep, clean and controlled and the mids/highs are very accurate with no dips or spikes in frequency. Simply what you are hearing is the exact sound that was recorded. Their dynamic range and transients are superb, you can instantly tell if a sound needs compression for example. Also they have great stereo imaging and sound very wide. If you are a mixing engineer these speakers will make your life easier.

They also look quite great and feel very robust.

I think these are the best studio monitors you can get in this price range. Highly recommend.