On display at this week’s NAMM show in Anaheim (Booth 6577, Hall A), the new Neumann KH 80 DSP is the company’s first studio monitor with digital signal processing.
“Our DSP engine is an in-house development that primarily takes a formerly unknown variable and makes it calculable: the room. Expect clear, high-precision sound wherever you are monitoring,” explains Wolfgang Fraissinet, president of Neumann.
With upcoming “Neumann.Control” software, the 2-way, nearfield KH 80 DSP will be able to fully calibrate itself to the room. This can be performed either automatically (Precision Alignment), with some simple questions (Guided Alignment), or adjusted with complete flexibility using the built in 8-band fully parametric equalizer (Manual Alignment).
“In the KH series we have always been obsessed with the details when it comes to the calculation and modeling of the drivers, waveguide and cabinet,” Fraissinet adds. Using mathematical models, the two drivers were calculated to a degree of depth, “which is unusual even for our industry,” he explains. Nonlinear distortion is thus minimized from the very beginning.
The proprietary MMD Waveguide (Mathematically Modeled Dispersion) optimizes the frequency response on- and off-axis, and enables more movement within the listening area and more consistency in more varied acoustic environments.
The DSP engine also helps ensure a linear frequency response with a FIR filter, which helps in ensuring that in every environment all frequencies, are precisely timed.
KH 80 DSP Overview
Drivers: 4-inch and 1-inch
Amplifiers: 120 + 70 watts
Frequency response: 57 Hz—21 kHz, +/-3 dB
Maximum SPL: 108.8 dB
Dimensions: 233 x 154 x 194 mm
Weight: 7 pounds, 8 ounces
Input: XLR/Jack
The KH 80 DSP will be available from February 2017. Neumann.Control will be available from Q2 2017.
