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"plasticky" Neumanns?

MAB

Major Contributor
Plastic Troll thread?
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@Pearljam5000 I am not sure if you're aware of who Ken Rockwell is, and I have absolutely nothing against the guy - I must admit I didn't even know he also reviewed speakers, - but he's a bit the "WhatHifi" of the photography world. :)

Either way, woody, papery, dry, plasticky, I think we can agree that the Neumanns sound amazingly diverse!
 

mj30250

Senior Member
"Plasticky" and 2-dimensional? Are you sure they aren't describing their girlfriends?
 

thecheapseats

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Ken Rockwell (principally a photography person) is disappointed a studio monitor doesn't sound like a 'hi-fi' speaker?...
it's the wrong tool for that job... this has been common knowledge for over four decades...
 

unpluggged

Senior Member
Ken Rockwell (principally a photography person) is disappointed a studio monitor doesn't sound like a 'hi-fi' speaker?...
He is not. He actually praised it in that review.
 

lowkeyoperations

Senior Member
I don’t know what plasticky is supposed to mean and can only speak of KH120S which I have owned and produced on.

They are great speakers for their price. But they certainly have a sound. To me as a producer they sound like they have a 2bus compressor on them. Elements of a song are a little “glued together” rather than sitting separately. Something to do with time domain and attack/release and compression. Obviously trying to describe in words is hard but maybe “wet” comes to mind as opposed to descriptions like “dry” I’ve heard before for speakers that sound like elements are are presented more separately.

There’s a slight peak around 600-1000 hz that can be a little “nasal” sounding. The 2k dip rises again at 3k which could be “presence”. There is a bit of a peak around 9k that can be flattened to taste with dip switches but could possibly be perceived as “bright”.

“plasticky” I wouldn’t have thought to use though.
 

thecheapseats

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Ken Rockwell (principally a photography person) is disappointed a studio monitor doesn't sound like a 'hi-fi' speaker?...
it's the wrong tool for that job... this has been common knowledge for over four decades...
He is not. He actually praised it in that review.
go it... which is why I put a question mark in my comment... the limited, out of context text in the 'linkless' jpg above, was "for Hi-FI Use"... if he were disappointed - it would be because it 'is' n fact, the wrong tool for that job...
 

thecheapseats

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Oh were still doing the ole "monitors are a tool" thing? Huh that's news to me.
yes a tool - nothing more... but who is the 'we' in your "we're'?... get back to me when you've recorded a few thousand commercial tracks - until then there's no 'we'...
 

Sgt. Ear Ache

Major Contributor
I'd love to see a situation where a bunch of people - audiophiles, studio engineers, normal dummies (like me lol) - were ushered into a room blind-folded, sat down in a chair and given an audition of an array of different boxes with drivers in them and tasked with identifying which ones were "studio monitor tools" and which ones were "hi-Fi Speakers." And then maybe they could also ID the "plasticky" ones. Would be really interesting.
 
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