Neumann KH 120 II W Active Studio Monitor (Single Unit)

General

It's worth mentioning just how popular the Neumann KH 120 studio monitor still is, and while it's still in production, no one is ever going to argue with an upgrade. The reason that you'll find the first-gen model in most high-end studios is simple: Neumann. This is one of the most renowned microphone developers on the planet, and that level of perfectionism is exactly what you get with one of their monitors. Basically, a Neumann monitor is able to reveal the details that most models just can't.

The Neumann KH 120 II Studio Monitor

An extensive, all-purpose studio tool, the Neumann KH 120 II studio monitor somehow manages to improve on the perfection of the MKI, and one of the biggest improvement lies in the chips. Here, the DSP ensures that the crossovers are free of any phase issues and also features Automatic Monitor Alignment, which is Neumann's take on monitor calibration, meaning that the performance of this model can be finely tuned to compensate for any less than ideal acoustics. The housing is also new and is more sustainably produced than that of the MKI. On top of that, the 5.25 inch woofer, the waveguide and the amplification have all been improved, resulting in a solid mid-field speaker that's more than capable of taking on mainstream projects. For more ambitious projects, you could kit yourself out with a pair of these monitors and a matching subwoofer, but even if you just stick with the monitor, what you're getting already far outstrips the original.