[Russell Dawkins]

For sale—an immaculate pair of Klein + Hummel o300s. This is one of the most respected near/mid field monitors out there, considered by some to be preferable to the replacement Neumann KH310.

I bought these new and have taken excellent care of them. I've seen the logo light flicker only once—when I was curious to see how loud they would go before protection cut in (indicated by a flickering logo light)—and that was substantially louder than I ever needed to play them, even when mixing a full orchestra at realistic levels in the 'midfield' (7 feet away).

You will see these in some of the very best studios, alongside or instead of the ubiquitous Yamaha NS10s sitting on the console. They are regarded as true reference grade by experienced engineers.

This three way has an 8" bass driver, a 3" dome mid, and a 1" dome tweeter, each driven directly by internal 150w, 65w and 65wrms class A/B amplifiers, for a total of 280 WRMS per speaker, or 435 W peak per speaker. Headroom for transients is startling—you should hear a well recorded drum set!

Tonality is very true and mid (vocal) range headroom is exceptional due mainly to the 3" dome. This differentiates these from almost all two-way speakers at this price point. Bass extension is flat to a true 40Hz, 6dB down at 32Hz and is very articulate, thanks to the sealed enclosure. The headroom in the midrange translates to effortless vocals without a trace of the quacky distortion that I hear on most speakers with voices like Dianna Krall, for example, who has a ton of energy in the 1000Hz range.

Note also that Klein + Hummel were the first to come to market with an active studio monitor, in 1967: the model OY, so they are an engineering-driven company with a real history: "The first studio monitor with an active crossover was the OY invented 1967 by Klein-Hummel. It was a hybrid three-way design with two internal amplifier channels." (from Wikipedia).

I have all the original factory double boxing and packaging for both speakers and grills, down to the manuals and original plastic wrap. Even the boxes are immaculate!

Hugh Robjohns of Sound On Sound said (in discussing monitors he had reviewed over the years) "...very few stand out as exceptionally good. In fact, I can count those models I have reviewed that fall into the 'outstanding' category on the fingers of one hand. My list would include K+H's O300."

See here for a set of specifications far more complete than is normally seen. Notice the ruler flat response:
http://www.neumann-kh-line.com/neumann-kh/home_en.nsf/root/prof-monitoring_discontinued-monitors_studio-products_O300#

These come with the never-seen (because they are expensive!) optional metal grills, chosen because I thought I might eventually relegate these to domestic service where WAF would be a consideration, and they do look 'living room acceptable' with the grills!



















I'm asking $3200 Canadian for them. Buyer pays shipping and insurance.

Thanks for reading.

[Goosepond]

I don't see a price! 

Gene

[Russell Dawkins]

bump

Price lowered to $3000 Canadian dollars for the pair. That's about $2307 USD. Offers will be entertained. Buyer pays shipping.

To repeat; these are considered to be as good—some think better—than the replacement model, the Neumann KH310, with the exception that the newer model goes louder. Nevertheless, these actually show lower distortion figures than the newer model at the same output levels. To see for yourself, click on 'measurements' on the right side of this page: http://www.neumann-kh-line.com/neumann-kh/home_en.nsf/root/prof-monitoring_discontinued-monitors_studio-products_O300#  and compare with the measurements of the new model found at the top of that page under 'studio monitor systems'.

Also, notice that I'm asking a little less than half what you would pay for the newer model once you figure in taxes and grill costs.

The progenitor of these speakers, the 098 (1982-1999) and 0198 (1998-2000) led to many copies by other pro studio manufacturers, like the Quested V3110 which sells for £5000 each in England (albeit with a 10" woofer—but ported—ugh) or $5500 USD each here: http://vintageking.com/quested-v3110-mkii-active-single

NOTE: text in original ad copy has been modified, you might want to re-read it if you are interested in these.

[Armaegis]

Oh man, such an intriguing set and in Canada! Why oh why did these home renos of mine have to pop up?

[Russell Dawkins]

Maybe the renos should wait (unless you are getting the material for half off) although, as Fernando Lamas might have said, "It is better to look good than to feel good"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0RTD7250II

[Armaegis]

Unfortunately it's stuff that has city bylaw inspectors breathing down my neck. The previous owners did renos without permits etc and the city is giving me a ton of grief because apparently now that they're aware of it, the onus is entirely on me to fix things.

[JLM]

Very impressive speakers.  And a great deal considering they include six amps (actively tri-amped).

[Russell Dawkins]

Last opportunity for Audiocircle members.
I would rather sell here, but I have an offer from someone in L.A. which resulted from an ad I had on a different forum. We have settled on $2300 USD including shipping and insurance. The thing is, I don't know this person from Adam and would feel more comfortable dealing with people I sort of 'know', like many of you.

If anyone wants to match that price, please make an offer. These are very value-laden speakers and actually measure (and sound, apparently) better in many significant ways than their replacements under the Neumann banner, the Neumann KH310, which seems only to have the advantage of being able to generate higher SPLs.
To hear a well recorded drum set on these o300s is to be amazed.

Come on guys, don't let these go to a stranger!

- Russell

[IanVan]

Still for sale? Where in Canada are you located?

Thank you.

[Russell Dawkins]

I guess they are. I have an offer from LA, but I am a little nervous about the process involving PayPal, so I would rather sell locally, or at least in Canada.

I am located in Victoria BC.

[Russell Dawkins]

One last bump at the price mentioned- $2300 USD shipped to the States, including insurance. More detailed photos available by email, if wanted (nice and sharp—I use a Ricoh GR).

[Rocket_Ronny]

Russell, have you tried these in a vertical orientation? How well do they image and how loud can they go before the limiter kicks in?

Rocket Ronny

[Russell Dawkins]

Russell, have you tried these in a vertical orientation? How well do they image and how loud can they go before the limiter kicks in?

Rocket Ronny

They image fantastically—in fact that is one of the areas of performance which distinguishes these from all other similarly priced studio monitors of which I am aware, and which share other performance characteristics which I find valuable and usually require a three way design—namely, low distortion and high headroom through the midrange, linearity of overall response (tonal veracity), and low distortion and fast settling time through the bass range (thanks partly to the sealed enclosure).

I have never tried them vertically, since I assumed they were designed with horizontal placement on the meter bridge in mind, hence the vertical orientation of the mid/tweeter array when the box is on its side. They have been designed this way for minimum visual interference when used on a meter bridge and the engineer wants to see over them to the recording room. They were also intended to be used with the domes on the outside, away from the centre of the whole array, e.g., domes on the left speaker on the left side.

 I know they have been used vertically as center channels, but even in that use, horizontal placement would make more sense to me. This is born out by the directivity graphs.
Here the horizontal:



and here's the vertical:



Notice the slight hiccup around the crossover between the mid dome and the HF driver at 3.3 kHz in the vertical directivity plot. If the speaker were vertical, the axis between the mid and HF dome would be horizontal so the response would be a little quirky around 3.3kHz if you moved your head too far laterally. If you look at the region around 650Hz (the LF/MF crossover) you'll see nothing amiss in either graph, so the relationship between the bass driver's cone and mid dome is far less critical and it doesn't matter that they are arrayed horizontally to each other. It matters more that the MF and HF domes are vertically aligned, because the horizontal directivity right through 3.3 kHz is well controlled.

In the average two way, of course, the tweeter should be vertically displaced from the woofer, since the crossover frequency is usually such that the wavelength is shorter than the space between the drivers and also, the slopes are shallow and the crossovers are also often in the analog domain.

As to maximum levels, K+H are conservative with their specs, but they suggest 100 - 110 dB above 100Hz for 1-3% THD, but that's for one speaker, continuous, with no 'room gain'. In the real world, with two speakers running and near one surface (wall or desk) you could easily add 6-10 dB to that figure.

I know that in the nearfield they are capable of playing an uncompressed drumkit at fully realistic levels before the red "K+H" nameplate flickers (indicating limiting coming into action). Startling!

Here's the graph for Max SPL for one speaker in free space:

[Rocket_Ronny]

Thanks Russel. I know they are designed to be on their side but would not fit on my desk then. You know where this is going. Interesting about the drum kit.

Rocket Ronny

[Russell Dawkins]

Well, as I say, I have seen them used vertically. It wouldn't be as compromised as Yamaha NS-10s on their sides, which is done all the time—possibly more often than not.

The crossover is has 24 dB per octave slopes, so this minimizes off axis mis-behaviour.
There is a wealth of information on this page if you click on the various topics under "information" on the right hand margin.
http://www.neumann-kh-line.com/neumann-kh/home_en.nsf/root/prof-monitoring_discontinued-monitors_studio-products_O300

[Russell Dawkins]

Yet another disguised bump:

Here's an example of a variation in the horizontal placement, plus the type of studio these find homes in.

By the way Rocket_Ronny, these are not very big:
253 x 383 x 290 mm (10" x 15 1/8" x 11 3/8")


http://www.thesounddesign.com/mastering/studio/

[Rocket_Ronny]

Nice. He sets up his speakers like I do. No punny soundstage for me.

Rocket Ronny.

[Rocket_Ronny]

Hi Russell. Can they accept an unbalance signal and if so are they able to go full output?

Rocket Ronny

[Russell Dawkins]

Hi Russell. Can they accept an unbalance signal and if so are they able to go full output?

Rocket Ronny

Yes to both, Ron. The way I would do it is to make up a two conductor mic cable with the sleeve of the RCA going to both the shield and the conductor going to pin 3 on the XLRM end. The centre pin of the RCA goes to pin 2 of the XLR. The shield is connected to pin 1 on the XLR end.
I usually ran these speakers from the balanced outputs of my ADCOM GFP-750, running in passive mode.

See page 4 of the owners manual:
http://tinyurl.com/6sq9zwf

[Russell Dawkins]

I've dropped my asking price to $3000. All else remains the same—buyer pays shipping.

R