Neumi BS5 Bookshelf Speaker Review

Foreword / YouTube Video Review

I tested this speaker over a year ago when I did not have the Klippel Near Field Scanner. I wanted to test it again with the Near Field Scanner so I could have comparable data with my more recent reviews. Neumi was kind enough to send me a pair out to review again. The results do differ from my previous review (link) namely in the midrange where my old results were more linear by about 1.5dB (or so) but I’m not too bothered by this. I verified with Neumi that the speaker hasn’t changed so most likely the lower resolution of my old method lead to less than perfect matching between my ground plane method and farfield gated response. That combined with the higher resolution of the NFS yields a more representative result today. For what it’s worth, I tested the passive speaker from the powered set on the NFS and got practically the same result as this speaker.

Neumi BS5 Bookshelf Speaker Review

YouTube Video Review version:

Intro

I stumbled on talk of the Neumi BS5 speaker recently in the context of a potential high-value speaker. Out of curiosity, I went to the product page on Amazon to check them out and liked what I saw. I then pulled up the Neumi’s BS5 manual here is the link where I saw placement recommendations, and some other bits of information which all gave me the impression the manufacturer cares about how the user listens to their product rather than the old “sink or swim” attitude low-cost products leave you with. Generally, when this information is laid out for the user it also implies the product is worthwhile. At least, that’s the impression I am left with in those cases.