Kali Audio IN-8v2 (Second Wave) 3-Way Studio Monitor Review

[Joeyd33]

Do these have a wide soundstage? I’m looking at these for a desk and sometimes to watch movies on the bigscreen tv. I don’t want or have room for a subwoofer so I need something that plays pretty low and can only go bookshelf size. I had JBL 305p’s and they played low enough for me so I’m sure these would be great but I am wondering how they would be for movies.

 

[Chromatischism]

They are rather large for a desk but would easily beat anything else you're considering in the price range.

 

[Pearljam5000]

They are rather large for a desk but would easily beat anything else you're considering in the price range.

Better than Adam T8V?

 

[Ciobi69]

They are great speakers i use myself even with movies crossed with my subs at 100 hz they are very clear, soon they will go as surround because i did find my dream speakers, for the price the Kali are hard to get beaten, coaxial with good output for a monitor

 

[Joeyd33]

They are great speakers i use myself even with movies crossed with my subs at 100 hz they are very clear, soon they will go as surround because i did find my dream speakers, for the price the Kali are hard to get beaten, coaxial with good output for a monitor

Nice! I was wondering how they were with movies without a sub . Not sure if the detail they had would be too revealing or if they are just flat out fun. Did they end up having some nice width for the soundstage?

 

[Joeyd33]

They are rather large for a desk but would easily beat anything else you're considering in the price range.

They are at the limit of what I wanted for my desk. The front port does help a lot and I keep everything very minimal so the bigger size doesn’t bother me. It’s the depth I usually have to worry about . Not sure if the IN-5v2’s might be a better fit for desk but not good enough for movies. I’ve been trying to not look at monitors but review after review I look at I can’t find anything that seems to fit what I’m looking for. But the Kali‘s always seem like what I may be looking for.

I’d really love to find a speaker with a holographic sound. I’m an absolute sucker for that.

 

[Ciobi69]

Nice! I was wondering how they were with movies without a sub . Not sure if the detail they had would be too revealing or if they are just flat out fun. Did they end up having some nice width for the soundstage?

Without the subs are fine, at high volume you could have some problems, but dependes on what you need, they are not super wide like Focals ( what i remember was wide) but they are very controlled and like more holography

 

[neRok]

I don’t want or have room for a subwoofer

Have you considered something like this: https://www.sigbergaudio.no/products/inkognitosubwoofer

 

[Joeyd33]

Have you considered something like this: https://www.sigbergaudio.no/products/inkognitosubwoofer

Nope I don’t want a subwoofer at all. Although I do miss the slim subwoofer I had from Focal but that ended up breaking . Since I got tinnitus I lost all interest in subs even though I am looking for something that plays into the 40hz area. Desk wise I 100% don’t want/need a sub but for movies in the bigger room it would be nice to find something that has maybe 2 times the output of something like the JBL 305p’s if that‘s possible but even that isn’t a dealbreaker at all.

Although I would give up the 40hz bass in speakers if I could find a 2.0 system that could give me holographic sound.

 

[neRok]

Nope I don’t want a subwoofer at all. Although I do miss the slim subwoofer I had from Focal but that ended up breaking . Since I got tinnitus I lost all interest in subs even though I am looking for something that plays into the 40hz area. Desk wise I 100% don’t want/need a sub but for movies in the bigger room it would be nice to find something that has maybe 2 times the output of something like the JBL 305p’s if that‘s possible but even that isn’t a dealbreaker at all.

Although I would give up the 40hz bass in speakers if I could find a 2.0 system that could give me holographic sound.

I've got IN8 but because of the size of my room and where I need to place the speakers, I always end up with a null at 80 or 90 or 100Hz, and that just make them sound pretty weak on their own. I had the same null when I had 6" speakers though, so it isn't a capability problem, it's a room problem. The 8" might have a bit more bass at 50-60Hz than the 6" speakers had, but not enough to "overcome" the hole between 70-110Hz (wherever it falls). So if your room behaves the same, different size of basic ported speakers won't help. You can test if you have a null with a measurement mic, or you could try room sim feature in REW and see what it suggests.

There is another way to get deep performance and overcome such a null, and that is with a relatively expensive cardioid speaker such as D&D 8c. If you want all the performance from just 1 pair of speakers, that's probably the sort of thing you should be looking at. Cardioid have "directional" bass that can "overcome" room modes (modes are one of the causes of nulls). Also they have heavy DSP built in to get that deep bass performance.

Also with the IN8 and their coaxial driver, you need to have the speakers toed in or out so that you aren't listening on-axis, because the on-axis response isn't ideal. This is fine for a single listening position, like how I use mine on my computer and have them towed in only slightly from being parallel with room, but if I move left and right of my main listening position (like if it were a 3 seater couch), then quickly the nearby speaker becomes overly loud and the stereo image fails (ie if I move left, the left speaker is now basically on axis and quite overpowering). But sitting in the MLP it sounds very good. I've played some games recently with the speakers on and they sound good too - good vocal locations and effects.

So the IN8 are great for the price but might not do what you want on their own (depending upon your exact situation).

 

[Joeyd33]

but if I move left and right of my main listening position (like if it were a 3 seater couch), then quickly the nearby speaker becomes overly loud and the stereo image fails (ie if I move left, the left speaker is now basically on axis and quite overpowering).

That is also a huge problem I have as well in the bigger room! If it’s one thing that ruins the movie experience it’s that right there. That’s why I’m trying to find something with a large soundstage(if that even fixes that problem). As far as bass goes I have no problem with them in either room. It’s just the 305’s didn’t sound good at higher levels in my opinion. So if the Kali’s have more bass than the 305s it’s more than enough for me. So I’m just basically looking for something that sounds better to fill a room and possible desk/home theatre use.

Those D&D speakers are way out of my budget. I’m trying to stick of a budget of 1k for speakers (used or new). I did see the Kali’s used that I was going to buy today but someone already snatched them up , so that sucks.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Although I would give up the 40hz bass in speakers if I could find a 2.0 system that could give me holographic sound.

Got room on your desk for one of these?

Carver C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator

 

[Joeyd33]

Got room on your desk for one of these?

Carver C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator

Does that actually work?! I have space for that and if I didn’t I would find a way if this actually puts out a holographic sound that works and doesn‘t sound like a crappy 3d built in windows pc effect. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of these! Time to go look up some reviews.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Does that actually work?! I have space for that and if I didn’t I would find a way if this actually puts out a holographic sound that works and doesn‘t sound like a crappy 3d built in windows pc effect. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of these! Time to go look up some reviews.

I can't testify one way or another having never used a Carver product with that feature. It's a vintage piece from circa 1990 IIRC, so you might want to comb the Internet for some appropriately elderly reviews -- my sense is that some folks like it a lot while others don't, and it apparently works better on some recordings than others. Getting an appropriately enhanced sense of breadth and depth without losing clarity in a 2.0 or 2.1 configuration is a challenge on a sub-$1kUSD budget, that's for sure. I found myself wanting that too, and I wound up throwing in the towel on the idea and resorting to multiple speakers with appropriate processing (a mid-1980s Yamaha DSP-1 and DSR-100 Pro), eventually arriving at a 6.1 (7.1 for Dolby-encoded movies and TV) system with a pair of IN-8s and an IN-5 for the center channel doing most of the heavy lifting. Good luck in your endeavor!

 

[thewas]

To overcome such room nulls usually one or more subs are more expedient, for example instead of getting the IN-8 getting the LP-6 and WS-6.2 as such combination gives often more choices in placement regarding the nulls.

Without sub for example the monitor should be placed close to the front wall

while with sub it doesn't need to

Source and more: https://www.genelec.com/monitor-placement

 

[prasanth.nath]

I was checking some data in an Import/Export database and found this info.
The landed cost of 1 unit of this is 248 USD (to India), while the retail price is 604 USD! Holy cow!
238 USD includes 43% Tax!

Is there so much of profit in distribution?

 

[denzel200219]

Why is the preference score so low? How is it possible that the lp6 v2 which are inferior in every way, scored higher?

 

[dfuller]

Why is the preference score so low? How is it possible that the lp6 v2 which are inferior in every way, scored higher?

It's the diffraction effects at the very top end that 1.) are probably not particularly audible and 2.) largely go away if not directly on axis that are causing the score to be lower than perhaps reality would demonstrate.

 

[denzel200219]

It's the diffraction effects at the very top end that 1.) are probably not particularly audible and 2.) largely go away if not directly on axis that are causing the score to be lower than perhaps reality would demonstrate.

So in theory they should have an 8+ preference score with sub/EQ. I think its unfair that the score doesnt account for the on axis effects of the coincident driver

 

[Chromatischism]

If that's true, one should ask why the preference score was tuned to be so sensitive to inaudible squiggles.