Kali Audio LP-6 vs high end speakers

[yuriy.ward]

Hi,

I own Kali Audio LP-6 V2 speakers on my desktop setup and I love the sound that they produce. At this moment, I'm looking for new speakers for my saloon to replace the bookshelf Sonus Faber Venere 2.0.

The sound from Sonus is less detailed, slower and a little bit muffled if I compare it to the Kali speakers.

So what I can buy that will sound better than Kali? It makes sense to use Kali IN-8 in the saloon?

P.S. The sound is amplified by a very neutral setup (Topping D90 -> A90 -> Hypex NC252MP) or by warm sounding modified Marantz PM7200 (which I prefer with Sonus)
Max budget $4k, but I prefer pay less if I can, because I know than more money is not equel to better

 

[Thelo80]

So what did you do?

 

[yuriy.ward]

Unfortunately nothing

I'm planning to move to bigger place, so I will update speakers later.

But if somebody has some opinions about topic I will be very grateful for sharing

 

[Killingbeans]

So what I can buy that will sound better than Kali?

Max budget $4k, but I prefer pay less if I can, because I know than more money is not equel to better

Haven't heard them, but a set of Neumann KH 310A is close to fitting the budget, assuming you can find a good deal on them.

They definitely seem to perform extremely well objectively. Whether that makes them "better" in your book is up to you.

Neumann KH 310A Review (Powered Monitor)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Neumann KH 310A active monitor (speaker). It was kindly sent to me by the company for testing. I see it discounted to US $2,200 (each) as of this writing. This is one dense and heavy 3-way speaker: I was relieved to find "rack mount" ears...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[regan]

So what I can buy that will sound better than Kali?

Kef R3 is 1k new or even cheaper if you buy used. It measures great (way better than lp6v2) and nc252 mp + D90 make good team. With time add minidsp dirac + sub(s) and you'll have a killer system.
Nevertheless, as a general advice you should try the speakers in your room first

 

[ratnermi]

At that budget I would definitely give Revel M126Be a listen.

 

[Vangelo]

Its very personal decision and I faced a similar dilemma with the added brief they had to integrate my open baffle subs. I must have gone through a dozen passive bookshelf designs, but not having control of lower end roll off, I could not get satisfactory integration. This steered me in the direction of active speakers where I tried the AE1's, Elac Navis, Kali In-6 and Focal Shapes 40, 50 and finally the Twins. The Shapes are unique having passive bass radiators and I was able to get perfect integration with my subs as most had much better bass control with built-in High Pass Filters. I had to reject the ones that did not have this facility. In general, I also found reflex ports to be boomier than the PBR's and there was a tendency to incite more room modes and veil the mids.
I lived 6 months with the Shape 50 which had an amazing midrange. When a second-hand pair of the Twins turned up on ebay at a great price I snapped them up. I noticed immediately the upper bass had more control and detail, which for me was important being an electronic music fan!
Weirdly enough, I also noticed the Twins incited fewer room modes below 60hz compared to the 50's, so was able to lower the HPF another notch.

By the way, the bass is great on the Twins without the subs, which in my case are active below 60hz to reproduce that bottom seismic octave typical of electronic genre (good for movies too). The Focals are also renowned for their inverted metal dome tweeter which gives all the detail without any harshness.

PS. I also use Topping D90/A90 combination.