Kali Audio SM-5 (C) monitor

[TheDichotomist]

What makes me sad is that the engineering that went into this SM line seems unlikely to trickle down to the iN line, or even something in-between. Personally, just seeing a better waveguide on the IN line, with that high frequency error fixed would be amazing improvements. Some folks have said they'd rather see kali put the new DSP in the IN speakers, but I'm kinda hoping they prioritize hardware/acoustic performance on any design iteration.

But i asked them if there would be any updates to the IN line in the next couple years. They said no. . . Pity.

For a step up in price like this, I would probably save for the genelecs or chance some footprint 03s.

 

[TheDichotomist]

They did recently lower the price. $1500 USD for the SM-5 (Powered, tri amped, dsp, etc) and $2k USD for the 8 inch. . . But that's still a ton of money.

 

[simonmac]

Just picked up a pair of the SM 5’s for $2680 equivalent here in Europe so down to $1390 which is far more reasonable than the $2000 or so a year and a half back.

At the dealers I listened extensively and compared the IN 5’s, Genelec 8330 SAM and PSI A17 (used). I went with the SM 5’s. Got them home and set up in my studio corner and they sound even better than at the dealers and suit my use case well as my room plays havoc with too much bass present. If it wasn’t for that I may well have gone with the PSI’s, although with that said the imaging and separation of instruments in the stereo field is amazing on the SM 5’s. Never heard anything quite like it before, although these is the first 3 way (and coincident) set of monitors I’ve owned.

I’ll calibrate then live with them for a bit and see if they manage to stay with me past the 30 day return window. It’s looking promising so far so hopefully they’ll be keepers.

 

[Froghawk]

I'm seeing SM-5s for as low as $2400/pair in the US now... seems possibly worth it? I think they shot themselves in the foot with the choice to make these look basically identical to the IN series on paper, though I'm sure they sound extremely different - hence the price drop. The wider soundstage is attracting me, for sure...

One thing I'm wondering is their AES input is a BNC connector, which seems a really strange choice. The only XLR->BNC cables I'm familiar with are timecode cables... surely that doesn't work for AES, right? How do you even connect these things? And then none of their subs have a digital input, so if you wanted to use a Kali sub you'd be stuck with analog, no?

 

[audio2920]

their AES input is a BNC connector, which seems a really strange choice

I agree. But AES over co-ax is a standard, just more in the video/broadcast world. When we went over to digital from analogue, sound studios were full of XLRs, and video/broadcast was full of BNCs. By using 75 ohm + BNC, AES could be sent over existing analog video cables.

In fact, I believe co-ax is supposedly the better option, giving 3x the maximum cable run (theoretically) compared to XLR with 110ohm balanced.

In any case, you just need an AES->BNC unbalancing/impedance transformer to plug in "properly". Something like the NADIT BNC-FX from Neutrik, or similar, should do. That said, you'll probably get away without it if you just use your timecode cable, especially on a short cable run.

Not a big deal, but like you, it still seems a strange choice to me, for a studio monitor. (Maybe if it was a smaller unit and OB trucks were their primary customers...??)

And then none of their subs have a digital input, so if you wanted to use a Kali sub you'd be stuck with analog, no?

Exactly. Hoping their next subs have AES to match.