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Kali Audio SM-5 (C) monitor

stevenswall said:
I'd add that they seem to play louder than the 8331 so I'll be curious to see what the measurements show, as the active versions would likely have been my choice for my 5.1 system had they existed prior to me building it out with Genelec coaxial monitors.

Vs an 8341, the Kali SM5 seems like it would beat it SPL and price, and I didn't notice any audible issues with the SM5.

Someone else mentioned a center channel: the beauty of coaxial monitors like these are that they are all center channel speakers, and Atmos speakers, and surround speakers, and decent if you have to tilt them from the ceiling, and not terrible with reflections in any direction like any other speaker that isn't coaxial.

Ever since 2010 and the 8260 there has been no inherent drawback to coaxial monitors besides SPL. Ever since 2023 with the 8381 SPL is also not a concern as that speaker seems to beat the M2 by every metric.

You could argue wide dispersion is a disadvantage, but I don't think that is inherent to a coaxial driver per sey, as you can make things whatever shape is desired and limit excursion on a three way.

(I'm taking the photo, this is at the LP UNF release party in northern LA. They have an immersive room that my friend shown here and I spent a good bit of time in.)
View attachment 349424
Click to expand...
Have you heard these against Kali existing monitors. Ie. In8 v2 or in5 v2.
do you think that it’s the electronics that is holding them back.

also curious to see the advanced dsp of genelecs not outputting less distortion than the sc5 with amplification.
must mean the digital crossover on genelec is not as important in your case use With room correction.
 
I would be suprised if the passive sm-5-c are selling well. I would neither locate them at home or small studio as they far too complicated to set up. I really cant understand what part of the market they are targeting which active version can not. I would understand passive with internal crossover to compete with rest but I can not understand this business decision. So I am pretty sure before 8 inch version appears they have to start selling them and the reason there has not been many reviews yet may be related with whay I wrote earlier.
 
Last edited:
The official introduction video was released 2 weeks ago but not posted in this thread:
Introducing Project Santa Monica: The SM-5-C

Kali claims that the new tweeter design doesn't have the high frequency diffraction issue on the IN series:
1711757705512.png


They also said Erin or Amir would get a pair (I think it's likely to be Erin since he reviewed more Kali speakers):
1711757753972.png
 
Can I ues cheap class-D amplifier to power SM-5,like Topping PA7？thank you guys.
 
I was thinking about the same but too much hassle and too expensive in general. Waiting for an active version
 
There are two different Phoenix connectors on the back of the speaker. One is for bi-amping and has six connections. Two of them are unused and and the other four connections are for high frequency +/- and low frequency +/-.

There is another separate connector if you want to use the built-in crossover. It just has a positive and a negative connection that you would connect to the positive and negative of most normal amps. You could use the Topping amp with that connection. You would only use the bi-amp connection if you have an external crossover.

When using a single amp channel to power the speaker I would put a volume limiter on the receiver or processor. Most receivers and processors have a max volume limit and I would set that so one couldn't accidentally blow the speaker.
 
Is it sold in pairs for that price?

Competes with Neumann kh120 which is 2 way, but significantly cheaper.
 
The control panel for EQ and such looks great, and honestly much more preferable to me than any of the other built in ones or suites like glm/,ma-1. I'll always stick by my opinion that's stupid to have to pay extra for features that are already in the speaker. MA-1 was so bad around launch I just swore off ever using another EQ suite or automated process to correct a speaker ever again.
 
Thats a bold move in price increase. From $300 for in-5 to $1600 for sm-5. Are these 5x better than in-5? I dont think so
 
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