Passive UBR62 or Active Kali in8 V2 with AVR Marantz SR 7013?

[WTree]

Hi,

I was in the hobby very deep and it was all quiet for few years. Now I am back in the market - for new speakers. My KEF Reference 201/2 are gone (sold) and I am looking for replacement speakers to listen in my new non-dedicated room (3m X 5m). I can have my system on the long wall only so the listening distance would be about 2m to 2.5m. HT 60% and music 40% is listening.
I, for sure, need the AVR (Marantz SR7013 at the moment) as I like the center channel a lot and Atmos is fun as well. In the new place I have a choice to have KEF KASA 500 + 2 X kef ci200qsb (which I already have now) . This means that with dual subs in place and my speakers need not handle below 100 Hz.

My target is to downsize the price and size of the speakers as the room is quite small. WAF will be a bonus

I tried KEF R3 at home and for some reason I did not like them (at 1000 Euros a pair they are a bargain, I think but it missed something in my room). So the next choice, in my budget and ability to place close to the back wall is Elac UBR62. I just ordered them as I could not audition them near me (a pair for 700 Euro / not too sure if it is a good deal or not). I am concerned about the low efficiency of these speakers. The other choice is Kali In8 V2 which have great reviews but I am not sure how a studio monitor will sound in a HT set up.

I had experience with active speakers. I did have Beolab 9 active speakers other than KEF LSX and Devialet Phantoms at various points of time. I liked them but all of them were used without an AVR in place. So I did miss the center speaker and the Audyssey massage to the sound. I am not belonging to the camp that it has to sound true to the source but if is enjoyable then the goal is achieved! With all these active speakers, they are great at louder volumes but at moderate / low volumes they sound super one dimension'ed. That is why I gave up chasing active speakers.

Now, I am under the impression if I am able to have an AVR and active speakers together then I get my center as well as Audyssey so it will be to my liking!

I can order Kali as well and try them out but if some one here has some guidance from your experience then I rather listen to the guidance than spending time in chasing.

Please let me know

 

[TCW]

I have an IN-8 V2 serving as the center speaker flanked by two LP-8s (Mirage OMD speakers for the other channels). I have had a bunch of different speakers in my room (Paradigm, Salk, Mirage, JTR, JBL Pro.) and like the Kalis the best even though they cost far less. The JTR Quintuple 8s were spectacular but were massive at 125 pounds each. Getting them up the stairs and in the room was hellish. The JTRs (now at my older brother's home) use a robust coaxial driver and I very much like what they do, a little room correction was nice with these. The Kalis sound more neutral, without any room correction, in my room and are compact comparatively.

I actually bought the LP-8s on a whim after watching some reviews. In my opinion, the Elac speakers are much prettier. For me that was totally irrelevant as the room is dark and I wanted speakers that would disappear when the lights are off. Because of my positive experience with the Kali speakers I highly recommend you give them a try. Of course there are other active speakers that cost about the same: Adam, JBL, Presonus, etc. Those too would be worth trying if you have easy access.

 

[WTree]

Thank You! I actually bought the Kali IN-5 and I really liked them. There is one flaw which I was unable to live with so they went back. There is no standby mode which means that they are always on. I could use a Smart switch to turn them off in the night but it is not the same as the speakers going into standby. The system is used by other members of the family and many a times nothing gets turned off but due to standby it all works out. I even tried if I could get a smart switch to get triggered from Apple TV or 12 V of the receiver but I could not get any solution to work out.
As far as SQ goes, I think they are really an amazing value. I heard a tiny hiss from tweeter if I put my ear to the tweeter but at 1M distance it is not audible and this is not a deal breaker. The IN-5s are super neutral and I do not think I ever heard such a neutral and clean speaker.

 

[TCW]

Thank You! I actually bought the Kali IN-5 and I really liked them. There is one flaw which I was unable to live with so they went back. There is no standby mode which means that they are always on. I could use a Smart switch to turn them off in the night but it is not the same as the speakers going into standby. The system is used by other members of the family and many a times nothing gets turned off but due to standby it all works out. I even tried if I could get a smart switch to get triggered from Apple TV or 12 V of the receiver but I could not get any solution to work out.
As far as SQ goes, I think they are really an amazing value. I heard a tiny hiss from tweeter if I put my ear to the tweeter but at 1M distance it is not audible and this is not a deal breaker. The IN-5s are super neutral and I do not think I ever heard such a neutral and clean speaker.

In my setup I figured out a solution using the receiver's trigger to a Panamax surge protector. The Panamax has an outlet that triggers on/off, so from that outlet I sent a burly extension chord with a triple outlet head. I keep the Kali speakers on but they trigger on/off by simply pushing the power on the receiver. It's actually even easier than that, I just hit power on the Epson projector and everything powers on/off, including the speakers and sub amps. I think it's called HDMI Link in the Epson.