Kali Audio SM-5 Review (With Sound Clips!)

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Support the cause: Patreon: www.patreon.com/erinsaudiocorner Contribute via PayPal: www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=CLHSW4L9SBSLY A simple request: If any of you find yourselves shopping for anything sold by the retailers below please consider using my generic affiliate link. These can earn me a small commission which goes a long way toward helping me review items and make content. It is a great way you can help me continue doing what I enjoy doing without costing you anything extra. It is truly appreciated! Amazon: amzn.to/3v6i6ov Audio Advice: www.audioadvice.com/?referral=erins-audio-corner Best Buy: howl.me/ck2IPpcOp1h Crutchfield: shop-links.co/cgZmmT81jmh Parts-Express: parts-express.sjv.io/Y9zoEB Newegg: howl.me/ck2IQg52L5b Samsung: howl.me/ck2IQ5qe16w Target: howl.me/ck2IRDNsIqn Thomann: www.thomann.de/de/index.html?offid=1&affid=2577 Emotiva: shorturl.at/pBEU9 Monoprice: bit.ly/3yAY6NH Arendal Sound: arendalsound.com/store/?refer=hardisj Purchases through these links can earn me a small commission - at no additional cost to you - and help me continue to provide the community with free content and reviews. Doesn't matter if it's a TV from Crutchfield, budget speakers from Audio Advice or a pair of socks from Amazon, just use the link above before you make your purchase. Thank you!

[@scottparkhurst5928]

Can't tell you how much i appreciate your approach to reviews. Your blend of subjective/objective its refreshing as hell. TY!

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thank you!

[@davidfuller581]

That IMD is really exceptional for a speaker of this size. Holding to about 1% at 96dB/1m for a speaker of this size is really remarkably good.

[@IrenESorius]

The only speaker testing channel worth watching/listen to.🌟 Thank you kindly for your work and time, Erin. 💖🙏💖 Cheers,, 🍻😎👍‍‍

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thank you! 😃

[@IrenESorius]

@@ErinsAudioCorner 👍‍‍👍‍‍

[@scientificaudiophile]

100% agree!

[@tomlong5130]

Kali is a cool company! I have the Audio LP-6 2nd Wave for 200€ per piece and they outperformed Yamaha HS 7 from the first second. Thanks for Joe N Tell's Speaker Leaderboard. The Kalis are on the 1st Position for under 500$, totally agree!

[@realitykicksin8755]

Considering the price gap with the IN8 v2, there is some nice money to spend on correction electronics if you buy IN8 v2 instead.

[@gordonfreeman5682]

Been waiting for a review on these for a long time, thanks!

[@editorjuno]

This confirms my surmise that the IN series is where Kali really hit the price/performance -- or as Charles and Nate put it, "value optimization" -- sweet spot. This thing is clearly for demanding professional applications where fine tuning to the room is critical and therefore worth the *major* $$$$ difference. Thanks, Erin!

[@hotdog9262]

sound clips is a welcomed addition to your stuff. measurements and subjective opinions gets more impactful

[@JTTheITGuy]

Thanks Erin!!! I’ve been waiting for this review!!! I think I’ll keep my IN8 V2 for a while longer then!! 🎉

[@Roddy451]

I do like their products, and they have subwoofers that match their monitors.

[@nicholaswilks580]

many studio monitor designers also provide at least one subwoofer option to pair and match up with their monitors

[@dananskidolf]

Thanks for the review! I've been looking at the passive one (SM-5-C) as it has been on offer here. At £600/speaker for the passive one it seems a very decent option for a surround sound or Atmos studio, if you're ok handling the DSP and amplification. This active one simplifies things, but the price is way up into Genelec territory, which is tough competition - based on the data here, I'd say Genelec is preferable.

[@hl321662]

Yeah this is kind of a letdown. I expect them to rival 8331A at lower price, but it seems that Genelecs still have better linearity and directivity.

[@dananskidolf]

@hl321662 And software. The Kali solution looks alright here but GLM has great features and is very well made. I suppose one thing Kali would likely win on is speaker hiss; I returned my first Genelec for that flaw.

[@CashGravel]

Man, you are really setting a high bar for everyone else reviewing speakers. I’m glad I’m happy with my set up lol

[@SylviaVanderlay]

Thank you so much! I was really waiting for this review

[@AbsoluteFidelity]

Just want to take this chance to say that Boressen did a piss poor job replying to your review. Might as well just say "We tuned it by ear because it sounded best that way to us" and called it a day. I was once a fan, keyword, ONCE.

[@shipsahoy1793]

Lol.. did seem like it. Screw these manufacturers. People have the right to think what they want about their products. They're trying to get away with what's referred to as "the power of legitimacy" in negotiations with Erin to convince consumers to disregard content from audio reviewers, regardless of how their data is presented. I spent a career in a tech field, and there were/are so many people with "credentials" that are full of sh* when their personal agenda calls for it.

[@SGTOldSchool96]

Nothing to really complain about expect the price IMO. For the same money you can get a pair of LP6 v2, the Kali 6.5 sub, DAC and stands and still pocket some money.

[@M2000z]

Just to clarify, “for the same money” means $3400!! These are priced out at $1700 each…so you can do much better with your alternate budget!

[@hl321662]

Thanks for the review and data. Been waiting for this. Couple of questions: 1. Compared to the data in your IN-5 review, this does have lower distortion at 96db and the diffraction above 10k seems to move to even higher frequency (if the big dip on-axis at the very top end is diffraction). Are there perceivable in your subjective listening? 2. Kali claims these have more detailed highs and cleaner bass than the IN-5. Do you think this could sound noticeably better than IN-5 when both are calibrated? 3. I've read one IN-5 review saying some resonance are caused by the lack of bracing in the cabinet. Could the resonance at 2.5k and 4k be the product of similar issue?

[@iRevolVeR21]

Always love your reviews Erin. Especially Kali!

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thanks, I’m happy to hear that!

[@RedBeardedRabbit]

Swine 🐷 sweep 😂 Thanks for another quality review, Erin!

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thanks for the laugh! 😁

[@chinmeysway]

swine seep

[@thehighcontemplator2200]

Thank you.

[@chinmeysway]

just some constructive feedback would be to have more than one music reference - one that’s more bass heavy. great duran duran shirt os.

[@OG2978-g7x]

Great review. Does the speaker support streaming, roon etc. like other home audio powered speakers? B&W Formation duo, Buchardt and such

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

It does not.

[@stevenswall]

One step down from Genelec The Ones I hope!

[@brooklynknightss]

I like the sound samples

[@RennieAsh]

I saw one sitting in the corner in the Fidelia review ;p Forgot that it's a coaxial. The midrange driver is hidden well

[@abdo-dr1tu]

Imagine that we’ve improved so much at speaker design in the last 20 years that this speaker is now considered “meh”.

[@SylviaVanderlay]

Does it make a big difference to use an internal DSP instead of (let's say) a wiim ultra's PEQ applying measurements from REW?

[@paulpaulzadeh6172]

What is compression? It is mechanical limitations of driver ? It means voice colie move to bottom ??😮 Compression sound vs Compression speaker??????

[@behappybevegan]

At what point becomes a baffle waveguide a horn?

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

well, just remember that even a flat baffle is a waveguide. the way I consider the two differently is: a horn boosts the sensitivity of the LF of the HF transducer AND guides the wound. Kind of corner loading a tweeter, if that makes sense. But a waveguide doesn't always do this. I'm sure you'll run into differing opinions (heck, I even asked some of the best designers in the world and they have some different definitions). A horn is always a waveguide but a waveguide isn't always a horn... probably the best way I can sum it up.

[@borey123xx9]

Horns on speakers arent actual horns. They are just waveguides. Even the largest waveguides are still just waveguides because they dont make the speaker louder, just distribute the sound evenly

[@erkkijaakkopetteri]

@@borey123xx9 Not sure what you mean, waveguides do tend to make the speaker louder at a certain band

[@DearSX]

A wave guide is what I call my surf instructor. A horn is what I call my first wife.

[@davidfuller581]

@@borey123xx9 Horn-shaped WGs do have some LF reinforcement, fwiw.

[@kahel...]

... 1700$ each... annnnnnnnd, I'm out... 😁

[@NecrosisDesuwa]

Hello erin, Would you be interested in reviewing the kanto speakers in the future? I'm particularly interested in the ora, i would love to see your review of it

[@TheKoC74]

Doesnt look bad, but at almost 5x the price of the IN-5 (or 4x the IN-8) it's hard to see the value here. Most people using studio monitors will have some external DSP allready, or even full room correction like Sonarworks or Dirac.

[@bobbyjarsulic862]

Watch Produce Like A Pro's video on these speakers with Kali's own Nate Baglyos setting them up. Their approach is different and more holistic than Sonarworks, and time-aligns responses between all of the speakers' drivers, as well as having low enough latency that you can record audio in realtime with the correction applied. Just a totally different level of features & design implementation, and a steal at the price they're asking compared to other true studio monitors at that pricerange. Barefoots give you a couple speaker emulations and that's it...

[@FOH3663]

I could hear the lack of energy in the lower treble (via in-ears/phone).

[@Cherokee1541]

Erin, how do you do this convolution? Using what software, what procedures? Is the clip EQ’d to on axis response of the speaker?

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

It’s the IR from the anechoic on-axis. Convolved via Matlab.

[@celstark]

Is it strange that there isn’t a digital input? So we take something digital from our source to a DAC to the speaker to an ADC to the DSP and then to a DAC before we hit the amps.

[@slofty]

That’s most music studios that produced the music you listen to.

[@Artcore103]

I want Kali to make some actually LARGE speakers, I'd be super interested in this kind of quality and value combination if they made some real SPL monsters with 20hz extension in room. Not for mixing/desks, for mains. As awesome as these are, these are speakers for ants or doll houses in my personal opinion ,which I know few share. 6.5" woofers are baby woofers as it is, and these are even smaller. 15" is the correct size woofer for your mains. I'd accept an MTM with dual 12"s. Dual 15"s is also acceptable :D I do not like the current audio meta of bookshelves with 6.5"s plus one or more subs in the room, I like a high sensitivity 2ch setup with additional subs optional, crossed very low only for the lowest octave. I know bass is omni and generally non-locatable or hard to locate... but the higher the crossover the easier that becomes, plus there's often a noticeable tonality shift at that crossover range, and stereo bass is a real thing due to the intentional use of stereo timing/phase effects to create bass effects that cannot be recreated by a single channel, or binaural effects or generating false tones. The maximum output (or max output with very low distortion) and linearity of a 6.5" pales in comparison to a 15", with what, roughly 6x the surface area, the excursion is so much lower. Forget how much better a 15" is in the bottom two octaves... from 80 to 500hz you've still got so much more capability with a 15". I will sacrifice in the off-axis/directivity department a little bit for better dynamics lower distortion and higher spl capability, all day every day, EASY tradeoff. Listen to the best 6.5" bookshelves in the entire world, then listen to a 2-way (or 3-way) 15" monitor type speaker like the JBL M2 or whatever it's called that Erin really likes, and start turning it up. You can't tell me there's even ANY comparison to be made here. If you want to just make a nice sounding image at 80db then fine, take your bookshelf. But start cranking something dynamic like with some drums or something, and any favorable comparison of the bookshelf will quickly be gone, if you like spl and headroom. Those JBLs he likes are essentially a version of my dream speaker... it's that kind of basic format anyways. A good big horn, possible/optional super tweeter, and a 15" crossed ~800hz or below (I'm ok with crossing at the half-wavelength as far as directionality goes, but obviously the lower the better... quarter wavelength would be sweet), but in a bigger box tuned even lower than the JBL, for true 20hz full range capabilities. Heck put another 15 or 18 in it that's crossed like a sub for even more bass capability, but all driven from a normal 2ch stereo amp like a hypex NC500X.... something like 700 watts per channel into 4 ohms. Or go monoblocks and have even more. Now that is stereo heaven to me, not a sourcepoint 8 or KEF r3 meta or anything of the sort... beautiful wonderful speakers but anemic compared to my vision. Sourcepoint 888 though gets a pass, now that's a real awesome and fairly serious speaker. the 888 represents the MINIMUM amount of bass capability I expect from my mains. Quad 6.5s or dual 8's or better... that class of towers is at least starting to be a real speaker made for human adults. The Arendal 1528 with 4 8"s is also a dream speaker, absolutely epic! But also 10k$... hence DIY is the way to go for me. The new Purifi 13" drivers... now those are sexy, I'd also take a build with those any day. Also very pricey.

[@bbfoto7248]

@Artcore103 Seems like the Troels Gravesen TL2 ("The Loudspeaker 2"), or one of Joseph Crowe's DIY horn speaker designs would be right up your alley. ;) The KALI Audio designs are primarily meant to target nearfield monitoring and midfield ATMOS mixing rooms.

[@Artcore103]

@bbfoto7248 I'm a HUGE fan of Crowe's speakers but man are they expensive. I've known about him for quite a while. I've heard of troels but I don't know that model, I'll have to look it up, thx for the tip.

[@bbfoto7248]

@@Artcore103 If you're cool going DIY and using an active multi-channel DSP+Amplifier setup for the multi-way loudspeaker crossover filter networks & independent power for each driver, for a RELATIVELY inexpensive DIY loudspeaker system with the kick@ss attributes you desire, combine Two 10" Ciare HW251N woofers with a Concentric BMS 5CN162HE 5" midrange/1.5" HF compression driver unit. ;) You'll have to work a bit to optimize the enclosure alignment/tuning + some PEQ for the low end extension as well as smoothing the midrange & HF response, but for about ~$4k you can build what I'd consider to be a pair of End-Game HiFi floorstander loudspeakers with very impressive SPL & DYNAMIC capabilities and exceptional midbass/bass articulation and impact. With proper crossover choices, excellent directivity and power response can be achieved with a relatively high sensitivity as well. Both of these drive units really aren't all that expensive considering their performance and the cost of most other typical "high end" drive units. More of your money will go towards the required multi-channel DSP and amplification. In my setup that uses just a single 10" Ciare woofer with the BMS concentric midrange+HF driver, I configured all of the independent levels, crossover network filters, tiime alignment, phase, and PEQ with a miniDSP C-DSP 8x12 DL processor (~$800 new, or just $500 w/o the DIRAC Live option). For my development & testing I used a pair of 12v 5-channel Alpine X-A90V class D car audio amplifiers that I already had on hand. These were powered with a 12v/100Ah LiFePO4 battery combined with a C.A.E./Iota 55-amp 12v PSU/battery charger. Once I finalized the crossovers, I had planned to build a Hypex Nilai500-based multi-channel amplifier to power the.speakers. I already use a stereo/2-channel Nilai500 amp from DIYclassD in one of my setups and absolutely love it. It was about $1350 USD for the kit. But IME during the testing and configuration of these speakers, the SQ of these particular Alpine amps surprised me and actually performed on par with my existing Nilai500 (!), and the power output of the Alpine amps were a better match for each driver, so I continue to run the 12v Alpine car audio amps with absolutely no reservations. :) Just for reference, I purchased these Alpine amplifiers new at ~$575 each, so $1150 for the amplification + $800 for the miniDSP processor, and ~$180 for the PSU...for a Total of about $2150. A pair of the BMS concentric midrange/HF drivers were ~$550 Shipped, and the 10" Ciare drivers were $190 Each x 4 = $760, so the driver total was ~$1350 for the pair of loudspeakers. Cabinet costs are obviously going to depend on the exact materials you use and the desired finish. I had some very dense 3/4" thick solid-surface Corian countertop material leftover from a kitchen remodel and used this for the front baffles, combined with well-braced and CLD-damped 19mm marine-grade Finnish Baltic Birch plywood for the remainder of the cabinets. The entire enclosures were wrapped in a real zebra wood veneer with a rubbed wax finish. Not including my time or the cost of the 3/4" thick Corian countertop sheet material for the front baffes, I think I had about $400 into the enclosures, including interior butyl/aluminum skin adhesive-backed CLD sheets, lambs' wool batting, and terminals. So a grand total of approximately $3900. (The 12v/100Ah LiFePO4 battery isn't 100% necessary unless you want to play the system for an hour or two without 120VAC mains power connected). And with the fully configurable DSP & DL processing you can accommodate nearly infinite speaker tuning as well as room correction. IMO, the 12" BMS 12N630 would be another great LF option with the 5CN162 for relatively small cabinets, but they'll have more Sd, Higher Sensitivity, 3 shorting/demodulation rings for even lower Le & distortion, and lower extension, but they are more than Double the Price of the HW251N, and won't reach quite as high for the HPF on the midrange. With concentric midrange/HF drivers, I like to keep the HPF for the mid relatively high at/above 350Hz-400Hz to minimize potential IMD due to the excursion of the midrange driver cone which acts as the waveguide for the HF unit. Just rambling and throwing some ish out there for consideration. ;) Cheers

[@bbfoto7248]

@@Artcore103 Oh, and I should've mentioned that Erin actually used this same exact combination of 10" Ciare + BMS concentric drivers in his former Honda Civic high end car audio system! :-O This is where I stole the inspiration for my DIY home system from. :-P Erin installed the 5"/1.5" BMS concentric midrange/HF drivers in custom-fabricated speaker pods on the top of the vehicle's dashboard at the base of each far left & right A-pillar, and the 10" Ciare woofers were mounted in custom fabricated I.B. enclosures vented to the outside of the vehicle in the far left & right front kick-panel/firewall area! IIRC, at the time he was also using TWO 15" Acoustic Elegance IB15AU subwoofer drivers in an Infinite Baffle configuration by mounting them in a 1.5" thick baffle between the trunk and the back seat of the Civic. The subwoofer baffle separating the trunk and main cabin was sealed and the subwoofers fired forward into the cabin. He used a high end 10-channel Audiotec-Fischer HELIX DSP PRO car audio processor for all of the level-matching/crossovers/time alignment/PEQ/phase alignment for the system, and at one point was using the giant 6 channel McIntosh MC4000M car audio amplifier with its dual blue VU meters to power the front end. :) Unfortunately, I was never able to hear the system, but everyone who did said it kicked serious azz! :) This system is documented in a thread on an Online 12v car audio forum called "DIY Mobile Audio". Search for: "DIYMA ErinH 2006 Honda Civic LX Sedan Build Neverending Tale"

[@Artcore103]

@bbfoto7248 cool. Though that's not really infinite baffle but I know what you mean. If you'd have the back of the drivers open to the outside of the vehicle you'd be closer to IB, but at that point even the internal volume of the car I would think is small enough to skew the performance pretty far from true IB. But maybe I'm not understanding that right. I just know having a garage on one side and a living room on the other is a LOT more volume, and so we consider that IB because it's close enough.

[@sdfgsgsdgs]

Hi, any plans to review q11 meta?

[@remidelmas9286]

Could you also measure the Adam Audio d3v ?

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

I think I will be soon.

[@chahahc]

Gedlee has gone mainstream.

[@chahahc]

@@TobiasRieperGood Baby steps...I guess.

[@joaobortone4312]

Heyy erin, I've been loving these sound demos, I don't know how indicative those really are, but since you're beggining to do these now, could you revisit some speakers, specially those who you considered the best budget ones, like the kali audio lp6 v2 or lp8 please?

[@nicholaswilks580]

"Starting at $999 per speaker" per website not 1700 for pair.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

That’s the passive speaker. This is the active.

[@nicholaswilks580]

@@ErinsAudioCorner Thank you for cllearing that up! You are correct! and am I such a newb to passive speakers that it seems absolutely backwards that same speaker except filled with sophisticated electronics as well as the integrated amplifiers is that much cheaper? you think the empty box of passive ones would be cheaper, but what do I know?

[@M2000z]

These aren’t $1700 per pair either…that’s $1700 EACH!! Erin’s statement that these are pretty similar in performance to the IN-5 that are $350 each is pretty astonishing!

[@nicholaswilks580]

@@M2000z Geez another mistake I make on the price of thesse things. anyways, that is one hefty price tag!

[@wendellgayheart9228]

Wildcat to wildcat again…how did you go from really thinning hair to what you have now? I’m getting thin and losing hair so I thought you might have a true answer…your videos and knowledge are awesome by the way and appreciate your time and effort 👍

[@timh6510]

Thanks for another good one Erin. One thing I couldn't really tell for sure was if you really liked the sound of them. Also, I think this is true, that you've measured other active/DSP speakers that had quite a bit flatter response?

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

I think they do their job well. They're pretty dang neutral and they offer some features other speakers don't. There seem to be better (objectively) performing options and there are others that are pretty much a coin-flip (maybe one has an issue in response where another doesn't and vice-versa).

[@timh6510]

@ErinsAudioCorner Sounds good, thanks!

[@vshoutfshigdfs]

What a wonderful reviews are these days) Say many words fast, play the same wav file, put two background images instead of speakers and call it a day😂

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Spend 8 hours measuring and analyzing the data. Post processing it. 2-4 hours creating a video and editing it. Then having some knucklehead on the internet complain. Yep. Sounds about right.

[@tiagoatrindade]

Once again great review @ErinsAudioCorner! Is it bad if we eq full range (based on in room measurements) vs only eq up to 400-500hz? (with these type of speakers that have good directivity). Read somewhere that if we eq full range it will "sound weird" - but you always say that if it measures well on the listening point it should be a good sounding speaker :D

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Typically, if you're EQ'ing above 400/500Hz then yo u're EQ'ing the speaker. If the speaker is just non-linear BUT has good directivity then EQ the speaker to get a sound profile that works best for you. If it has poor directivity, though, EQ is not going to be as effective.

[@frankklemm1471]

Missing a SM-8 or even SM-10.

[@bbfoto7248]

@frankklemm1471 That would certainly be a nice option to have. :) Having said that, I ended up using a pair of the KALI Audio IN-8 2nd Wave in my master bedroom 2-channel "casual listening" setup which also serves as a "mini" HT bedroom setup. The room is roughly 16"W x 19"L x 9.5'H (5m x 6m x 3m), and I had to dial down the lower midbass & bass response SIGNIFICANTLY in order to achieve a balanced in-room response that wasn't "Boomy" or "Bloated" on the bottom end. This resulted in a natural efficiency boost in the low end which effectively increased their overall DR and maximum SPL a fair bit, and even for occasional HT use, they play louder than we'd ever want to listen for any length of time with the speakers about 10.5ft away. So, in hindsight, I'm fairly certain that I would have been fine with the smaller and less expensive KALI IN-5 2nd Wave models and still not feel the need for a subwoofer in this use case scenario, unless I really wanted that last octave or so of bass. ;) As a side note, I do run Two DIY 18" subwoofers in my main listening rig and do enjoy my BASS! :-P YMMV depending on the use case scenario.

[@lextr3110]

we can certainly hear that aluminium tweeter...

[@bbfoto7248]

@lextr3110 I would hope so, otherwise the top end would be completely MIA. :-P

[@GlebMichal]

3-way with 5 inch? Stupid. Too expensive. Pmc result 6 for this price range