Kali in-5 and IN8 v2

I'm not sure you will ever get "that" feeling without a lot of room treatment and/or room correction software (like Sonarworks). I went through the same thing. I might have been able to save a bunch of money if I just got Sonarworks sooner. There is no way for any monitor to sound perfect in my room. After doing the measurements and applying the curve it created, my low mid mix troubles disappeared. It's amazing how much easier it is to mix when you can trust what you are hearing.

As far as monitor controllers (from your previous post), I have a Dangerous Monitor ST. No real complaints at all. It does not color the sound a all and has some great functions for a fair price.

I had a quick listen to these today, and the in-8 older model, also KRK rockit 8 and Adam 5”. I wasn’t considering Kali, I need something like JBL/KRK/Yamaha that fills the room and gives a ballpark of highs and lows. These surprised me though, for 5 inch 3-way they sounded more like reference quality 8’s. Like headphones the bass was very tight and audible, not much decay in the sub region, sounded more like sealed woofer AND went pretty deep. The highs were gentle, the overall feel seemed mid forward, but in a smooth way. However I wouldn’t get them for clients, because the sweet spot is kind of narrow and they sound very screwed up and ugly outside of it, until you crank them up all the way. Inside the sweet zone, totally immersive like headphones, no sizzle or bass ringing that the other brands have. The sales guy said they updated the cone and amp, they sounded like totally different compared to the IN-8 that was there. Maybe the in-8 was broken? Was “hollow” kind of sounding, the in-5 was louder and fuller, more detailed lows. I know an amp matters a lot, the difference was large. Not sure what to do anymore. I spent a total of maybe 2 songs listening.

yeah, it seemed like a lot of forcing of opinions when they came out, turned me off completely. And today I was curious since they were there, and 3-way. I have to say the in8 v1 sounded like I expected for $299, the in5 v2 was nothing like it at all. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the ‘reference’ word, because something felt too good to be true. I just didn’t have much time to do a real once over, like dipswitches, etc. I bet the iN-8’s were set lower to hide the hiss. The highs on the Kali in5 v2 around 9k are recessed a little, felt great like cleaner speakers but also a little questionable what is really going on.

Those are regular hi-fi speakers though..

Dan said, "The Kali 8” cabinet is resonant. The lp6 was better than the 8. Don’t believe deaf guys on Gearslutz or the manufacturer."

I bought the lp6 after selling the lovely Avantone Abbey's to pay bills. I'll eventually get something better, but they are just good enough to work on, so they're holding down the fort for me until I can afford something better.

Yes! The hifi stuff can be incredibly insanely good. I have Kef 105s that destroy when it comes to detail and feeling neutral. Before I recapped them, they had the sweetest top end, pure vintage greatness, but a teeny soft for modern monitoring.. Sadly had to replace the wax PIO caps, there’s a kit out there for that. HOLY Detail! The new caps took them to high end modern resolution, could hear the dimension of the vocal booth. Bass is very lean for their size, they want to be concert loud. I liked to put a little smiley EQ on them for normal listening. If I wanted something close to their resolution I’d be shopping for a while and expect to spend plenty thousands.

Here’s a vid of the same model, also show the bookshelf model. At 9 min he describes the sound. They can be found for good price sometimes.

I saw a tour of the Ferrari factory in Maranello and they leave all the computer assists, traction control, etc. turned off and take the cars out to the track then up to the mountains to do the tuning and set up then, once they've gotten it as good as they can, they engage the "DSP. Seems like this would be the way to design speakers. Get the cabinet, drivers, and crossover as good as possible THEN implement DSP to get that last 5%

In the world of DSP monitors, I was looking at the Dynaudio Core 59 and noticed they have an orbital tweeter that can be rotated for horizontal or vertical replacement and state the sweet spot is halfway between the tweeter and midrange driver (which don't appear to be centered). I asked Dynaudio where the tweeter is as I was trying to see if they would fit on my speaker stands at the correct height and the documents they have only show the outside cabinet dimensions. I got the response from support: We do not have that measurement and will not be able to supply it to you in the future! Curious.  Made me move to the opposite direction and now I'm looking into PSI 

What’s in a Neumann or Genelec is worse than a Chinese dvd case amp based on TI class D ICs. STmicroectronics :thumbsdown:

The only monitors sold in the us with amps you wouldn’t be afraid of buying separately use off the shelf class d modules, ATC, or Quested. And ATC’s own amps are good just because they’re not bad or underpowered. That’s an achievement in 2021. There is stuff that’s better than them and there has been since the 80s. Quested’s MC2 amps are insane though.

There are a couple of pairs of speakers I don’t need but want for sale used right now.
1st the Quested 2205’s on EBay ! One of Rogers all time favorites if only they still made the woofers. Anybody in Brooklyn willing to do a pickup and pack? I will be happy to let you play for a week or 2 😀

2nd a pair of the little PMC’s on GS that need work, let’s see tech 2.4mi away and reconer 3.7mi

3rd big old pair of B&W 808’s yeah they are big, but think 801 matrix that will play loud.

4th a pair of B&W 802’s locally the price is right I wouldn’t even need to connect the battery in the X5 because they would fit in the Tesla.

5th because if I’m going to piss the wife let’s go all out a couple of pairs of Soundlab Electrostatics ! If you think the ATC non s-dome in the 25’s is the greatest midrange you need to hear what a guy who couldn’t hear his speakers but makes the characters on the Big Bang look like they failed math these are your speakers. Practical? Hell no ! Cat killers ? Hell yes! If the cat that doesn’t officially exist keeps waking me at 5 AM I’m going to buy em.

I keep thinking the first 2 would match really well with the SVS Sb3000 minis and compete with BradD’s new set up of SCM20’s JL audio X-over for the high pass ( keeps The subs DSP away from the ATC’s and stereo SVS SB3000’s

Problem is I really like those non mini SB3000’s.

Or do I just find a new cabinet builder and break down and build the Brians ( named after my dearly departed cabinet builder and fellow speaker geek the guy fing got Ferrari to send paint so one of the Spice girls Ferrari would match her speakers).

The Brian is the son of the Quested 302 / 3202: 2 volt 8’s vented down to 33HZ, Volt 3in dome ( second best dome only to the ATC s & I don’t think Brad will sell me a pair of the S series! Highs are by either the Transducer labs Carbon dome or Beryllium Dome. Carbon better mesh with Volt mid, but BE gives the line source Magnepan a ribbon a run for it’s money.

Interesting, what’s your sense of their detail and dynamic? Yes, two very different monitor designs !

The new speaker material, faster transient response and lower distortion sound good. i demoed some 5’s a year ago, sent them back , thought they sounded good, but not so dynamic , not so detailed .

That’s fair and yes I was comparing the Kali to my memories of other more expensive monitors.

I thought the Kali very good value, but for me they weren’t keepers.

The new 8 sound like they are improved.