Kali Audio LP-6 Professional 6.5" Active Near Field Monitor Studio Speaker, black

Product Information

And then there’s the width. You don’t often believe the claims with speaker manufacturers as very often the end results can be so subtle that you barely notice them, instead simply stroking your chin in a knowing way like you really did hear that extra 0.1dB in the high mids. Kali's latest speakers demonstrate some serious electro-acoustic know-how — and represent remarkable value for money. We were extremely impressed with Kali’s LP-6 monitors when we reviewed them a few years ago and, while Kali offers an eight-inch driver in its LP series, the IN-8s build on the LP-8s’ abilities with this unusual design. Although the IN-8s look like a conventional two-way monitors, they are in fact of a three-way design. Situated above the large low-frequency driver, a midrange driver and separate high-frequency driver are housed in a coincident arrangement. This means the tweeter fires from the centre of the midrange driver, or ‘squawker’ as they used to be known when three-way designs were more commonplace. Both models use 40W for the 1” soft dome tweeter. The LP-6 uses 40W for the 6.5-Inch woofer, and the LP-8 uses 60W for the 8-Inch woofer. EASE OF USE

Kali Audio produce studio monitorsthat are all designed in California, USA. Created by a team of experienced engineers, many of whom previously worked for leading manufacturers, these high-quality speakers unleash incredible sound. One of the features present in the second wave of Kali monitors is a clever Boundary EQ adjustment, which provides several positions to select preset compensating EQ curves depending on where the speaker is positioned. On a stand in free space (the ideal position for the loudspeaker) the EQ can be disabled. When it comes to their woofers, Kali Audio claim they use the largest magnets and voice coils in their class. By investing more resources than usual into their woofers, their monitors boast the same SPL (sound pressure level) with significantly lower distortion. No matter which Kali Audio studio monitor you go for, you can expect tight, punchy and uncompressed bass that doesn’t detract from the highs or the mids. Customisable Response Kali Audio’s three-way IN-8s are unusual yet highly competent monitors. If you favour tonal integration, sharp focus and a holographic soundstage above all else, they’ll likely cater to all your monitoring requirements. Do I really need this? The midbass driver is an optimised paper cone construction with large dual-layer voicecoil, convex dust cap and carefully tuned surround, giving plenty of excursion but maintaining the integrity of the cone around its outer circumference where the cone is naturally weaker. The tweeter waveguide ensures that the acoustic centres of the drivers are as aligned as much as possible, though there’s plenty of opportunity to correct for any time alignment and phase error in the digital crossover.Kali Audio has solidified themselves as not only a contender in the pro studio monitor market, but a frontrunner in studio monitor technology and advancement." - Charles Hoffman for Sonic Scoop

So here we weren’t really expecting that claimed greater sweet spot but we certainly got it, so much so we nearly wore our chair wheels out rolling around the studio space finding its limits. We’ve enjoyed reviewing the IN-8s so much that it almost pains us that we can’t recommend them to everyone.Kali Audio’s opening salvo in the speaker market is a great one. The company set out to design an accurate speaker at a very low price and they have gone and done it with the LP-6s. They really are some of the best monitors you can get at this price and can easily out punch models twice their price or more. Both are two-way loudspeakers with 1-inch textile dome tweeters set within Kali’s custom 3D imaging waveguide. Unlike other waveguides which are a highly directive horn shape, with sharp angles designed to aid directivity but with a small sweet spot, the Kali waveguide is a gentle, gradual contour. Almost an ovoid, though wider than it is deep and with a sharper curve to the faces spanning the tweeter’s vertical axis. The result is an even dispersion that doesn’t adversely affect frontal imaging, but gives you a much wider listening sweet spot than you might be accustomed too with a typical waveguide arrangement. The intent is to cohesively blend the sound from them loudspeaker to the reflective sound that is result of physical obstacles, or even dispersion into the air itself, that occurs as the sound travels toward your ear. Nothing can image like a true coaxial speaker does, but the LP-series waveguide comes very close. Diagram 1: A close‑mic measurement of the IN‑5 bass driver, revealing a port tuning frequency of around 43Hz.

Kali Audio is certainly one of the most successful new manufacturers of studio monitors, and the IN series is especially popular. The new Kali Audio IN-UNF builds on some of the same tech like coaxial mid and high frequency drivers, but in a compact 3-part system made to sit on your desk.All rooms are subject to a phenomenon called room modes, where bass builds up in certain parts of the room, and cancels in other parts of the room. Room modes can make it hard to make critical decisions about the bass in your mix. This phenomenon can be particularly bad in small rooms, and many people choose to use smaller speakers in these rooms. The thought is that, because the smaller speaker doesn’t play as low, it will be less likely to excite room modes and overwhelm the room with bass. I mention the LP‑8 because the IN‑8 is actually somewhat related. The architecture of the LP‑8 is a 200mm bass/mid driver integrated with a generously waveguide–loaded 25mm fabric dome tweeter. For the IN‑8, Kali have borrowed the low-frequency elements of the LP‑8 — a similar driver, similar enclosure dimensions and reflex port — but swapped out the waveguide and tweeter for a concentrically arranged compound mid driver and tweeter. It essentially turns the two-way LP‑8 into a three-way design — one that offers the significant benefits of dual-concentric, or rather, dual-coincident, drivers.

Yes, I know that is unfair to compare a set of 300-quid speakers to monitors that cost a couple of grand more but what impresses me with the PMCs is their flat response, something the LP-6s are attempting to emulate, so this method should reveal how the Lone Pines stand up in that regard. accordingly. With many monitors – especially at the lower end of the market – you simply don’t get a lot to play with in terms of that adjustment, but with the LP-6s you get a lot, and it really can make a difference. With the IN-8s themselves, the front-firing port assists bass response, its unusual smiley-face shape designed to reduce noisy air turbulence. It’s clearly a well-thought-out design, as no chuffing is audible at any point during our tests, even at moderately high volume. While the IN-8s are capable of high SPLs before distorting, an in-built limiter circuit protects the monitor from unsafe voltage levels if the input signal is too high.These compact monitors from new company Kali Audio strike an enticing balance between performance and affordability." - Sound on Sound Kali Audio only launched at the start of 2018 but it already has big ambitions, a great naming philosophy and a debut monitor that seems, on the face of it, to be incredible value for money. The Southern Californian’s first release is the LP-6, the ‘LP’ standing for ‘Lone Pine’ (which is actually a small town in the Eastern Sierra that is the first port of call for climbers wishing to scale Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the United States outside of Alaska, fact fans).