Kali Audio IN5-5" Active Studio Monitor, Black (Single Unit)

Product Information

The coaxial design of the IN-5’s mids driver and tweeter is what makes this monitor special. Essentially, all material above the 280Hz crossover frequency emanates from the same point source. This works wonders for phase coherency in a crucial chunk of the frequency spectrum, which in turn dramatically improves spatial imaging accuracy. The T7v would be my minimum for an Adam, as the T5v only goes to 106 dB (103 for a single one I believe) which isn't low, but for some dynamic peaks it will be, and however it's handling distortion I don't like. The Devialet Phantom Reactor claims only 98dB but it doesn't sound as ragged when it's hitting that. That, dear readers, is monitoring in a couple of sentences. You want to hear all the detail, even the mistakes; in fact especially the mistakes so that you can correct them.

At the same time, the coaxial architecture of the midrange and tweeter result in hyper-realistic imaging. This means that you’ll be able to hear subtle details in your mix with pinpoint precision. When you listen to a stereo set of speakers, you’re hearing information about where instruments and players were placed when the material was recorded. Even with purely digital material, producers can manipulate physical locations of elements in the mix, and you will hear these on a stereo recording. So specs-wise, we’re looking good so far, and setting up, we’re impressed too, as the ‘more for your money’ vibe continues. These are big speakers for starters, not too heavy (10.4kg each) but at 44.1 x 28.5 x 25.4cm (height x depth x width) they won’t suit tiny studios. The IN-5 is 115 dB SPL and I think that's for one, so 118 for a pair, or the IN-8 is now ~120dB for a pair which is as high as I think most anyone would argue you need (unless you're listening to them further away, in which case, they will still work for that better than most of what's here.

Soft Dome Tweeter

The IN‑5 is slightly larger than I imagined when I first saw images online, though it still falls comfortably into nearfield monitor dimensions so shouldn’t present too many challenges to fit into even small studio spaces. At just over 8kg the IN‑5 is also unlikely to present any mounting structure problems — although, as with any monitor, it is important to provide a rigid, stable and non‑resonant mounting platform. In Dire Straits’ Money For Nothin the opening guitar is panned around the stage and mixed out of phase, to the left of the soundstage. The IN-5s did a great job of providing a very distinct location of this out-of-phase effect while also providing clear separation between the same guitar that is located more closely to the center.

Not really concrete on if I actually want a 5 inch monitor or 7 inch but I'm pretty sure whichever I consider, from the help & advice you guys give, I can use with either platform. I've had HS7's in the past just to let you guys know.

Powerful Woofer

Diagram 3: An on‑axis and 20‑degree off‑axis measurement of the IN‑5 (blue and green traces, respectively). 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. The T5v might be fine for nearfield for you, but I notice from two meters away that battle scenes in Lord of the Rings are distorted and clipping. The IN-5 seems to go significantly louder, or it's handling the distortion much more gracefully according to my ears. (Specs suggest the same.)