Kali Audio IN-8 2nd Wave Series Studio Monitors

Unrivaled Punch and Detail: The IN-Series monitors are unlike anything you’ve ever heard. The three-way design lets both the woofer and the tweeter do less work, resulting in better headroom and lower distortion across the frequency spectrum. 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. The design of the system comes together to allow the IN-Series monitors to act as acoustic point sources. They enjoy all the benefits of both traditional 3-way systems and traditional coaxial speakers, with none of the drawbacks traditionally associated with either.

ACCURACY: The single most important aspect of a studio monitor is its accuracy. A good studio monitor should present the material it’s playing faithfully, allowing you to make critical decisions that you know will translate to all the systems that your work will ultimately be played on. Not only do the IN-Series monitors accomplish this, but their coincident architecture allow them to be more accurate than other speakers in a wider variety of challenging acoustic environments. Because of the IN-Series' coincident architecture, you may notice a dip between 8-10 kHz when measuring with a single stationary microphone. The dip is an on-axis diffraction artifact of the midrange baffle interface. It is evident in on-axis measurements, but not in total sound power. Perception of timbre should be neutral in most rooms. It is not recommended to apply room-correction EQs to the INs based on single point static measurements.

IMAGING: We know. We keep harping on about the “hyper-realistic” imaging of the IN-Series. What does that mean? 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. Not only does this allow producers to create interesting spatial effects, but it means that you can work faster and with more confidence. An accurate soundstage lets you “see” each element of the mix in front of you, so you can hear exactly what happens when you make changes. 2-way systems with good waveguides, like Kali’s LP-6 and LP-8, do a good job at conveying this spatial information. However, because the tweeter and woofer on those speakers (and most studio monitors!) are separate, this information gets lost in the space immediately above and below the speaker. This means that at the listening position, you’re not hearing the full stereo picture.