Kali Audio IN-8 2nd Wave

A real 3 way speaker, full active, with a coaxial midrange. I can't believe Kali managed to build one at this price. If have the space for a speaker of this size, it beats the virtually all others, hands down. Great tonal balance, nice output levels, friendly price. And this is irrespective of price! My other speaker cost 5 digits. Kali should consider releasing this one in white, with shorting rings, and a Bluetooth/Airplay receiver for home use. Winner winner chicken dinner!

As someone who has used a lot of nearfield monitors over the years, I have to say that the Kali Audio IN-8 2nd Wave monitors are a cut above the rest. We recently purchased a pair of these monitors, and I have been blown away by their performance.

The sound of these monitors is incredibly well-balanced, with a clarity and detail that is hard to match. They have excellent translation, which means that the mix you hear on these monitors is likely to sound great on other playback systems as well.

The tweaking backend on these monitors is also exceptional. You have a lot of control over the sound, with options to adjust the high and low frequencies, as well as the overall volume. This level of versatility allows you to fine-tune the sound to your specific needs and preferences.

Overall, I highly recommend the Kali Audio IN-8 2nd Wave monitors to anyone looking for exceptional nearfield monitors with balanced sound and versatile tweaking options. They are a great investment that will help you achieve a more accurate and detailed mix.

To start off: I did end up getting the matching 6” sub as well, cause the bass just wasn’t there for me and I’ve tried them in two different small rooms. I don’t do music where bass is the focus, on the contrary you want some bass but absolutely not too much and I needed the sub to hear below 100 hz. Idk if it’s the room size or w/e. If you get by with checking sub 100hz on headphones then you probably will be fine without it.

That said, these are great. I’ve used a bunch of budget monitors over the years and have done a lot of tracking and attending mix sessions in studios equipped with more expensive genelecs. But this is the first time I’ve walked out of a session, got in the car, listened to the bounce and heard the exact same thing I just heard 5 minutes ago. Then come home and put on the stereo or headphones and, again, the same thing. They just translate. Even on my damn iPhone.

Character wise they feel quite flat, which compared to other speakers in the price range seems a bit mid-forward. Maybe a bit subdued treble which improves if you just sit a bit off axis. I don’t think it’s bad though, I can still judge the treble fine but without ear fatigue.

There’s a ton of mid-range detail. Great for working with rowdy diy rock sub-sub-subculture music with lots of noisy roomy instruments, and probably other genres that mainly live in the mids. If something sounds bad then it’s instantly noticeable. If it sounds good, then it sounds good. I don’t have to second guess myself with these.

The only thing lacking is the DSP. The dipswitches aren’t very usable. It would have been better to just have genelec-style switches with shelves and a few boost/dips throughout the spectrum. Like, I couldn’t fix my bass problem because the low-end shelf also raises low mids which there is plenty of. And all of the different boundary settings will raise and cut a bunch of different spots which may not be appropriate in your specific setting (even tho it technically matches the illustration). In real life there are more things in a room than just 4 walls and whatever the monitors sit on.