Kali Audio SM-5-C (black)

Kali’s founding principle is to deliver the best possible product for the price. Our speakers have always been praised for their accuracy, translation, and ease of use. The SM-Series builds on these ideals, and incorporates the best available materials, components, and manufacturing.

The result is a high performance studio monitor that is ready for the most demanding mixing and mastering applications.



The key to the SM-Series’ high performance is its 3-way coincident architecture. This design allows for the ultra-lifelike imaging of a coaxial speaker, while delivering the low distortion and midrange clarity that only a 3-way can achieve.

Not only are the midrange and tweeter coaxial, they are also coincident, meaning that they are physically time aligned and thus phase coherent from all angles.

The SM-Series speakers are acoustic point sources, and particular care has been given to the transition from the midrange to the baffle. This transition is seamless to the edge of the speaker, resulting in an engrossing stereo image where details are lifelike and crisp.

Amplification

The SM-5-C requires a power amplifier. Kali recommends bi-amplifying the speakers using an LEA amplifier with at least 100W per channel. For example, the LEA Connect 164 160W per channel 4-channel amplifier is the minimum choice for a pair of SM-5-Cs.

If you’d like to use a different amplifier, you’ll need to make sure that it can deliver 20VRMS into a 3 Ohm load. Most amplifiers rated for 100W at 4 Ohm should be sufficient, but you’ll need to verify that the amplifier you select is capable of handling a 3 Ohm load. The amplifier, or some other component after the amplifier in your signal chain, will need to include a peak limiter. Using the SM-5-Cs without a peak limiter will void your warranty.