Kali Audio SM5 C (Single) 3-Way Passive Studio Monitor
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Key Info
Kali’s Ultimate Speaker 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.
1-Inch Aluminum-Dome Tweeter The SM-Series’ aluminum-dome tweeter delivers excellent dynamics, resulting in clear high frequency response without distortion. The tweeter uses a unique geometry to reduce high-Q ultrasonic resonances, eliminating harshness that can make metal tweeters fatiguing over time.
4-Inch Profile-Optimized Midrange The SM-5-C’s midrange is optimized not only for its own frequency band, but also for its role as the tweeter’s waveguide. The shape is precision engineered for ideal directivity, and peak-to-peak excursion is limited to under 1mm to prevent intermodulation distortion.
Flux Stabilized Woofer The SM-5-C’s woofer incorporates features that reduce magnetic flux modulation, bringing distortion down dramatically.
Paper is used for both the woofer and midrange cone material. Kali’s testing has shown that, despite its humble nature, paper is ideal in terms of stiffness, weight, and natural damping characteristics.
Amplification
For full output with minimum distortion, Kali recommends bi-amplifying the speakers using an LEA amplifier with at least 100W per channel. Therefore the minimum choice for a pair of SM-5-Cs would be an LEA Connect 164.
Nearly full output and acceptable distortion may also be attained using the single wire tuning and one of LEA’s 80W amplifiers. This means that it is possible to amplify up to four speakers using an LEA Connect 84 or up to 8 using an LEA Connect 88. Max SPL will be 1 dB lower and distortion will be slightly higher at full output.
Single Wire vs. Bi-Amped
While Kali recommends bi-amplifying the speakers, single wire use is more convenient and economical. Single wire mode adds a small amount of distortion on from the lower frequency cutoff of the system through 700 Hz vs. Bi-Amped at comparable playback levels. The single wire tuning also introduces a frequency response anomaly at the high end of the loudspeaker’s response, although this may be corrected with full-range room calibration.
Other Amplifiers
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.
Technical Specifications
- Self-Powered: No
- Amp Options: Single Wire, Bi-Amped (Woofer, Midrange+Tweeter)
- MR+HF Power Handling: 20VRMS into 3 Ohm (100W at 4 Ohm)
- LF Power Handling: 20VRMS into 3 Ohm (100W at 4 Ohm)
- Single Wire Power Handling: 20VRMS into 3 Ohm (100W at 4 Ohm)
- HF Driver: 1-Inch Metal Dome Tweeter
- Midrange Driver: 4-Inch Optimized Profile Paper Cone
- LF Driver: 5-Inch Optimized Paper Woofer
- LF-to-Midrange Crossover: 280 Hz
- Midrange-to-HF Crossover: 2800 Hz
- Frequency Response: (-10 dB): 39 Hz - 28 kHz
- Frequency Range: (+/-3 dB): 47 Hz - 21kHz
- Recommended Listening Distance: 4 Meters
- Max SPL: (Peak at 1 meter) 117 dB
- Loudspeaker THD, Single Wire: (85dB SPL at 1M) <1% from 100-700 Hz, <0.5% above 700 Hz
- Loudspeaker THD, Bi-Amped: (85dB SPL at 1M) <0.75% from 100-450 Hz, <0.5% above 450 Hz
- Inputs: Single Wire Phoenix Connector
- Bi-Wire Phoenix Connector
- Enclosure: Front Ported
- Product Height: 15.6 Inches (39.6 cm)
- Product Depth: 9.8 Inches (24.8 cm)
- Product Width: 7.9 Inches (20 cm)
- Product Weight: 21 lbs (9.5 kg)
- SKU:
- SM5-C-EU
- Model Name:
- SM5 C (Single)
- Brand:
- Kali Audio
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