Kali Audio IN-8 Review | The BEST Budget 3-Way STUDIO MONITORS?
If you’re looking at getting a pair of 3-Way Studio Monitors at an affordable price, maybe you should check these out!
For more information on the IN-8 or other studio monitor models, visit the Kali Audio Web Site
https://www.kaliaudio.com
(video transcript)
Today, let’s take a look at the IN-8 3-Way Studio Monitors from Kali Audio.
Hey, what’s going on, my friend? Chris here from Mixdown Online. I hope you are doing good and that you are safe. Now, let’s talk about this guy, the IN-8 3-Way Studio Monitor from Kali Audio, which is a company based in California.
Kali Audio makes entry level studio monitors like the LP-6 and LP-8, which are quite popular these days, and they just came up with the IN-8, which is a three way studio monitor. So what is a three way studio monitor?
It’s basically three drivers within the same speaker that will manage the full frequency range. First, we have an eight inch woofer, then we have a coaxial mid range driver and tweeter, that is basically the tweeter that lives inside the mid range driver. So the mid range and the tweeter will come from the same location. This is a very cool design that we usually see on more expensive studio monitors.
This will add a lot of precision to the sound of these studio monitors, and also a very nice stereo image. And if we look at the bottom, we have the low noise port tubes. These are not passive studio monitors. You don’t need an external amplifier to feed them. They already have an amplifier inside them, a class-D amplifier, which will give you a total of 140 watts.
Okay, so you have 60 watts for the woofer and then 40 watts for the mid range driver, and 40 watts for the tweeter, for a total of 140 watts. And they go up to 114 DB, which is actually quite loud. Now, if we look at the back of the monitor, we have the volume knob right here, and we also have three inputs, one RCA, one XLR, and one TRS. Here we have the power switch, and then we have this very cool thing, which is the dip switches for EQ settings, and on top, we have to dip switch reference guide.
This is going to show you different studio layouts, and you can then decide which layout is close to yours, and then you can just work with the switches according to the suggestions you have from the reference guide on top, which is very practical. Now, I’ve been working with these studio monitors for the past two and a half months, and I have to say that I am very impressed in general with the quality of the sound, especially for the price. Now, we’re talking about $399 for one speaker, one studio monitor. So for a pair we’re talking about 798 US dollars, which is a very good price for these three way studio monitors of that quality.
The sound is, like I was saying, very good, very detailed. I would say pretty much flat across the board, across the frequency range. The harmonic distortion is very low. The low end is actually clear and tight. The stereo image, like I was saying earlier, is stunning. And the mid range is very present, and this is something very nice and that we see a lot on three way studio monitors, the mid range, and these are not an exception.
And actually, the high mids are actually a bit forward, but in a very good way and sound very smooth, but revealing at the same time, which is something that I like a lot about these are studio monitors. They do translate very well when I’m mixing on them, and then I just go outside the studio to listen to my mixes, I’m actually very close to what I am hearing here in the studio using the IN-8s.
I have to say, again, for this price range, I’ve tried several monitors in the past at that price range, and by far, these are very good compared to everything else on the market at this price range. Now, I’m going to be honest with you, there’s only one tiny thing that I dislike about these studio monitors, and that is these small, tiny hiss that they produce.
Now, in my studio, I have a super low noise floor, so I can hear that hiss, but it’s only going to be audible when there’s no music playing. The minute you play some music, you’re not going to hear it. It’s not a deal breaker as far as I’m concerned, but I just wanted to point that out.
Also, which is not necessarily a con, there’s a sleep mode on these monitors. That means that after 20 minutes of non-activity, this speaker is going to turn off by itself, okay? The blue light’s actually going to turn out orange. So that means they are in sleep mode, and if you want to get out of the sleep mode, what you need to do is just to play some music into them. They’re going to be turned back on.
So there you go. These are the IN-8 3-Way Studio Monitors from Kali Audio. Again, I’ve been working with them for the past two and a half months, and I am not going to send them back, okay? I’m going to keep them in my studio, and these are going to be a great companion to my main studio monitors.
Now, if you want to know more about the IN-8 or the LP-8, LP-6 studio monitors, I’m going to leave the link down below and just go check the Kali Audio website for more infos. That’s going to be it for today. If you have any questions or comments, leave everything down below. Don’t forget to share, to like, and to subscribe to this channel if you are not all ready. Until next time, take care, stay safe, and see you.