The SM-5 is a powered 3-way studio monitor with a 5-Inch woofer, and a 4-Inch midrange with a coaxial 1-inch metal dome tweeter. The SM-5 features user-definable DSP parameters that allow for each speaker to be fully calibrated in their environment. The DSP features 8 bands of EQ, delay, and trim controls. Users can define different calibration profiles, allowing for placement in different rooms, and tuning to different targets.

Part of Kali’s flagship Santa Monica series of speakers, the SM-5 combines Kali’s proven 3-way coincident architecture with uncompromising components to deliver unparalleled imaging, accuracy, and detail for critical mixing applications.

Like Kali’s acclaimed IN-Series loudspeakers, the SM-5 is an acoustic point source, and special care has been taken with the unique geometry around the midrange to ensure a seamless transition to the edge of the speaker. This gives the loudspeaker an ideal directivity characteristic, resulting in an engrossing stereo image where details are lifelike and crisp. Off axis lobing that is unavoidable in 2-way loudspeakers is virtually eliminated in the SM-5.

The transducers on the SM-5 are similarly precision engineered for high dynamic range, smooth response, and low distortion. The woofer design has been refined, and incorporates features that reduce magnetic flux modulation, bringing distortion down dramatically.

The midrange has been optimized not only for its own frequency handling, but also for its role as the tweeter’s waveguide. The tweeter is an aluminum dome with a special geometry that reduces high-Q ultrasonic resonances, eliminating the harsh sound that can plague metal dome designs.

All of these features contribute to impressive performance from the SM-5. THD of the loudspeaker is less than 1% and lower frequency response is 39 Hz at -10 dB.  With 150W of amplificiation, the SM-5 can deliver 117 dB peak SPL, making it suitable for full-range mixing from up to 4 meters away.

The SM-5 can be mounted using hardware from Triad Orbit, or any other speaker mount that uses a 4.25x2 Inch hole pattern and can support the loudspeaker’s 25 lb weight. The precise spatial resolution afforded by the speaker’s architecture make it an ideal solution for immersive mixing.

DSP

The SM-5 has a DSP chip that processes the loudspeaker’s factory tuning, as well as features like the limiter.

Users can further refine the loudspeaker’s performance for their environment by controlling per-loudspeaker EQ, delay, and trim. There are 8 bands of parametric EQ available, including selectable high and low pass and high and low shelf filters.

Multiple calibration profiles can be loaded, allowing users to tune the loudspeakers for multiple environments, listening positions, and/or target curves.

Control app

The SM-5 is supported by Kali’s Control Panel software, which gives users access to the DSP features.

In online mode, every speaker can be networked together, allowing for real-time status monitoring and full system configuration changes at the press of a button.

In offline mode, users can use a USB drive to update each speaker’s configuration parameters. This includes up to 8 profiles that are accessible from the back of the speaker without needing to connect. For users who will use the SM-5 in different environments, this allows them to recall room-specific tunings without needing to load any software.

 3-Way, Coincident Architecture

The SM-5 is a coincident 3-way design. The midrange and tweeter are coaxial, meaning that they share an acoustic center. In other words, the tweeter sits within the midrange. They are also coincident, meaning that they are physically time-aligned. This eliminates directivity and phase problems that are unavoidable in non-coaxial designs.

This architecture, together with the physical placement and crossover of the woofer, makes the SM-5 an acoustic point source. This gives the loudspeaker an ideal directivity characteristic, resulting in a lifelike stereo image where details are placed clearly and consistently.

Being a 3-way, the SM-5 has a dedicated midrange transducer. This unburdens the woofer, resulting in lower distortion from the lower response of the loudspeaker through the high mids. This makes the SM-5 a very natural, musical sounding loudspeaker, and it makes it very easy to hear every element of your mix clearly.

Flux Stabilized woofer and midrange

The SM-5’s woofer and midrange driver incorporate components that assist in inductance linearization and flux stabilization. These features reduce magnetic flux modulation, meaning that the voice coil is moving through a clean magnetic field, which dramatically reduces distortion.

Optimized Profile Midrange

The midrange is not only optimized for its own frequency handling, but also for its role as the tweeter’s waveguide. It controls the directivity of the tweeter so that off-axis reflections in all directions are congruent with the direct sound of the loudspeaker, which is part of what gives the SM-5 such excellent imaging. Peak-to-peak excursion on the midrange does not exceed 1mm, eliminating intermodulation distortion that is typical in coaxial designs.

The SM-5 has been designed to have a seamless transition from the edge to the midrange driver to the edge of the baffle, further enhancing on-axis performance.

1-Inch Aluminum Dome Tweeter

The tweeter on the SM-5 is a 1-inch aluminum dome. The dynamic response of the aluminum is excellent, 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.

Low Diffraction Baffle

The baffle around the midrange follows the shape of that driver, blending seamlessly from the edge of the driver and into the rest of the speaker cabinet. This eliminates on-axis diffraction artifacts in the frequency response, and helps reinforce the excellent imaging characteristics of the SM-5.

Mountable

The SM–5 features mounting holes on both the top and bottom of the loudspeaker. Kali recommends using a speaker specific U-bracket from Triad-Orbit, but any speaker mount with a 4.25x2-Inch bolt pattern that is capable of holding the SM-5’s 21lb weight will also work.

Low Noise Port Tube

On most port tubes, air leaves at different speeds from different points of the opening, creating noisy turbulence. This turbulence can be heard as "chuffing," or an audible air sound coming from the system. This sound will add to the noise floor and obscure the details of the low end.

The port tube on the SM-5  was designed to ensure that all of the air leaves the port tube at the same velocity. This helps add to the low end response of the subwoofer, while keeping the bass clean, tight, and devoid of extra noise.

Features

• 5-Inch Studio monitor with coincident 4-Inch midrange and 1-inch metal dome tweeter. 
• 117 dB Max SPL
• 39 Hz lower frequency response (-10dB)
• App control for user-defined EQ, delay, and trim

Specifications