영국의 유명한 음악 전문 매거진 Sound On Sound 에 게재된 Kali Audio LP-6 모니터 스피커 기사 입니다.
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https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/kali-audio-lp-6

번역전문

Kali Audio LP-6
These compact monitors from new company
Kali Audio strike an enticing balance between
performance and affordability.

Paul White
US-based company Kali Audio may
be a new name in monitoring,
but after trying out a new pair of
their LP-6s, it seems they’ve pulled out all
the stops in endeavouring to deliver the
highest level of performance at little more
than an entry level price. Part of the Project
Lone Pine series — which also includes the
eight‑inch‑woofer model, the LP-8 — the
LP-6 is designed to be used in the nearfield
and is rated with a continuous output of
85dB at a distance of 2.2 meters, with
additional headroom to accommodate
brief 112dB peaks. That doesn’t make
it the loudest monitor of its size, but
it’s certainly more than loud enough for
practical monitoring. Both the six‑inch LP-6
and the LP-8 are equipped with a limiter
circuit to protect the driver, and when the
limiter kicks in, distortion becomes audible
— a non-subtle hint that you should turn
things down.

Outwardly the LP-6 looks like a pretty
typical two-way, active speaker, its drivers
mounted in an unfussy but functional
black foil-skinned particle‑board cabinet.
A one‑inch soft-dome tweeter feeds an
asymmetrical waveguide, a moulding that
also incorporates the woofer surround,
to optimise its dispersion pattern and to
maximise the size of the sweet spot. Though
these are not expensive speakers, the
woofer features a 1.5‑inch voice coil and

a very large magnet to keep the low end
clean. A front‑exiting port is used to tune
the cabinet, but this has been designed
to reduce port noise by being shaped to
minimise turbulence within the port. With an
overall cabinet size of 35.9 x 22.2 x 26cm,
and weighing in at just a hint over 7kg each,
the speakers are suitable for desk/shelf
mounting on suitable platforms, or they can
be placed on rigid hi-fi style speaker stands.
As with most active speakers, there
are rear‑panel controls that modify the
response to suit different room placements
and user tastes, in this case controlled via
an eight-way DIP switch. To make life easy
for the user, all the settings are presented
as speaker position diagrams printed on
the rear panel, so if you don’t know what
half-space loading is, it doesn’t matter —
just pick the diagram that matches your
setup and set the switches as shown.
HF and LF adjustment options (±2dB) are
included here, also as DIP switch settings,
along with on/off setting for the RCA
phono input. This latter option is there to
prevent interference being picked up when
the RCA input is not being used. A rotary
control with a centre detent at the 0dB
position sets the input gain, and there are
input options for unbalanced RCA phono,
balanced/unbalanced quarter‑inch jack, or
balanced XLR.
The frequency response is specified
at 39Hz-25kHz at the -10dB points, or

47Hz-21kHz at the more usual -3dB points,
and the crossover point is at 1.5kHz. With its
woofer rated at 80 Watts and the soft-dome
tweeter at 40 Watts, the Class‑D amplifier
pack can deliver 40 Watts to each driver
while keeping heat and power consumption
to a minimum. Power comes in on
a standard IEC mains lead, with a rear‑panel
switch to turn on the power. A blue LED on
the front panel shows when the speakers
are powered.
Listening In
To test the speakers, I put them on
Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizer platforms and
then switched between them and my Event
Opals, after setting the gains to get a similar
level from each. This isn’t a fair comparison,
of course — the Kali monitors cost a fraction
of what the Opals do — but it proved useful
nevertheless in showing how the Kali LP-6s
performed. With the EQ controls set flat,
the mids and highs from the LP-6s came
over as smooth and detailed, with excellent
stereo imaging. The low end didn’t come
close to what the larger Opals are capable
of delivering, and it didn’t sound quite

as focussed, but for a six‑inch monitor
the bass extension is perfectly fine and in
a small room even preferable to something
that over-emphasises the lows. If you have
a larger room, the eight‑inch version has
a little more bass extension and might be
a better choice

You can subject any speaker to a series
of technical tests and find flaws — all
loudspeakers are a compromise — but what
matters most, to me at any rate, is whether
the speakers are comfortable to work with
for long periods and whether the mixes
they deliver translate well to other playback
systems. With the caveat that a headphone
check is always a good idea to see what
the low bass is really doing, the LP-6s tick
both boxes. For desk or shelf mounting they
benefit from a good speaker platform, but
other than that, setting them up is made
very simple by the diagram approach to
the DIP switch settings. Given that these
speakers are very affordable, they are
definitely worth checking out if you’re in the
market for home studio monitors for use in
domestic sized rooms.

A row of DIP switches lets you tailor the LP6’s
response to their placement in your room, and
setup is aided by a series of diagrams showing
typical usage scenarios.


Kali Audio LP-6 £318

p r o s
• Excellent price/performance ratio.
• Easy to set up thanks to the intuitive
diagrams on the rear panel.

c o n s
• Only the usual limited bass extension
common to speakers of this size and type.

s u m m a r y
Kali Audio may be a new name, but the
LP-6 is a very capable and serious speaker
for the price