NEW! SM-8 Kali's best just got bigger. Kali Audio, July 21, 2025

Believe Everything You Hear

Kali Audio’s Santa Monica Series are the best studio monitors we’ve built so far. With unparralled accuracy, imaging, and translation, they present every detail of your mix with pinpoint precision and fidelity.

The SM-Series features user-editable DSP to process room calibration profiles on board, for a perfect fit in your room.

 

SM-5:

225W
Class D Power

39 Hz
Lower Frequency Response

< 1% System THD
90 dB @ 1M

117 dB
Max SPL

SM-8:

300W
Class D Power

37 Hz
Lower Frequency Response

< 0.5% System THD
94 dB @ 1M

119 dB
Max SPL

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.

With onboard processing for room calibration, each speaker can be programmed with delays, trims, and EQs to deliver accurate response in your room.

The SM-Series gives users full control of 8 parametric EQs, delay up to 12ms, and loudspeaker trim. These parameters can be accessed and edited using our Kali Control Panel application, available for both Mac and Windows.

Importantly, since these parameters are processed by the same DSP hardware already in line, using user-defined DSP adds no additional latency to the system. Total digital latency is acceptably low to allow tracking using the SM-Series.

Onboard calibration removes the need for a dedicated room calibration processor. It also prevents some of the confusion and mishap that is possible with a plug-in based processor. Calibration is available for any source you could plug into the speaker, without needing to route it through software, and it will never be active on a mix you print.

Kali has fully documented our recommended room calibration procedures. When you perform the measurement yourself, we can provide room tuning files for a small fee per speaker. More information can be found at Kaliaudio.com/santa-monica-how-to

Mounting

The SM–Series 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 4.25 x 2-Inch bolt pattern that is capable of holding the SM-Series’ weight will also work.

Passive Versions Available

Both the SM-5 and SM-8 are available in passive versions for enterprise customers. The passive versions have equivalent output, distortion, and frequency response specifications when used with Kali-specified amplification.

Specifications

SM-5 - SM-8

Self-Powered: Yes - Yes
Amplifier: 3-Channel Class D (discrete LF, MR, and HF)  - 3-Channel Class D (discrete LF, MR, and HF)
Amplifier Power: 225 W - 300 W
HF Driver: 1-Inch Metal Dome Tweeter - 1-Inch Metal Dome Tweeter
Midrange Driver: 4-Inch Optimized Profile Paper Cone - 4-Inch Optimized Profile Paper Cone
LF Driver: 5-Inch Optimized Paper Woofer - 8-Inch Optimized Paper Woofer
LF-to-Midrange Crossover: 280 Hz - 280 Hz
Midrange-to-HF Crossover: 2800 Hz - 2800 Hz
Frequency Response (-10 dB): 39 Hz - 35 kHz - 37 Hz - 35 kHz
Frequency Range (±3 dB): 47 Hz - 21 kHz - 43 Hz - 21 kHz
Recommended Listening Distance: Up to 4 Meters - Up to 5 Meters
Max SPL (Peak at 1 meter): 117 dB - 119 dB
Loudspeaker THD: (90 dB SPL at 1 meter) <0.75% -  <0.5%
Audio Inputs: Balanced XLR/TRS Combijack AES/EBU over BNC Balanced XLR/TRS Combijack AES/EBU over BNC
Control Inputs: Ethernet (RJ45) USB-A Ethernet (RJ45) USB-A
Other I/O: AES/EBU over BNC Thru AC Power Input AES/EBU over BNC Thru AC Power Input
User-Definable DSP (Per Loudspeaker): 8 Parametric EQs
10 ms of delay
-12 to +6 dB trim 8 Parametric EQs
10 ms of delay
-12 to +6 dB trim
Enclosure: Front Ported Front Ported
DSP latency: <3ms <3ms
Product Height: 15.6 Inches (39.6 cm) 19 Inches (48.26 cm)
Product Depth: 9.8 Inches (24.8 cm) 12 Inches (30.5 cm)
Product Width: 7.9 Inches (20 cm) 10 Inches (25.4 cm)
Product Weight: 21 lbs (9.5 kg) 32 lbs (14.5 kg)

Press Release Documents

Website Address

https://www.kaliaudio.com/
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