KALI AUDIO WS-12 12 inch Powered Subwoofer

I was considering Adam's A5X. I am happy I tested the Kali IN-5. I am moving my studio to ATMOS mixing. The guys at Dolby Labs agreed the Kali sound great and are a totally acceptable alternative to the more expensive A5X.

Sub was working great for a couple of months... until it wasn't. The audio from the sub was cutting in and out for a while when it first showed signs of malfunctioning until it completely stopped making any sound at all. The sub powers on just fine and passes audio thru just fine as well but there's no audio coming from the subwoofer itself. I hope I just got some sort of defective unit and that I'm able to get it repaired or replaced. UPDATE: Although Kali Audio's customer service wasn't the easiest to reach out to and communicate with, they eventually did send out a new unit to me free of cost. Seems like there was a batch of defective units since I saw another review mentioning the exact same issue I had. The new sub they sent works perfectly and hasn't given me any issues so far. It's been about 4-5 months since I got it. Changed 3 star rating to 4 stars since it really is a great product and at a great price, but the inconvenience wasn't exactly pleasant. UPDATE #2: Replacement unit started doing the same thing... cutting in and out momentarily for a second every 20 seconds or so. At this point I just want my money back. Lost my trust in Kali Audio completely.

I got this for a great price because I believe it was a closeout but had problems with the unit from the time I got it. I just thought that’s how they worked, until I finally ordered a brand new amp from Kali Audio to replace myself. Now it’s amazing. The problem before was when I turned it on, I had to wait about a minute before I could turn on my tops, otherwise there’s horrible, squealing noise.

For some reason this used to be the page for the Kali IN-8 but has been changed to the WS-12 Sub. I'll leave the review up, but for anyone who is reading....the review is for the KALI IN-8. 2 MONTH UPDATE/IMPRESSIONS: Really amazed at how significant an improvement the Kali IN-8s are over JBL 308s. Following the advice I've heard from pros about focusing early on good monitoring has paid off with the Kali. Better monitoring not only improved my work, but it improved my ability to make good decisions when purchasing other gear/plugins. Overall they are the best sounding speaker I've heard in this price range. Nothing even really comes close. The last 2 months working on the Kali I fee like my work has improved and I've learned more about how to tweak my settings than in the previous 2 years combined. I didn't realize until after I got the Kali how much bad monitoring was holding back my progress, and as a result, causing me to doubt my own ears/abilities. I'd strongly urge anyone considering going cheap on their monitoring to reconsider. The Kali are super accurate and detailed, but still pleasing to work on. They don't feel too analytical or harsh after working all day on them. After 2 years of struggling through mixes/masters on JBLs, I'm almost dumbfounded how well the mixes on the Kali translate to other systems, and as good as they sound in general, that's really the key part...how well they translate. Great sounding speakers don't do much good if they don't translate well. I see the other review mentioned the white noise/hiss too, like I said for mine, it really wasn't an issue. For mine at least, it's not audible above ambient room noise (tested on SPL meter and by ear), and Amazon's got such great CS/return policy I wouldn't really hesitate to buy. Even the other review even admits, they punch way above their weight...I really can't emphasize this enough....so much so that I really don't see an upgrade to these monitors that would be significant enough/worthwhile until the $5k+ range (maybe something like the Amphion one18/two15 or ATC SCM 25). The only negative I have in the 2 months so far, is on one song (out of about 50+ "remasters") I didn't hear some harsh resonance around the 2-3k region until I listened on the Bang & Olufsen system. This makes some sense as the crossover is 3k, and all speakers typically have a weak spot at their crossover point (also the appeal of the Amphions for me as they crossover at 1.6k ). That said, everything I said below initially still stands. INITIAL REVIEW: Initially wrote an update/review for the Kalis in my JBL LSR 308 review discussing these monitors (weren't available on Amazon at the time). Some statements will overlap with my 308 review. I realize the 308s are cheaper, but the reality is this just happened to be how my monitor upgrades went. I will try to keep it updated with my impressions. My setup is a desk w/computer with bass trapping in the corners behind the speakers and absorption at first reflection points. The simplest and most important things I can say: (1) They are accurate, detailed, and translate well. (2) I trust what I hear on the Kali is what I will hear on another system. (3) This allows me to make faster, better decisions. I switched from the JBL LSR 308s to the Kali IN-8 after almost 2 years of researching and learning how to "remaster" my vinyl collection (stuff not avail online) primarily to get levels up for playlists, but also some EQ rebalancing. I felt I had adequately learned my room, the speakers, and developed a decent critical ear, but I still second guessed every decision on the JBL due to constantly discovering issues I never heard until I would listen on another system. Since switching to the Kalis, I've been constantly impressed with how well they translate and am still trying to get used to the idea that I don't need to double check and being very pleased when I do. The Kali surpass the JBL LSR 308s in every aspect: detail, warmth, richness, phase response, etc. The coaxial 3-Way design not only makes the image sound more cohesive, it widens the working "sweet spot" noticeably as well. Details regarding the imaging (front, back depth, even perceived "height") jump out where they didn't exist before. Overall, there are no glaring weaknesses anywhere along the sound spectrum. The drivers sound more dynamic, faster, and more accurate. The Kali feel more relaxed if that makes sense. They never feel like they're being pushed beyond their limits, in contrast it's very apparent when the JBLs are struggling (the more dense the material, the worse it is). This would seem to back up Kalis "best in class" distortion claims. As a result, there's way less ear fatigue for me. The dip switches on the back for the desk setting also make a noticeable difference. Beyond the common problems of muddy bass and harsh highs, I also found great difficulty when using the JBL when it came to detecting changes in tone and color. For the Kali, all those things like "tight bass, clear highs, warm mids" etc apply, but what really stands out and is the ability to hear the nuance in tone, timbre, and "character" of subtle details. An example would be in the song "Eyes be Closed" by Washed Out. At the 1 minute mark (the 4:47 length album version) there's a part where he uses a deeper vocal to create a background harmony with the bassline. Never heard that with the JBLs, but it's clear as day on the Kali. What once sounded like garbled/muffled gibberish background vocals in the second half of the song "Brains" by Lower Dens with the JBL are now almost completely intelligible lyrics on the Kali. Most important, this improved clarity is apparent when your fine tuning EQ, saturation settings, or compression settings. On the JBL I found this lack of clarity caused me to constantly go back and forth between different settings, never feeling good about either one. I couldn't hear the difference between 20ms or 60ms compressor attack times with the JBL. The result was I didn't know if it was the quality of my plugins, my speakers, the room, my ear, etc...but with the Kali I can. You get much more information about the transient hit and tail. With the Kali, the decisions are immediate and obvious and this has resulted in much improved confidence in my own abilities. The better low end/midrange detail is obviously really impactful for stuff like electronic music/hip hop. The kicks are punchy and just so much more satisfying to listen to (even vs using the LF trim +db switch on the JBL). There's a fullness/richness/tonality to the low end that was simply lacking with the JBL and allows the warmth/organic feel of certain tracks really stands out as well. For the Goldfrapp song "Strict Machine" the clarity in the low mids and bass and the stereo image are just opened up and sound so much more clear, you'd think it was a completely different version of the song on the Kali. Another eye opener was listening to old school Miami Bass music, stuff like Techmaster P.E.B. "Bassgasm" and "Computer Love." What stands out is the tightness and the tonality that comes through on different bass notes. The Kali articulate very well, there's not even the slightest hint of being pushed beyond their limits, again an issue that you can definitely tell occurs with the JBL when pushed (best way I could describe it, the speakers sound like they are farting, pushing air without much actual tone/sound coming out). That track also highlights how much better the Kali sound than the JBL at lower volumes. Most "budget" monitors I've heard have a real problem of not giving much info in the low end at low volumes (inverted smiley). The Kali are pretty flat at barely audible levels all the way well past 85 db (higher sustained db levels not recommended for long term hearing safety, though they go well past that). Additionally, there's detail, sibilance, and separation of the high end that was just lacking in the JBL. Now I can hear when a track's highs are too harsh and need to be dialed back. Previously with the JBLs everything just sounds kind of "splashy" with not enough detail there for me to hear how to correct the mix without making everything sound dull and flat which I would only become fully aware of after printing a final mix and listening to it on another system. The JBL cause you to second guess every decision you make, resulting in a cloud of doubt....Is it your "ears," the room, something else? The Kali removed this doubt for me, and allow me to focus on the more musical aspects of my work. The Kali are also a great general listening speaker (assuming you don't mind the fact bad mixes will sound bad). That said, the Kali aren't perfect. I do have a slight white noise hum (really only audible if ear is right next to speaker). I've seen this randomly reported for most monitors, the Yamaha HS series, JBL LSR, and several others. I've even seen people post about a similar hum on their $15k+ Kii Three/ATC monitors, but I've never seen a great explanation (though usually Class D amps are blamed) as to why it only seems to affect some monitors and not all (within the same brand/model). Personally, my JBL didn't have this issue so YMMV, regardless the pros far outweigh this one negative for me.

I got this to pair with my LP-6 monitors and fill out the bottom end for my setup. I do mostly music listening with these as well as occasional gaming and movie watching. It is a fantastic sub as it reaches down to around 20hz while still providing decent power and punch. The reason I give this sub 4 stars, not 5, is that in order for it to achieve what I would consider a balanced level of bass to mids and highs, which is the point of a studio monitor, I had to put the volume on the speaker itself as high as it goes. Out of the box, I always set my speakers at the mid point and add or take away from there, but I wasn't even sure if it was on when I had it at the midpoint. I did some playing around with it and found that with the volume at its max, it sounds fantastic and I would get it again. I just wish that they would have given it a little more juice out of the box and allow you to dial it back if you choose to.

Kali makes a bold claim that this is the most powerful sub under $1,000. I can confidently tell you this is false. I had high hopes for this sub. I own a pair of Kali IN-5, which are great monitors, so I thought this sub would be a great pairing. I can tell you that is false. The amount of bass this put out was pathetic. I also own a KRK 10.4 sub which puts out far better bass than this unit. I don't know what's going on with Kali's quality control, but this is terrible.

Great sound for an affordable 3-way monitor, but I couldn’t handle the hiss. It was beyond noticeable at even 5-6 feet away. Really great mids, excellent sound stage and competes with monitors way above their price range if you can deal with the hiss. I couldn’t... but some will be able to make that sacrifice. Otherwise, I would have considered them a substantial upgrade compared to my Yamaha HS8s.

Like several of the other folks experience, the sub cuts in and out. In my case, it did not happen prior to the warranty expiration - so, out of luck here...