December 2000 Reviewed by John Potis	Adire Kali Subwoofer

Description Price: $699 USD Dimensions: 18"W x 23"H x 18"D Weight: 68 pounds Warranty: Three years parts and labor	Features 12" Kevlar-reinforced, epoxy-coated paper-cone driver with treated foam surround 600W RMS power handling Variable crossover from 60Hz-125Hz 150W amplifier into 4 ohms at 1% THD RCA and spring-loaded quick-connects Phase switch

Adire may be new to some, but it's not to me. The company used to be called Avatar Audio. A few years ago I had the pleasure of auditioning a pair of the company's speakers and found the Paavani (a two-way stand-mounted speaker) a real joy to use. I found the idiosyncratically styled speaker to be on par with the best speakers in its class and subjectively the equal of the more expensive Sonus Faber Concerto I was listening to at the time. What the Adire speaker did that was just stunning was cast one of the most expansive soundstages -- with some of the most delineated instrumental outlines -- I’d ever heard, all without a lot of fussing over setup. The Paavani was one of the easiest-to-place, and -listen-to, speakers I’ve ever used. I don’t mean to review the speaker here, but I do want to make the point that Adire does more than just put large woofers in boxes to produce bass; they know how to build speakers too.

The Kali is a medium-sized subwoofer with a built-in 150-watt amplifier. The 23"H x 18"W x 18"D enclosure makes the Kali a manageable size, but hardly small. A downward-firing 12" proprietary driver (known as the "Shiva") does all the dirty work. The subwoofer is not magnetically shielded, so try not to place the subwoofer closer than 6 feet to your monitor. The best news is the price: You can get a Kali decked out in real-wood veneer for $699.

Unpacking the Adire, however, I have to admit that I was left a little under-impressed by the finish on the review sample. The Kali doesn’t come with the most luxurious finish I’ve ever seen. What looks to be a single coat of urethane doesn’t exactly compare to the awesome finish you get with, say, the ACI Titan subwoofer, which sells for $100 more. Making things a little more disappointing was the hardened glue seeping from the edges of the veneer. But when you consider the price of the Kali and the fact that the glue can be trimmed with a razor knife (and that from across the room, the finish looks very good) it’s not such a bad deal. Wander into most showrooms and look at the comparably priced subwoofers and you are likely to find black wood-grained vinyl or a painted pebble finish -- either of which make the Kali look positively top-drawer by comparison.

Performance

As is standard operating procedure for me, I started by placing the Kali in a two-channel music system in order to gain an immediate insight into its performance capabilities. Right out of the box, the Kali impressed me -- really impressed me. It was tight, articulate, powerful and tuneful. It made a beautiful blend with any speaker in the room. I listened to a lot of music over the Kali SE, and I can report that it never let me down. With my eyes closed, there was never a clue that I was listening to an inexpensive subwoofer. When called upon, the Kali stepped in to deliver deep, powerful, and resonant bass. When such intervention was not called for, the Kali seemingly went into stealth mode, with no uncalled-for bass prominence, added thickness, or any other kind of sonic intrusion.

Initially, I inserted the Kali into my home-theater system via the LFE output on the Yamaha DSP-A1 receiver. I lived with the Kali this way for two months and watched movie after movie and many concert videos. Quickly I came to take the Kali completely for granted, making it rather difficult to make specific listening notes on its performance. It did everything I called upon it to do, and it did so with understated ease. At the end of that two-month period, it was time to get down to brass tacks.

Using the low-frequency sweep test tone from the Avia Guide To Home Theater test/setup DVD, I was able to get a better handle on exactly what the Kali was doing in my room. Using a Radio Shack SPL meter, set to "C" weighting and "slow" response, I was able to measure very strong output all the way down to 25Hz at my listening seat. Below that, response fell rapidly and was down approximately 10dB at 20Hz. This could be attributable more to my room than the subwoofer.

While I hate to reduce subwoofer reviewing to the level of a carnival sideshow, eventually I did have to drag out some cinematic bass extravaganzas: among them was Godzilla. Listening to the movie at levels frequently peaking at 98dB, I found that my ears eventually gave out, but the Kali had just hit its stride. It was loud; let me tell you, the whole room was alive! But halfway through the movie, I had to turn the volume down to give my ears a break. I just couldn’t take it, and I didn’t want to subject myself to hearing loss.

I talk with people on the Internet who love to evaluate subwoofers exclusively by SPL numbers. I have to say that I don’t get it. To those who insist on subwoofers that produce 115dB at 20Hz, I have to ask, "Why does this matter?" They tell me people deserve the right to listen at "reference" levels! My question is this: "When the subwoofer hits 115dB at 20Hz, how loud is the rest of the system playing?" And how long can anybody listen at that level with any degree of safety? Do monster subwoofers capable of such output come with consumer-warning labels? If they don’t, perhaps they should.

Recently, SoundStage!’s Marc Mickelson wrote an editorial that made a lot of sense to me. Basically he said that one of the reasons he dislikes home theater is, and I’m paraphrasing here, once you assemble a super-duper home-theater system with earth-shaking bass, the system becomes an issue in its own right. No longer can people watch a movie and not have their attention drawn away from what’s on the screen. Instead they are directed to the rumbling rafters and vibrating floor. Is that what good home theater is about? I don’t think so. Once the home-theater system becomes the center of attention, something is wrong.

Well, if you're after attention-grabbing SPL levels, Adire claims an output at 21Hz of 113dB -- a claim I’m not able to verify. All I can say is the bass was loud, and if you are looking for more (presumably for larger rooms), you may have to investigate Adire’s larger subwoofers. But for sane listening in all but the very largest of rooms, the Kali is more than adequate.

I recently read a review of Tom Petty’s live concert DVD High Grass Dogs, Live From The Fillmore, in which the reviewer, citing an unsatisfactory level of bass in the recording, recommended buying the DVD for the music rather than the sound. Well, don’t call the Dolby Labs Home Theater Calibration and Setup Police on me, but I did juice the volume on the Kali a bit while viewing the Tom Petty DVD, and I was able to goose the level of bass to a nice degree without it becoming thumpy or bloated. In this manner, Howie Epstein’s bass lines were rendered with impressive crispness and power. Bass drums were still lacking a bit in power, but they too sounded fundamentally correct and fast, if a little distant.

The thunderstorm scene from The Edge was reproduced exceedingly well with the help of the Kali SE. The thunder’s bass fundamental was produced so loudly and forebodingly that even the dog went running for shelter. The underwater scene from the lowly hi-fi VHS version of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was impressive over the Kali as well. The room was awash in waves of powerful bass as our heroes streaked toward the center of planet Naboo.

Comparison

So is the Kali really God’s gift to the bass maniac? Well, while I’m no bass maniac, I can speculate that it probably isn’t. I suspect that the two areas where bass fiends may be a little let down would be in terms of impact and slam. While the Kali easily and routinely energized my room with a sense of power and weight, it did not quite have the visceral, or should I say the physical, force that I’ve experienced with a few other bass systems. The Polk RT3000 system continues to be my reference for sheer home-theater slam. Comparatively, the Kali could not replicate the deep-down abdominal-massaging whacks of the Polk RT3000s. For that, I suspect you would have to move up to one of the larger Adire subs. Of course, the RT3000 system incorporates two subwoofers, each with twin 8" woofers offering about the same radiation area as a single 12" driver, so it’s no surprise that the Kali couldn’t keep up. And to be perfectly honest, it’s only now as I write this that the Kali SE’s light touch becomes an issue for me. Given the subject matter I used to evaluate the subwoofer, I never once thought to myself, "Gee, where’s that kick in the can that I’m used to?" It was only when forced to consider why anyone would possibly dismiss the Kali from consideration that this occurred to me. It was only when speculating about what was left to be gained by the larger Adire subs that physicality became an issue.

Conclusion

I've had a hard time with the Adire Kali subwoofer -- a hard time finding fault with it, that is! At $699, this is one inexpensive subwoofer, and in terms of its price, there is just nothing to fault. If it sold for twice the price, I could begin to pick nits about fit and finish, but I'd still have to recommend it based on its stellar performance. At three times its price, I would really begin to complain about it not having a beautiful finish, but there are still subs such as the Bag End Infra 18 that come in black-vinyl wrappings. In terms of sound, the Kali is still competitive. It may not go quite as deep or play as loud as some in the bigger-money league, but it's still in the ballpark. However, the fact remains that this great little sub can be had for $699, and you get a real wood finish that looks great from all angles except upon the very closest inspection.

There is just no way to get around it: The Adire Kali subwoofer just gives so much performance for the money. It plays loud enough for all but the most bass-hungry in the largest rooms. It plays clean enough to mate with very high-quality monitors in musical applications and it will serve a dual application theater/music system very well.

Manufacturer contact information

Adire Audio
P.O. Box 85891
Seattle, WA 98145
Phone: (206) 595-3524

E-mail: sales@adireaudio.com
Website: www.adireaudio.com

• Go Back