IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Speaker, Black

Product Information

iLoud’s enclosure is totally rigid and resonance-free, allowing the tuned bass reflex design to perform at its best.

The Vanatoo shares similar output limitations, but does not have the obvious tonal changes of the iLoud's DSP limiter. These guys obviously took this new found freedom to new heights and tuned for the deepest bass response they could. Discussions about products that are not developed with objective methods, or the people who make them, are never productive. While there are hundreds of portable speakers in the market, none of them were developed with musicians in mind - until now.Regarding build quality, it's too early to speak of longevity, but I knocked the amplified speaker on the floor and it still works fine, so that's promising! With iLoud you can be confident that any type of music will be reproduced with the accuracy normally found only on high-grade studio monitors. For clear, accurate referencing, they compare favourably with more established brands, and we’d urge you to give them a try. iLoud states with calibration that bass increases, 40Hz goes from F6 to F3, the latter seemingly the graph above.

The T-RackS Metering Suite offers you a full range of metering tools to help you get your tracks sounding perfect. The 2kHz peak on the woofer is here, leading up to a crossover point that is lower than the provided specs. I found this LF switch to be more effective than the Desk switch with the iLoud monitors on a desk either side of the laptop. Pro or not Iam not too fussed from a consumer aspect more the zero colouration and the “option” bluetooth or cable Very convenient. You’ll have peak, RMS and dynamic range meters, as well as a spectrogram to detect frequency imbalances while mixing or mastering.

I ended up getting a little hiss in my setup, but was able to turn down the gain on the back of the speaker and send it a hot preamp signal to minimise the problem. Although the iLoud monitors are intended for desktop use, you could really optimise the sound by placing them on microphone or speaker stands.

I tried them with a range of recordings, from acoustic guitar, to electronic music and even Poulenc’s powerful organ concerto. The positioning of the tweeter prevents the dispersion at the upper frequencies from being too wide. The tweaks above 10kHz helped clear up some issues with the treble that appear off axis and can sound harsh with cymbal heavy music. Today, IK Multimedia is a multinational company with seven subsidiaries in Italy, Great Britain, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Hong Kong, and the USA and exclusively manufactures products which are perfectly tailored to the needs of musicians, true to its motto “Musicians first”. Many people will be more familiar with IK Multimedia from the Italian company’s software, but it has been making waves in the hardware world too.They’re great for the size, however, as long as u recognize the limitations in volume, bass, etc you’re all good! I have the iloud micro monitor, and at reasonable listening levels (around 80-85db at my desk) it never clips.