IK Multimedia - iLoud Micro Monitor

Super near-field

High-end sound without the high-end price

Linear frequency response. Zero coloration. Transparency. Headroom. To hear the truth, you need reference speakers that offer up. And if you work in a home or small studio you have even greater challenges, from the lack of space on your desk to the “less than ideal” position of your audio workstation, typically placed against a wall.

Now, with iLoud Micro Monitor, you can hear the truth in your music anytime and everywhere. The smallest active studio reference monitoring system in the world, iLoud Micro Monitor provides you with ultra-accurate true linear frequency response with no coloration, and does so in every listening environment, especially in home and project studios. Sound too good to be true? Read on…

iLoud Micro Monitor is two extremely portable, high-performance bi-amped speakers that delivers a combined 50W RMS of power for solid bass, plenty of headroom and a stunningly defined stereo image. Whether you’re recording, editing, mixing or mastering audio, editing video, sound designing or gaming, iLoud Micro Monitor ensures your production will translate well to the huge variety of consumer devices — headphones, home stereo systems, gaming consoles, car audio systems, TVs, and other listening systems.

With iLoud Micro Monitor, you will hear the truth in your music no matter whether you’re mixing in your bedroom, mastering in a small studio or just listening to your favorite tunes at home. And best of all, it offers high-end features that can be found only in monitors in big budget studios, but without the high-end price tag.

High power, smallest footprint

When the original iLoud speaker was released, it set a new standard for portable power and sonic accuracy in an ultra-small, portable form factor. iLoud Micro Monitor is a natural evolution of that design concept, and just like popular predecessor, offer a completely new and unmatched sonic experience. iLoud Micro Monitors are specifically designed for small makeshift working spaces — bedroom studios, small project studios, on the tour bus or in a hotel room, and they are perfect as an additional reference monitor system for super nearfield listening.

Each tweeter and woofer is powered by ultra-efficient class D power amplifiers that push a total of 50W RMS with amazing low-end response down to 55Hz (-3dB) — the best bass response in its category. Each monitor sports a 3/4” silk dome tweeter, a 3” high-rigidity custom composite material woofer and a large-flaring front-firing bass reflex port. Thanks to these features, it’s able to deliver smooth and extended high frequencies, an exceptionally open, focused midrange and a solid, controlled low end. Simply put, iLoud Micro Monitor's sound is so good that it’s nearly inconceivable for a speaker system of this size and at this price point.

Sonically transparent

iLoud Micro Monitor sounds amazing and real. But why? Well, a part of that is due to its internal 56-bit digital signal processor (DSP). This DSP is responsible for things like taking care of the frequency and phase response of the monitors as well as also controlling the dynamic range so that the drivers are always under control and operating efficiently. It also acts as a digital crossover that allows for invisibly smooth transitions between the drivers themselves.

Also available in White

In addition to the original black finish, the iLoud Micro Monitor is also available in a modern white finish. You can select the color choice that best matches your home or studio set up.

Ideal for small studios

Most home studios offer less than ideal space when working on audio and often resemble just a desk with a computer and speakers beside it placed against a wall. Most speakers are not designed for these small environments and sound boomy and undefined, but iLoud Micro Monitors have been designed to be the best possible reference monitor in these challenging “small room” situations.

iLoud Micro Monitor’s small footprint saves space on your desktop and ensures closer placement to your ears thus minimizing room reflections. Plus, its internal DSP offers various EQ settings for optimizing bass and treble response as well as position compensation — this lets you switch between a “free field” and “desktop” setup effortlessly.

You can also position iLoud Micro Monitor at two angles of inclination thanks to the integrated isolation base that guarantees further mechanical de-coupling and purer sound. With these features you can optimize your listening experience to suit the characteristics of the room you’re working in, therefore always ensuring that you’re working in the audio the sweet spot.

Free-field positioning

iLoud Micro Monitors also feature an integrated mic stand thread (UNC 3/8”-16) so you can easily place them on any regular pair of mic stands giving you the best possible monitoring conditions in the smallest places without adding expensive accessories.

Superior monitoring, superior metering

In addition to your choice of 2 SE/CE software titles, iLoud Micro Monitor also gives you the T-RackS 5 Metering Suite for free upon registration. This broadcast-ready suite provides you with precision Peak, RMS and Dynamic Range meters, spectogram, real-time analyzer, phase and correlation meters and more. It’s a couple set of tools to manage all the aspects of your audio material with reference-class accurary. This convenient plug-in can be inserted on your master bus or any single track so your metering is as professional as your monitoring.

Hi-end features without the high-end price

When it comes to small monitors, you’re traditionally limited to two choices — cheap, “budget” monitors that can be better described as a couple of “wooden” boxes with “some kind of” speakers usually costing in the $100-$200 (per pair) range, or high quality monitors well over the $600-$700 (per pair). Only iLoud Micro Monitor offers you the features and characteristics of high-end monitors (sonic accuracy, definition, reference-response, bi-amplification, DSP control, positioning EQ, integrated isolation base) and more at almost the cost of a budget monitor. Now when you’re working in small studio spaces, you can finally hear a perfect representation of your music without having to compromise between features and cost.

Get connected

You can easily use iLoud Micro Monitor with all your favorite gear. Sending an audio signal to it couldn’t be easier. It has inputs for both RCA and 1/8” connectors, and it can also receive audio via Bluetooth from any Bluetooth-enabled device.

The first monitor that can travel with you

Because iLoud Micro Monitors are the smallest - and lightest (1.7kg / 60.7oz) - monitors in the world, you can now for the first time ever have a true reference monitor system everywhere you go.

If you do productions on the go, you will now have a travel companion that will give you trustworthy sound anywhere — just pack them into your gigbag or backpack with your laptop and go.

In the bag

To protect your iLoud Micro Monitor when you’re carrying it around, you can order the iLoud Micro Monitor Travel Bag, a durable, 100% polyester case featuring a stitched-in iLoud Micro Monitor logo, adjustable straps and a zippered pouch for cables and other small items.

Size: 11.8" (30cm) x 7.8" (20cm) x 7.1" (18cm)

Buy the iLoud Micro Monitor Travel Bag now!

Features

Professional reference-quality sound

Advanced digital control with 56-bit DSP, controlled diffraction / low resonance enclosure and time-aligned crossover, deliver superior audio with ultra-linear frequency response.
Powerful Class D bi-amplification system (50W RMS) provides plenty of headroom with lightning-fast transient response.
High-rigidity custom composite material woofer plus large flare bass reflex port produces “best in class” bass response down to 55Hz.
High-quality woofer and tweeter — like ones found in high-end systems — without the high-end price.

Ultra-compact

The smallest footprint of any reference quality studio monitor system.
Fits anywhere — provides high-definition monitoring in the tightest spaces.
Can be placed closer to you than other monitors reducing the effects of room reflections and standing waves.
The first monitor system you can easily carry with you anywhere you go.

Flexible placement and connections

Desktop or monitor stand placement with selectable EQ correction and adjustable integrated isolation base optimized for your setup.
Mounts on regular mic stands for free-field positioning with no need for additional accessories.
Wired connection with 1/8” stereo mini-jack and RCA inputs for recording, mixing and mastering.
Wireless Bluetooth connection for listening to your music anywhere.

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Super near-field

Most project and home studios are small — typically rooms under 42 cubic meter /1500 cubic feet — or about the size of a typical bedroom. When working in such small spaces, a small monitor system performs better and gives you a more accurate representation of your mixes than large ones because smaller systems don’t provide strong reverberating fields and prevent standing waves from building up in the room especially on the low end causing unnatural frequency response, and that’s very important. Smaller monitors, when designed correctly, provide the best sound for your small space.

Why? For starters, small nearfield monitors allow you to sit much closer to the sound source at lower sound pressure level (SPL), so they can be heard directly by the ears without the reflections produced by walls, ceilings or other items in the room — these reflections will inevitably color the sound in an unreliable and unrealistic way.

Also small monitors can be placed nearer to each other – ideally within an equilateral triangle, with the 2 monitors and the listener at each vertex - without compromising the stereo image, a typical situation when working using a computer or a laptop on a desk, and the exact situation you’ll encounter in large pro studios where listeners are placed directly in the “sweet spot.”

With the smallest footprint in the world for a reference monitor, iLoud Micro Monitors can be placed reliably in the smallest possible spaces without compromising a truly professional monitoring situation and ensuring you are hearing the truth of your music.

Here are 5 reasons why iLoud Micro Monitors are better than other monitors — including mid-size monitors — when it comes to producing music in your small studio:

1. Position EQ Switches

Small studios rely on small tables/desks typically attached to or positioned against the wall. In addition to the obvious issue of lack of space on small table for mid-sized monitors, a 5”/6” studio monitor in these conditions will sound extremely “boomy” and undefined. Add this to the midrange “dip” typically found on the budget monitors and the sonic picture will be totally compromised.
To get a barely listenable response from a 5 or 6” monitor when placed on a desk that is attached to the rear wall, the monitor needs to be moved away from the wall by at least 20-30 cm.
This plus the monitor depth itself will take up the entire working space on a regular desk.

iLoud Micro Monitors have a response that is calibrated to sound flat on a desk even when there is a very close wall behind. This is controlled with the EQ switches on the rear of the unit. You can set these switches according to where your monitors are placed. Also the total depth of iLoud Micro Monitor is only 13-14 cm giving you the space you need to put them away from the rear wall without taking up valuable table space.

2. Woofer/Tweeter small distance

Medium sized monitors have at least 15-20cm (5.9–7.8”) distance between the centers of the woofer and tweeter. The typical short distance between the monitors and your ears in a small studio will not be in the “sweet spot” where the two drivers blend completely, presenting you with an incomplete audio picture. Therefore “decisions” you make on the sound program that is monitored are very difficult to make because the sound appears to be coming from two separated sources, the woofers and the tweeters, instead of one “convergence point” that provides a focused representation of your sound.

iLoud Micro Monitors have the centers of the two drivers at only 6 cm (2.3”) distance which puts their convergence point very close — starting at 50 cm (19.6”), a typical distance when placing the monitors beside a laptop. This provides a very focused and clear sound at shorter distances from the source making them the best option for small studio spaces. This short distance and ultra-accurate blending of sources immensely facilitates mix decisions and sound shaping.

3. Small, quality woofer sound better

In reality, you never need ultra high sound pressure levels in a small studio, and for this reason you don’t need a big woofer. iLoud Micro Monitor’s small 3” woofer can go down to 55Hz (-3dB) because of proper tuning of the enclosure and appropriate DSP management. But not all woofers sound the same. Different woofer materials affect the performance of the monitor and can color the sound depending on the material. Typical budget and mid-sized 5/6” monitors´ woofers are made of fiberglass or polypropylene that while cooler and more attractive to the eye, are heavier and therefore slow to move. As a result they tend to lack accurate transient response, and the midrange can appear “distant” and undefined.
This is not the ideal environment for proper and accurate mixing.

The iLoud Micro Monitor features a 3” high-rigidity custom composite material woofer which gives it a lighting-fast response that can represent transients and reproduce the midrange with an accuracy that is simply not possible for woofers typically used on budget monitors.

4. Proper crossover and driver alignment

Small budget monitors typically have passive crossovers, weak power amps and low quality drivers, plus resonant and compromised enclosures. Inaccurate crossovers can make the response at the crossover point dramatically skewed both in magnitude and phase. To minimize this problem most budget monitor manufacturers tend to design the crossover with some space in frequency response between the two drivers that can compromise the response on the midrange and create the “midrange dip” you always hear on budget "monitors”. Instead, professional monitors are very accurate with crossovers and a lot of care is always taken to perfectly match the drivers at the crossover points, both in magnitude and phase. The crossover point of a 2-way studio monitor falls exactly in the middle of the spectrum typically where vocals live, and a bad crossover actually makes it impossible to make good decisions when mixing.

iLoud Micro Monitor has an extremely sophisticated crossover design. The two drivers are digitally crossed over at about 3.5 kHz thanks to the exceptional mid-range performance of the woofer, and they are perfectly time-aligned by the DSP. This means that iLoud Micro Monitor sounds like a single, defined “point” in space, just as if it was a single unique sound source instead of two separated speakers. This makes mixing a lot easier because the sonic picture appears true to what it actually is immediately to your ear/brain.

5. Proper power amps

iLoud Micro Monitor is bi-amplified with power amps that are used at 50-60% of the power they could deliver. This means they are always working in full linear range with really negligible distortion up to the physical drivers limit.

Budget and small monitors are typically not bi-amped, meaning that there is only one power amp that powers all components. The crossover is passive and the power amp is normally a low-wattage class A-B integrated design, that delivers limited current, has a limited transient response and tends to distort quite easily because they are always used at 100% of what they can do.
A bi-amped system connects the drivers directly to the power amps delivering an exceptionally tight and damped dynamic response in comparison with budget and comparable small size monitors.