IK Multimedia iLoud MTM

This is killer stuff. IKM made something truly valuable.

I came to a thought of buying MTMs right after my 7 inch Tannoys went to hell. I mean literally burned out. Bad electrical grid to be blamed. I also owned 5 inch JBL's even before that.

To be honest my initial thought was to buy some decent passive hi-fi speakers and external amp for them. That's more serious stuff that many pro producers advice to use. So I was browsing Youtube looking for some comparison tests. And I found out that MTMs which I've being ignoring for quite a long time because of their size and price have some unique and undeniable advantages.

Virtual tests can't be a ground for decision making but they helped me notice a solution for a problem I faced many times. The problem I'm talking about is translatability of your mixes.

Like a guitar cab, studio monitors are literally a box that contains speakers. And you know what? That box colors sound so much... I was shocked. I admit that other much more expensive studio monitors were constructed so well that resonances that their bodies reproduce are totally suitable but that's inapplicable to entry-level Focals, Adams, etc.

Thanks to an advanced and effective shape of MTM's body and their DSP side they are able to really give you a possibility to hear mixes as they are.

The downside of this approach is lack of volume and "feel". You are able to hear everything from 35HZ and higher legibly but your bass drum hardly may hit you right in the chest.

To sum it up MTM is best possible option for most music producers. If iLouds are out of your budget you may without a doubt save some money on buying audio interface, mics, soft and even (don't hit me) acoustic treatment. The calibration technology is perfect. 1 minute to spend and they sound absolutely precisely, accurately and beautifully if room you're working in is any better than an absolutely empty metal barrel.

Also I would like to highlight how good MTMs are in creating phantom center feeling. You may see VOXs, bass drums, snare and bass as if in the palm of your hand.

I just have to thank fate for what she did to my Tannoys. Which are totally fine products in their price range.

I work in radio and post production for more than 20 years. I spent my last years on Yamaha‘s HS7 and Genelec’s 8030s. My studio is acoustically treated and everything is well calculated but you cannot defeat the room. The size of the space is something you have to accommodate to.

All the work I have done on the Genelecs perfectly well on broadcast and also on stage. The only two aspects that kept bothering me where the clarity of the stereo imaging and the lack of low end. I could have got myself a subwoofer but that would not solve the room problems. I also took into consideration Sonarworks, but it is out of discussion since it uses almost 20% of the CPU resources of a strong Mac 24/7. So my only solution for the small studio was to find some speakers with room tuning built in. Before going the extra mile with Genelec and Neumann, I decided after reading a lot of reviews and watching a lot of videos to order the MTMs.

Installing was easy and fast since they went on the same microphone stands. First they sounded a little bit bassy, but after calibration the meds the highs and the details came to life and the low frequencies got tailored tailored. I want to mention that all the settings were at the beginning and are now on flat with 40Zh. The low end is absolutely amazing, you will have just enough bass to understand and be able to control everything properly. So in this regard they are the best choice over all other speakers with 5, 6, or 6,5 inch woofers. The tweeters are mild and silky and the highs will never give you your fatigue after long sessions of work or listening to different genres of music. Also after calibration the stereo imaging is absolutely fantastic. I also connected the USB B cable that came with my Pioneer DJ console and managed to update de firmware on both units to the latest 1.2.1.

My honest opinion is that these speakers are totally underrated on the market. At the moment I can say that they are fantastic value for the money and if you do the calibration and place them correctly in your treated room you will have tremendous results!

PS: After sending some pictures with my new speakers to my friends, they asked me what model of Genelers are they 🙈

The good:
-Excellent sound quality and low-end for the size, particularly well suited to people with limited space and low listening volumes like myself
-Very sturdy build, would easily handle moving between multiple locations
-The phantom center. Simply phenomenal.

The bad:
-Quality control is inadequate. Both speakers I received had a very audible coil whine coming from the power supply unit, at a rather fatiguing frequency that could even be heard over quiet tracks. This has led me to returning the speakers unfortunately.
-The built-in automatic calibration has a tendency to overcompensate. It did successfully fix some issues I have in my room, however during the process some frequencies had been cut too much, especially the midrange.

Conclusion:
Great choice if you have limited space and don't need high SPL, perhaps the best price/performance on the market for that use case at the point of writing this review.
But you need to be lucky enough to get units with good QC, as well as be prepared for the built-in room correction not working for your room in particular, so it helps not to plan to rely on that exclusively.

I gave my stars 5 for features, 4 for sound and 5 for quality.

BASS RESPONSE

The 40, 50, 60 Hz bass expansion (or contraction) feature on the back of the product is quite nice. For those who want to get a very low bass response, the 40 Hz transition will be effective. I've tried the product a lot in acoustically corrected or uncorrected areas. It can easily respond to keys such as D, D# or E (37-41 Hz).

MIDS AND HIGHS

This was my favorite part about MTM. The frequency response is very flat and clear. Its ability to print mid and high frequencies and also to transfer the differences between instruments is very advanced for its size. Especially, if you are within the range of 30-60 cm from the monitors, you can perceive sounds very easily and you can edit in the mix.

NEW 80 Hz CUT FEATURE

iLoud MTM is in a structure that can receive firmware updates. They added the 80 Hz option to the 40, 50, 60 Hz low cut line. In this way, the device eliminates its own sub area and offers a nice opportunity for a possible subwoofer.

BUILT-IN CORRECTION

Working with a system similar to ARC3, a room correction software from IK Multimedia, iLoud MTM has its own fast correction system. The monitor calibration process, which consists of 7x3 stages with ARC3, takes only 10 seconds in MTM's own system. Personally, I found the option named FLAT (without adjustment) more suited to my own way of working than iLoud's own calibration.

LISTENING DISTANCE

It would be better if you are close to MTM. I have tasted it many times that it is very effective between 30-60 cm. If you can put the device on a stand, you will not feel the low vibrations it creates and you will not be mistaken.

BASS REFLEX PORT NOISE

As you turn up the volume, you can literally hear the bass ports blowing air very quickly and there is serious friction in the small mouth port. In addition, iLoud starts to produce distortion before it can reach high volumes and its small lamp, which is always white, turns red. It can be effective in small rooms.

DISPERSION

It can be used vertically and horizontally. Although IK Multimedia was designed to (primarily) stand upright, they said using it vertically would enlarge the sweet spot area. The dispersion narrows in horizontal use.

CONCLUSION

I think it is a very nice product. It can be used in many areas, in the construction of many musical genres, depending on the area and purpose of use.