Speaker monitors: IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors

A

ACM

New member
Hi there,

I recently moved and I'm looking for compact monitors for my editing station (which is on my living room) and I'd like to know if anyone has worked with the IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors for editing audio for video. I've heard good things about them - mostly for their neutral response. However, it would be good to have some feedback from video editors, not only from music professionals (which there is plenty out there).
I work with videos for the internet mostly, no broadcast or cinema releases and I'm an video editor, not an sound editor, just to make clear - but I end up mixing audio for many of my internet-projects.
I'm looking for a nice pair of monitors to mix dialogue in intereviews, mainly. My budget is $300, I really don't want to go all the way with Genelecs. Another option would be the Mackie Cr3s. Again, size is a concern for me, since I have a dual monitor setup and my desk is not huge.

Btw, I hope I'm not posting this in the wrong forum: I know this is no field recording, but I didn't find a thread for hardware in the post-production section.

Thanks for any input!
 
Genelecs are certainly worth every penny. :grin: I’ve had mine since 2001 and they’re still rockin’.

But within your stated budget... I’d stay away from Mackie and Alesis. I have no experience with the IK Multimedia monitors you linked. Some people love KRK, and I am not one of them. I think your best bets in the $300-ish range are the Yamaha HS5 and JBL 305PmkII (a revision of their LSR305). A pair of the JBLs are a little over your budget, but are great speakers especially for the price.

It doesn’t matter how good your speakers are, though, if your room sounds awful. Speaker placement and alignment, and at least some basic sound treatment will go a long way. These don’t have to be expensive at all. Even for a video editor mixing your own sound for Internet distribution, you’ll get better results if your monitors are in a better environment. That makes for better consistency between what you hear and what your Internet audience hears.
 
My favorite low-cost audio monitor for video/film work remains the JBL LSR305. So I'm pretty much on the same page as Alex. I haven't heard the new/almost-available MkII version, but the "originals" are available at a reasonable discount. Like between $100 and $130 per speaker. They were a bargain before and are even more of a bargain now...though the first-gen models appear to be selling out. Maybe the Mark II is a bit better in some ways. but I haven't heard them. I'd say they're a good bet, though.

JBL LSR305:
http://www.jblpro.com/www/products/recording-broadcast/3-series/lsr305

JBL LSR305P MkII
http://www.jblpro.com/www/products/recording-broadcast/3-series-mkii/305p-mkii

Those both appear to be significantly bigger than the iLoud monitors, though. OTOH, the kudos those speakers get seem to come from people listening to and perhaps roughly mixing music. So their needs and ears are arguably a bit different from ours...Like sometimes hyped low end is appreciated.

Without hearing the iLouds, I'd guess (and only guess) that they're fine if you just want to roughly set levels for dialog vs music beds, atmo, etc. But if you want to start to tweak compression and EQ, they --might-- not be the best choice. They sure are compact, though.

I'd probably buy from a dealer with good return policy. Like a local dealer preferably, perhaps one of the several good dealers who hang out here on DVXuser, or lastly somewhere like Sweetwater. https://www.sweetwater.com/help/returns-exchanges.php


Not sure I'm helping. Perhaps someone else here will chime in.

ACM, let us know what you end up buying and what you think of it.
 
My experience with JBL was that they seemed a bit muddy. On the other hand I found Genelec a bit bright.

both opinions have a big asterisk though. The JBL were in a post facility and I know they were under powered and I have found since that a lot of speakers I felt were kind of muddy were actually just under powered. Even places like Skywalker used to use pretty low wattage receivers to power edit bay speakers. And the Genelecs were in a studio that I know the guy really likes loud and bright, so they quite possible were set up that way.

A long time ago when was stepping up from some small powered speakers (Audix "Hot House" - wrong Bozo "Powerhouse" PH-5) which were really not bad at all for what they were, a sound person with a lot more experience pointed me to Yorkville YSM-1 speakers as really good and under the radar (and cheap). I'm still using them and folks over the years have really liked working with them. They seem to be very non fatiguing to the ears.
I don't think they make the un powered versions anymore.

If you don't get powered speakers get a good amp. Anything under 75 - 100 watts per channel is probably going to hurt your speakers performance. Even if your speakers are not rated that high, you don't want the amp to break a sweat or you start loosing the transients.
 
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Thanks, guys. I appreciate all your comments!

Here's the thing: unfortunately I don't have space for neither the JBLs (which I tried and really like) or other similarly sized monitors :( The Mackie Cr3 are the ones I initially thought about because they have the limit size for my setup.

Diggin a bit, the Genelec 8010A would be a good fit for my desk, but it costs $300/each, which is twice my budget... Anwyay - worth the question, has anyone tried these :)

I mostly edit levels for dialogue/music bed and I don't tweak audio too much on the EQ side of things, rarely - if there's work to be done there, I just have an audio editor working on that. I think I'll try the iLoud

Also, as Alex H. pointed out, the room where I'll be editing does sound a bit aweful (high ceiling, considerable a lot of open space), and I cannot do much around it at least for now to make it better for audio. Therefore, I wonder how much it is worth paying more for a good pair of speakers when they will not be properly placed?
Still, do you have a page to recommend with tips of placement for a normal room that is not a studio?

I need to think a little, but I cannot wait too much since I have a work to edit next week.

Thanks again for all your comments!

Andre
 
Noiz2 said:
My experience with JBL was that they seemed a bit muddy. On the other hand I found Genelec a bit bright.

both opinions have a big asterisk though. The JBL were in a post facility and I know they were under powered
Click to expand...


I could see that muddiness being a problem back in the old JBL 4311 days. But the modern small powered JBLs are really rather decent, especially for the price.

Andre, I'ce heard the Mackie CR3 and wasn't impressed. Thin but affected.

As for your room, part of the thing with near-field monitors is that your room matters less than it would with more-distant placed speakers. It still matters, but you can get work done in an imperfect room. For placement, see if IK offers any tips or guides to their speakers (the manual may be downloadable, for example).

Just googled around and out of the many articles on near-field monitor placement, these two articles ---after just glancing at them--- look decently helpful:

Studio Monitor Placement: Positioning Tips for Optimal Sound
https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/studio-monitor-positioning/

Speaker and Studio Monitor Placement Secrets
http://arqen.com/acoustics-101/room-setup-speaker-placement/
 
Jim Feeley said:
I could see that muddiness being a problem back in the old JBL 4311 days. But the modern small powered JBLs are really rather decent, especially for the price.
Click to expand...

Well that is good to hear since this was awhile back. It was always surprising to me that as a sound editor you often have little control of what and where you are working, if you are doing films with budgets. And a lot of edid rooms were really not good for sound. The sound designers rooms were well done but a lot of times they would put more than one editor in a room so you were forced to use headphones, or you would have poorly placed under powered speakers that were just not right for the space.

I keep hearing good things about JBL so I'm glad to hear my experience is probably no longer accurate with regard to what is now available.
 
We have the small KRK Rokit 5 (generation 2 I think) here, they are decent. We have older Mackie HR824 and they are actually pretty good, couple with the sub and better under certain conditions. Can't comment on your choice other than those.
 
For your limitation I would recomend the AUDIX Powerhouse PH-5

These are a more recent version of the ones (I miss named) earlier. For small speakers they sound much better than most. as true for speakers in general, they will sound noticeably better if you remove the grill. On every professional speaker I have seen the grill is removable and is only really there to protect the cone in packing/ moving etc. On my PH-5's they pop off quite easily.
 
Jim Feeley said:
As for your room, part of the thing with near-field monitors is that your room matters less than it would with more-distant placed speakers. It still matters, but you can get work done in an imperfect room. For placement, see if IK offers any tips or guides to their speakers (the manual may be downloadable, for example).
Click to expand...

This is why I say it doesn’t have to be expensive. Placement is key, and treatment for basic audio with video editing doesn’t have to be extensive. Here are some other resources on setting up your monitors:

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/studio-monitor-placement-5-tips-for-optimal-sound/

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/acoustic-treatment-buying-guide/

And RØDE’s YouTube channel has a nifty series, Studio Rescue, that helps people improve their results with often minimal expense for treatment:

 
Hi guys, thanks a lot for all the material and your suggestions on speaker monitors. I ended up going with the IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors. So far I've been using it for almost a week, editing a documentary with voice and music tracks. I like the result and when I listen to the exported material that I mixed on my iPhone's speakers or on my Macbook's, it sounds pretty nice.
I also find it pretty flat (although I'm no expert as you know already).
Its size indeed is incredably small and works perfectly for my needs.

In case my positive opinon changes down the line, I'll make sure to update you in here.

Thanks again!

Andre
 
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