IK Multimedia iLoud MTM Review (active monitor)

[Walter]

Unfortunately, coil whine does not always start right away. You might have a unit for days or months before it begins, Maybe one of the engineers here can tell us a way to force the whine to happen more rapidly (before the end of the return period) if the power supply is so inclined? I'm basing my comments upon computer power supplies, especially the lower priced Cooler Master 230v units, but I would think that coil whine is coil whine so probably still relevant. I have a relatively high noise floor in my room (40-50db according to my phone, depending on whether the fan is on) so it will mask a certain amount of hum, but coil whine cuts through it and drives me crazy. That is a shame, as these would otherwise be my bsolute first choice. I might still consider using one of the three voltage converters I have l sitting around. I don't remember them making any noise. I'll have to check before making a decision the next time these go on sale.

 

[Vict0r]

Thomann is not a small retailer.

I meant that smaller retailers often check for you, but I'm not sure a larger one like Thomann would too. You could ask!

 

[paincoder]

Unfortunately, coil whine does not always start right away. You might have a unit for days or months before it begins, Maybe one of the engineers here can tell us a way to force the whine to happen more rapidly (before the end of the return period) if the power supply is so inclined? I'm basing my comments upon computer power supplies, especially the lower priced Cooler Master 230v units, but I would think that coil whine is coil whine so probably still relevant. I have a relatively high noise floor in my room (40-50db according to my phone, depending on whether the fan is on) so it will mask a certain amount of hum, but coil whine cuts through it and drives me crazy. That is a shame, as these would otherwise be my bsolute first choice. I might still consider using one of the three voltage converters I have l sitting around. I don't remember them making any noise. I'll have to check before making a decision the next time these go on sale.

Indeed, and to add to it, the whine was in around 2-3kHz range, and I could even hear it over quiet parts in certain tracks, which is a complete dealbreaker - otherwise might have been able to live with it by turning off the speakers when not in use. It's too bad that these speakers are pretty much impossible to open up cleanly, I have managed to fix coil whine in a GPU before with careful application of some hot glue.

Looking at other forums about this, if the whine or some other issue would develop later then dealing with IK support doesn't seem to be a very pleasant experience either. I saw some users report month-long waiting times for support tickets, and repeatedly receiving replacement units that also are also plagued by coil whine. They don't really seem to acknowledge this as an actual issue.

 

[Walter]

Indeed, and to add to it, the whine was in around 2-3kHz range, and I could even hear it over quiet parts in certain tracks, which is a complete dealbreaker - otherwise might have been able to live with it by turning off the speakers when not in use. It's too bad that these speakers are pretty much impossible to open up cleanly, I have managed to fix coil whine in a GPU before with careful application of some hot glue.

Looking at other forums about this, if the whine or some other issue would develop later then dealing with IK support doesn't seem to be a very pleasant experience either. I saw some users report month-long waiting times for support tickets, and repeatedly receiving replacement units that also are also plagued by coil whine. They don't really seem to acknowledge this as an actual issue.

Their support seems to be pretty awful, in general. Overall, way too risky to spend $700.

 

[Random]

It's a shame IK have designed this product with such good concept and spec in mind but didn't make it perform well. I have bought a pair of MTM but finally, I returned them because of QC and SW problems.

I totally agree with amirm about the headroom problem. Clearly, IK have maxed out the amplifier (only one TPA3116 which only has 50W for the 2 3.5" woofer) and EQ headroom. I believe that's why they have a very limited input level, high sensitivity, and their peak limiter is pretty easy to reach.

And the speaker I bought have 2 different issues. One of the 3.5" woofers on the speaker has strange noise at low frequency, maybe it's poor sealing causing leak noise or the transducer is already broken. Then I returned it and got a replacement. The new one I got had a different frequency response compared to the old one (higher low and lower high, divided at crossover frequency, I believe), and it sometimes produces a very loud noise after switch-on even nothing is connected... I had high expectations, but now I'm just completely disappointed by IK's quality control.

Still good to see some detailed measurements afterward.

 

[Wavez]

Has anyone compared these to the JBL LSR305P?

 

[isabido]

Hi guys, what a disappointment with the damn little noise caused by the 230v.

I was seriously considering changing my Genelec 8020 for these MTMs. My main idea is to listen to music at a very short distance without the need for a subwoofer and for this the 8020 are very short. After seeing the review of the colleague @mitchco https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/revi...rs-using-focus-fidelity-filter-designer-r990/, I was excited to see how they could go down to 40hz, even if they were at contained volumes. It was just what I was looking for.

 

[Berwhale]

I have no issues with power supply noise, my MTMs have been running on 240V for 13 months. I wouldn't discount them because some users have encountered issues (I would be more careful about where I purchased them from, their returns policy and any local laws regarding obligations for replacement and/or refund).

 

[carmico]

i got the iLoud MTM White Edition since 1 week , i am running them "non calibrated yet", still testing and messing with the dsp options, coming from KEF LS50wireless (1st version) , i just got ride off them because takes too much space on my desk and because the new 49" monitor (Samsung Odyssey G9) , and imho the KEF LS50 needs space to shine, for nearfield listening i think the MTMs are better, and they are so clinical, wonderful centering, in the other hand, the LS50 offers way better refined sound

Use: all-round Music Listening & PC Desktop Speakers, no mixing/mastering, no production, no recording
Room: Small 13mq (420cm x 310cm)
Source: Mac Mini M1 with tons of FLACs and Highres Audio , and ofc i use Spotify and Youtube for videos)
DAC/preamp: iFi Zen DAC v2 (Balanced 4.4 to XLR) - MTM sens @ +4dBu , knob at 12 o'clock (so hard to set both in the same exact level)

i have some weird things on the audio to fix... some kind of distortions, sometimes muddy and muffled sound , specially using Spotify for normal media commercial music, maybe they are so clinical so you can feel and hear everything? let's see after calibration... but the strange thing is that some of these weird things i can hear it using my IEM (Shure SE215) too, is not the DAC, because using the 3,5mm output from the Mac happens the same, maybe there is something wrong in the macOS ... Midi options sample rate? something like that? problem is that specially with the MTM on low volume listening becomes very noticeable... is like some echoed dsp effect, robotic voices, don't know how to explain

on the unlucky part, one of my MTM has a very little coilwhine on the power supply , very very subtle, you need to go very close with the ear to hear it , around 2 or 3 cm... i think i gonna keep it the same, to me is ok, dont wanna RMA yet for just that, there is a bit of hiss noise when they are On without sound, the hiss is very very low... i think is totally normal for powered active studio monitors... or it is probably a white noise ground loop? , the hiss is very very low , you can barely hear it from around 5-10 centimeters (the LS50w were totally deda quiet) , if i turn off the dac the hiss becomes very noticeable, same if i unplug the XLR from the MTM

btw, i want to keep the MTMs, they are perfect on my desk as you can see, perfectly setted at my ear level, and really love how they sound, they are loud too, and i am looking for a Small Sub to pair with the MTMs, they are very good at low freqs , but i want the sub to free up them from bass notes so they can shine more
i posted on subwoofer topic for suggestions: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/subwoofer-comparison.20494/post-1085531

now i just need to fix the weird things and gonna be Spectacular!

scuse me for my english, i'm italian

 

[isabido]

No tengo problemas con el ruido de la fuente de alimentación, mis MTM han estado funcionando con 240 V durante 13 meses. No los descartaría porque algunos usuarios han tenido problemas (sería más cuidadoso con el lugar donde los compré, su política de devoluciones y las leyes locales con respecto a las obligaciones de reemplazo y/o reembolso).

i got the iLoud MTM White Edition since 1 week , i am running them "non calibrated yet", still testing and messing with the dsp options, coming from KEF LS50wireless (1st version) , i just got ride off them because takes too much space on my desk and because the new 49" monitor (Samsung Odyssey G9) , and imho the KEF LS50 needs space to shine, for nearfield listening i think the MTMs are better, and they are so clinical, wonderful centering, in the other hand, the LS50 offers way better refined sound

View attachment 185932


Use: all-round Music Listening & PC Desktop Speakers, no mixing/mastering, no production, no recording
Room: Small 13mq (420cm x 310cm)
Source: Mac Mini M1 with tons of FLACs and Highres Audio , and ofc i use Spotify and Youtube for videos)
DAC/preamp: iFi Zen DAC v2 (Balanced 4.4 to XLR) - MTM sens @ +4dBu , knob at 12 o'clock (so hard to set both in the same exact level)

i have some weird things on the audio to fix... some kind of distortions, sometimes muddy and muffled sound , specially using Spotify for normal media commercial music, maybe they are so clinical so you can feel and hear everything? let's see after calibration... but the strange thing is that some of these weird things i can hear it using my IEM (Shure SE215) too, is not the DAC, because using the 3,5mm output from the Mac happens the same, maybe there is something wrong in the macOS ... Midi options sample rate? something like that? problem is that specially with the MTM on low volume listening becomes very noticeable... is like some echoed dsp effect, robotic voices, don't know how to explain

on the unlucky part, one of my MTM has a very little coilwhine on the power supply , very very subtle, you need to go very close with the ear to hear it , around 2 or 3 cm... i think i gonna keep it the same, to me is ok, dont wanna RMA yet for just that, there is a bit of hiss noise when they are On without sound, the hiss is very very low... i think is totally normal for powered active studio monitors... or it is probably a white noise ground loop? , the hiss is very very low , you can barely hear it (the LS50w were totally quiet) , if i turn off the dac the hiss becomes very noticeable, same if unplug the XLR from the MTM

btw, i want to keep the MTMs, they are perfect on my desk as you can see, perfectly setted at my ear level, and really love how they sound, they are loud too, and i am looking for a Small Sub to pair with the MTMs, they are very good at low freqs , but i want the sub to free up them from bass notes so they can shine more
i posted on subwoofer topic for suggestions: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/subwoofer-comparison.20494/post-1085531

now i just need to fix the weird things and gonna be Spectacular!

scuse me for my english, i'm italian

HI Carmico, nice setup. It's a shame to hear that such a recently manufactured unit is also suffering from those annoying noises caused by the supply voltage. Could you try using a 110v transformer?

 

[Chromatischism]

i got the iLoud MTM White Edition since 1 week , i am running them "non calibrated yet", still testing and messing with the dsp options, coming from KEF LS50wireless (1st version) , i just got ride off them because takes too much space on my desk and because the new 49" monitor (Samsung Odyssey G9) , and imho the KEF LS50 needs space to shine, for nearfield listening i think the MTMs are better, and they are so clinical, wonderful centering, in the other hand, the LS50 offers way better refined sound

View attachment 185932


Use: all-round Music Listening & PC Desktop Speakers, no mixing/mastering, no production, no recording
Room: Small 13mq (420cm x 310cm)
Source: Mac Mini M1 with tons of FLACs and Highres Audio , and ofc i use Spotify and Youtube for videos)
DAC/preamp: iFi Zen DAC v2 (Balanced 4.4 to XLR) - MTM sens @ +4dBu , knob at 12 o'clock (so hard to set both in the same exact level)

i have some weird things on the audio to fix... some kind of distortions, sometimes muddy and muffled sound , specially using Spotify for normal media commercial music, maybe they are so clinical so you can feel and hear everything? let's see after calibration... but the strange thing is that some of these weird things i can hear it using my IEM (Shure SE215) too, is not the DAC, because using the 3,5mm output from the Mac happens the same, maybe there is something wrong in the macOS ... Midi options sample rate? something like that? problem is that specially with the MTM on low volume listening becomes very noticeable... is like some echoed dsp effect, robotic voices, don't know how to explain

on the unlucky part, one of my MTM has a very little coilwhine on the power supply , very very subtle, you need to go very close with the ear to hear it , around 2 or 3 cm... i think i gonna keep it the same, to me is ok, dont wanna RMA yet for just that, there is a bit of hiss noise when they are On without sound, the hiss is very very low... i think is totally normal for powered active studio monitors... or it is probably a white noise ground loop? , the hiss is very very low , you can barely hear it from around 5-10 centimeters (the LS50w were totally deda quiet) , if i turn off the dac the hiss becomes very noticeable, same if i unplug the XLR from the MTM

btw, i want to keep the MTMs, they are perfect on my desk as you can see, perfectly setted at my ear level, and really love how they sound, they are loud too, and i am looking for a Small Sub to pair with the MTMs, they are very good at low freqs , but i want the sub to free up them from bass notes so they can shine more
i posted on subwoofer topic for suggestions: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/subwoofer-comparison.20494/post-1085531

now i just need to fix the weird things and gonna be Spectacular!

scuse me for my english, i'm italian

What you describe sounds like ground loop noise since it changes when you power on/off other components. However, you're running balanced XLR, so you shouldn't have that issue.

Mine are set to +4 and the level is at about 10:00 to reduce hiss. They are very quiet, but not silent. Quiet enough that other room sounds such as HVAC, the PC fans, or wind blowing cover them up.

By the way, nice setup. I really want an ultrawide but it has to be able to do 2160p. I think ideally that would be a 5120x2160 display in the 38-40 inch size.

 

[carmico]

What you describe sounds like ground loop noise since it changes when you power on/off other components. However, you're running balanced XLR, so you shouldn't have that issue.

Mine are set to +4 and the level is at about 10:00 to reduce hiss. They are very quiet, but not silent. Quiet enough that other room sounds such as HVAC, the PC fans, or wind blowing cover them up.

By the way, nice setup. I really want an ultrawide but it has to be able to do 2160p. I think ideally that would be a 5120x2160 display in the 38 inch size.

probably there is some ground loop , ( i will do some more test, changing plugs and stuff like tha) , if unplug the DAC from the USB the hiss becomes super noticeable, same if i turn off the Mac Mini... , but when everything is Up and Going seems ok, because i think is normally for active studio monitors to not be dead quiet... in my room maybe is even more noticeable because really is totally dead quiet , Mac Mini M1 is dead quiet, i don't have fans going or other stuff going... ( i hate to hear PC fans ) and my home is really really silent , so i can hear about everything is going on hehehe

for example, only one speaker is doing the coilwhine problem, the left one, but really i can't hear it from listening position that is 90 centimeters , to hear it i need to go with my ear very very close at around 2-3 centimeters and hear a very low coilwhine, so the coilwhine is not audible at 90 centimeters, at 90 centimeters i can hear just a bit of hiss noise if not playing anything, but is very low low hiss (gonna try to ride it off too, let's see what i can do)

my real problem now is that i have that dsp robotic echoed effect when play spotify at low volume that i need to solve because is driving me crazy... tried to unplug the DAC and use the 3,5mm jack of the mac mini, but problem still there, i don't think is a problem with the MTMs, but i am sure something is wrong with the Audio (gonna try to remove and reinstall the Spotify app)

if i use Audirvana with flacs (good recording ones) or high res audio files ... the MTMs really shines! in some aspects even more than my previous LS50w , i am really start loving them so much, and to be honestly they look way better than the LS50 , the LS50 were putting some arrogant claustrophobic effect on me, don't know how to explain... now that i free up the space i can feel more comfy sitting at my desk...

 

[Berwhale]

I have just noticed that neither of my iLoud MTMs will persist their settings (e.g. LF Extension or CAL/Preset) through a power cycle. It doesn't matter if I cycle the MTMs using the power switch on the back of the unit or use the switch at the wall outlet.

I have reset my MTMs to factory defaults and updated both monitors to the latest 1.2.1 firmware. This has made no difference.

I am pretty certain that the MTMs retained their settings when I first got them in December 2020. I suspect that this issues has been introduced with a firmware update - possibly the 1.20 update which I applied in November 2021 to get access to the new 80Hz LFE setting (Ironic, since I now can't persist this setting!)

I didn't notice the issue straight away because I turn my MTMs off an on using an IR controlled mains switch. I don't need to look around the back and reposition them every time I turn them off and on, so I didn't notice the settings had reverted to default.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is there a way to get the MTMs to remember their settings? I can't find anything in the manual that relates to this issue.

I have contacted IK Multimedia support and await their response.

 

[carmico]

I have just noticed that neither of my iLoud MTMs will persist their settings (e.g. LF Extension or CAL/Preset) through a power cycle. It doesn't matter if I cycle the MTMs using the power switch on the back of the unit or use the switch at the wall outlet.

I have reset my MTMs to factory defaults and updated both monitors to the latest 1.2.1 firmware. This has made no difference.

I am pretty certain that the MTMs retained their settings when I first got them in December 2020. I suspect that this issues has been introduced with a firmware update - possibly the 1.20 update which I applied in November 2021 to get access to the new 80Hz LFE setting (Ironic, since I now can't persist this setting!)

I didn't notice the issue straight away because I turn my MTMs off an on using an IR controlled mains switch. I don't need to look around the back and reposition them every time I turn them off and on, so I didn't notice the settings had reverted to default.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is there a way to get the MTMs to remember their settings? I can't find anything in the manual that relates to this issue.

I have contacted IK Multimedia support and await their response.

mine are fine retaining their settings

and i power off / on few times a day , i use a Tradfri Smart Plug from IKEA paired with my Philips HUE Bridge, so i can control them from my phone app, from my pc or even from Alexa or Google assistant. very very cool!

still fighting with that dsp echoed effect, and many many things routes me that problem is within macOS , 99.9% related to MIDI Options... Upsampling/Resampling...

someone here on mac with iloud mtms? so we can share settings

and the other thing... is that using my iFi Zen DAC v2 balanced out Pentacon 4.4 to XLR (iLoud MTMs) i can control using the analog volume knob within the dac, but i can't control the volume on macOS , i tried with Soundsource too (Supervolume Keys) and no luck ... ;-S

next week i will start messing up with calibration (i am totally noob here)

 

[Berwhale]

mine are fine retaining their settings

Thanks for the confirmation. Have you ever updated the firmware? Do you have the 80Hz setting for LF Extension? (keep pressing the button until all three lights lit).

 

[Zensō]

mine are fine retaining their settings

and i power off / on few times a day , i use a Tradfri Smart Plug from IKEA paired with my Philips HUE Bridge, so i can control them from my phone app, from my pc or even from Alexa or Google assistant. very very cool!

still fighting with that dsp echoed effect, and many many things routes me that problem is within macOS , 99.9% related to MIDI Options... Upsampling/Resampling...

someone here on mac with iloud mtms? so we can share settings

and the other thing... is that using my iFi Zen DAC v2 balanced out Pentacon 4.4 to XLR (iLoud MTMs) i can control using the analog volume knob within the dac, but i can't control the volume on macOS , i tried with Soundsource too (Supervolume Keys) and no luck ... ;-S

next week i will start messing up with calibration (i am totally noob here)

I’m a Mac user: Intel MacBook Pro > RME ADI-2 DAC fs > iLoud MTM / Adam A5X. On the Mac I’m running Apple Music Lossless into SoundSource with FabFilter Pro-Q 3 for headphones and Arc 3 for the monitors. I haven’t experienced the echo effect your describing. Is this happening with sources other than Spotify?

 

[carmico]

Thanks for the confirmation. Have you ever updated the firmware? Do you have the 80Hz setting for LF Extension? (keep pressing the button until all three lights lit).

yes, i am on lastest firmware and i can set 80hz for LF (all lighs becomes blue)

I’m a Mac user: Intel MacBook Pro > RME ADI-2 DAC fs > iLoud MTM / Adam A5X. On the Mac I’m running Apple Music Lossless into SoundSource with FabFilter Pro-Q 3 for headphones and Arc 3 for the monitors. I haven’t experienced the echo effect your describing. Is this happening with sources other than Spotify?

nice!

the echo effect / robotic voice, is like a robotic voice distortion , difficult to explain, mainly happens with Spotify (i tried Hardware accel. on and off, nothing changes) , and it is more noticeable listening on low-medium volume, specially when using as background music... probably is the bad quality recording streaming from Spotify, i can hear it using IEM (Shure SE215) too , from DAC and from 3,5mm mac mini jack too , so i will say it is not the MTM, it is not the DAC, problem seems to be macOS related , is not Super noticeable, but in some tracks it is there... on the mid frequencies , specially voices

in the next days, i will move my MTMs to a windows pc to test them in another enviroment and to see if that still happens

can you control master macos volume with SoundSource on your DAC ? , with the iFi Zen DAC v2 as i wrote before, even using SoundSource with Super Volume Keys enable can't control the volume from macOS ..... and this really annoys me a bit

*****
update:

example of what i mean, seems to happens with youtube too (with dac or with mac mini 3,5mm is the same), just that with DAC and the MTMs makes it more noticeable

exactly at 0:27 , when she said "trapped by these walls again" (between these and walls) , the voice becomes robotic distorted, don't know how to explin

if you want another example, on Spotify, on this song:

at 1:24 when he start saying "Lights" weird distortion and at 1:36 "your bones", here the same, with the MTMs super noticeable, so distorted

now: it is just me that now i am adapted to high quality recordings albums / lossless music? ... or something is wrong within my macOS ?

probably it's me the problem... and are just poor quality trakcs... hehehehehe

 

[Zensō]

yes, i am on lastest firmware and i can set 80hz for LF (all lighs becomes blue)


nice!

the echo effect / robotic voice, is like a robotic voice distortion , difficult to explain, mainly happens with Spotify (i tried Hardware accel. on and off, nothing changes) , and it is more noticeable listening on low-medium volume, specially when using as background music... probably is the bad quality recording streaming from Spotify, i can hear it using IEM (Shure SE215) too , from DAC and from 3,5mm mac mini jack too , so i will say it is not the MTM, it is not the DAC, problem seems to be macOS related , is not Super noticeable, but in some tracks it is there... on the mid frequencies , specially voices

in the next days, i will move my MTMs to a windows pc to test them in another enviroment and to see if that still happens

can you control master macos volume with SoundSource on your DAC ? , with the iFi Zen DAC v2 as i wrote before, even using SoundSource with Super Volume Keys enable can't control the volume from macOS ..... and this really annoys me a bit

*****
update:

example of what i mean, seems to happens with youtube too (with dac or with mac mini 3,5mm is the same), just that with DAC and the MTMs makes it more noticeable

exactly at 0:27 , when she said "trapped by these walls again" (between these and walls) , the voice becomes robotic distorted, don't know how to explin

if you want another example, on Spotify, on this song:

at 1:24 when he start saying "Lights" weird distortion and at 1:36 "your bones", here the same, with the MTMs super noticeable, so distorted

now: it is just me that now i am adapted to high quality recordings albums / lossless music? ... or something is wrong within my macOS ?

probably it's me the problem... and are just poor quality trakcs... hehehehehe

Hi,

I'm not hearing it at all on the first recording. In the second one, I'm hearing distortion, which seems to me to be in the recording. I don't think it has anything to do with your gear or the codecs...

 

[Berwhale]

yes, i am on lastest firmware and i can set 80hz for LF (all lighs becomes blue)

I have discovered (through contact from another member) that the MTMs only lose their settings if left on the 80Hz LF Extension setting. If I leave them on 60Hz then this setting, and others (e.g. CAL), is persisted through a power cycle.

I have updated my ticket with IK Multimedia with the above information, although I have received no response from them after logging the issue over 2 weeks ago. I'm not impressed with their customer 'service'.

 

[carmico]

I have discovered (through contact from another member) that the MTMs only lose their settings if left on the 80Hz LF Extension setting. If I leave them on 60Hz then this setting, and others (e.g. CAL), is persisted through a power cycle.

I have updated my ticket with IK Multimedia with the above information, although I have received no response from them after logging the issue over 2 weeks ago. I'm not impressed with their customer 'service'.

good to know, yeah, IK Multimedia customer service is bad , at least for Speakers.