Normally, small speakers equal smaller sound.
This helps, but the result can be flabby, or unfocused.
A good speaker can last you for decades.
iLoud
Theyre over 15 inches tall and more than a foot deep, with 8-inch cones.
I wanted to downsize and found the iLouds.
I was skeptical that the iLouds could even come close to the Yamahas, simply because of the size.
iLoud
But a couple of years back, I did some extensive side-by-side comparisons.
I ended up returning the iLouds and keeping the big boxes, but only out of laziness.
It was easier to return the new speakers than to sell my old ones.
iLoud
Sound-wise, there was little difference.
Or rather, the differences werent what you might expect.
Once calibrated, you get speakers that are accurate from bass to treble and sound amazingly big and clear.
It seems almost impossible that such sound could come out of such small boxes.
The “sound stage"the 3D picture of the music in front of youis absurdly precise.
The sound never seems to be coming from the speakers.
And how about the bass?
That, too, is surprising.
I bet if you are into really rumbling, bass-heavy music, the bigger speakers are better.
But for almost anything else, the MTMs are equal to the larger speakers, which surprised me.
The only place the bigger Yamahas obviously won was in general listening.
The Yamahas sound great in the room, wherever you might be.
The iLouds, however, are only really great when used as monitors.
If you move away from the desk, the sound is more muddled and sometimes unpleasant.
In the end, though, I’m not keeping them.
There’s a high-pitched whine coming from the power transformer in the back of each speaker.
It is a known problem with some units.
A good speaker can last you for decades.
