I did everything I could think of to try to get a perfect sound from these speakers, at a truly professional level, and I succeeded! It wasn't easy at all, let me tell you what I did. I have a lot of experience in acoustics, for 40 years I've tuned, modified, and compared a ton of speakers. I was determined to get the best sound out of these speakers and I did. But, I had to make a lot of modifications: 1. I inserted a 440 micro 200 volts capacitor in series with the bass speakers. This way, they no longer buzz, but sound the same, they don't get drowned out as easily and can handle more power. 2. I removed the high-frequency driver and sprayed it very finely with glossy black paint. This made it more rigid, and it sounds a bit better this way. But still, the original driver I eventually put back in doesn't go over 10 kHz, as without it the speaker wouldn't have perfect linearity. 3. I added a piezo high-frequency driver Alda TW-17 inside the speaker, 1 cm away from the edge of the bass reflex tube, in series with a 1 microfarad 50 volts capacitor. This way, sound above 10 kHz comes out through the bass reflex tube along with the bass reflex. It doesn't affect the bass. With the piezo driver mounted this way inside, there's no need for a series resistor. I glued it in the ideal spot with a plastic gun. Practically, the funnel becomes a funnel for high frequencies, just as it should. With the speakers modified this way, all the switches on the back are set to zero - linear, and they sound perfectly linear in the frequency range of 60 Hz ... 20 kHz. I completed the last octave, the frequencies between 32 Hz and 60 Hz, with an Edifier T5 subwoofer rated at 70 watts, with 20 watts measured in reality. This subwoofer matches perfectly with these speakers. But, it also needed a little modification. As it comes from the factory, it performs poorly. I removed the foam plug mounted on the bass reflex hole, I took off the sound-absorbing material glued to the magnet of the driver, a foolishness both, then I lined the entire subwoofer with sound-absorbing material, as it has none from the factory. This way, the subwoofer sounds much better, it goes lower in frequency down to about 30 Hz and greatly improves sound quality, especially at maximum volume. Even though it has a real power of only 20 watts, it sounds better than the Presonus Eris Sub 8BT subwoofer, which has 50 watts measured in reality, with which I compared them side by side. The Presonus works well but has a slight hum generated by the transformer, very annoying, which can be heard in idle with silence in the room, and it drowns out much faster at maximum volume, the driver buzzes more modestly and is undersized. The driver of the Edifier T5 subwoofer is exceptional, it has a huge double magnet, is twice as heavy, has much better efficiency, thus it sounds just as loud, with a much lower power consumption of about 22 watts at maximum volume and 2 watts in idle (it has a digital amplifier with an electronic power supply, both with maximum efficiency, without hum and distortions). Thus, the 2.1 system has become perfectly linear and qualitative at any volume, including maximum, with a maximum power consumption of 44 watts, and in idle of 7 watts, with a measured real power of 2x10 watts + 20 watts for the bass, 40 watts in total; a real power sufficiently large for processing music at the desk. The acoustic pressure is very high, as we have 7 drivers, all very good. This modified set sounds better, more linear, more qualitative than 2 JBL Partybox Stage 320 speakers, which are also exceptionally good, I compared them concretely. Thus, with about 2000 lei + a very good sound card, I now use Audient Evo 8, I achieved a perfect sound; like from monitor speakers that cost much more. Thus modified, this 2.1 set of 40 watts sounds better than a pair of IK Multimedia iLoud MTM MKII speakers of the latest generation, which have about 2x25 watts real, which cost more than twice as much! The basic idea is that without a subwoofer, no pair of speakers placed on a desk will ever have truly good bass! That's my opinion, after studying all the comparative recordings available on YouTube with all the monitor speakers on the market! Tuned this way, I still haven't found any other stereo speaker set that sounds better than this modified set, only with 2 JBL Partybox Stage 320 did I achieve a sound 95% almost as good, correct. My conclusion is very clear, if you want sensational linearity in speakers, a system with 4 ways, 4 types of drivers is necessary, like the Bowers&Wilkins Nautilus speakers, which cost as much as a house. This modified system sounds exactly like very good headphones, it's the maximum that can be done with little money (400 euros)! Case closed. Very satisfied! I recommend!
Ordered on Sunday, the Sound Creation team had the unfortunate idea to ship them on Monday via Sameday (why oh why?) considering that the aforementioned courier is very busy with Black Friday deliveries for EMAG but has the nerve to still take packages, and I had to suffer through the BF congestion even though I didn't have any BF discount on these speakers. Just to give you an idea, an Altex order placed on the same Sunday arrived at my place on Tuesday at 10 am via Cargus.
The speakers finally arrived this morning (Saturday). The original box was put inside a larger cardboard box, but not large enough, then into a plastic bag and taped well on all sides - I appreciate the effort, but unfortunately, that box wasn't big enough, you'll see why in a moment.
After unboxing everything - surprise, the original box was quite crushed in one corner. I took a picture, opened it, and fortunately, the damaged corner was on the side of the box with accessories (power supply, cables, etc.) so the speakers were untouched. Nothing was rattling inside them, so I breathed a sigh of relief and left them unboxed until later in the evening to reach room temperature and to eliminate any potential moisture.
Finally, I set them up (I have a laptop, 32" monitor, etc.) - they are incredibly small next to a 32" monitor. I searched for the playlist from DSAUDIO.review (Test Tracks) and went through my favorite tracks: Mortals, Deep, Dream a dream, Inspiring Middle East, etc., and after 15 minutes I realized my cheeks were hurting from the grin I had on my face the whole time without even realizing it.
They are fabulous*
I don't use them professionally, I just wanted some speakers that actually sound good since I didn't have room for large speakers (5-6") and/or with a sub-woofer. It's absolutely incredible what sound IK managed to produce from a pair of 3" speakers and a pair of tweeters.
I repeat, they are fabulous.
Voluptuous bass, very well-balanced mids and highs.
Super excited
After long research and comparisons, I wanted to get the most out of these small speakers because I like their design and didn't want to change them. My conclusion was that the high-frequency driver is weak, it simply doesn't produce the high frequencies properly, in fact, it doesn't output frequencies above 8-10 kHz. So I replaced them with car tweeters - Alda TW-17, 4 ohms. They fit perfectly in place of the originals, they are exactly the same size. Besides being cheap, under 20 lei for 2 pieces, these high-frequency drivers are much better than the originals, the best in their class, they actually produce highs up to over 20 kHz. There are songs that simply have sounds that weren't heard at all in the others, giving the impression that the music doesn't have enough highs when in fact the high-frequency drivers are poor. The difference is huge, piezo tweeters have much higher efficiency, so to maintain linearity I had to insert a 22-ohm 5-watt resistor with the tweeters. I also removed the 4.7 microfarad capacitor that comes factory-installed. The result is exceptional, tuned this way, they turned out to be the best speakers in their size and price category. Don't attempt to do this if you don't have advanced electronics knowledge, as the speakers are complicated to disassemble. Also, the tweeters need to be sealed all around with tape for perfect sealing, to avoid vibrations. Since the additional investment is very small, it's worth doing this, as you'll get the best small speakers on the market, the difference being very significant. Combined with a Presonus Eris Sub 8BT subwoofer which is very good and matches these speakers, I achieved perfect sound, linear across the entire frequency range, perfect for listening or processing at a desk.
The speakers sound excellent, surprisingly good for their size. They are surprisingly small, sound linear, very accurate. They are the best speakers on the market at this size and price. The limitations generated by size are evident, they quickly hit their limits, distorting rapidly in the bass area at too high a level. For full frequency range reproduction, a subwoofer is needed. The real measured power is 2x10 watts RMS, the measured power consumption from the network is a maximum of 22 watts for both. Power consumed in idle is 5 watts. Power consumed with the volume at half, as they are usually used, is 7 watts, at a real listening level of 2x1 watt. I measured several times with a wattmeter and measuring device, this is the real power, guaranteed. But even so, they sound loud and clear, you wouldn't expect these little boxes to sound this loud. Bass turbulence and mechanical noise from the bass-reflex output are present at higher volumes or too strong bass. They are not perfect speakers, truly professional, the manufacturer has squeezed the maximum out of these small but impeccably made boxes. They have an ingenious disassembly system, the grilles come off carefully, revealing all the screws underneath. From this point of view, they are the best-made boxes I have seen so far, qualitatively, finely crafted and durable at the same time! Inside they are very well made, hi-tech and smart, they have a 4-channel digital amplifier with built-in DSP (graphic equalizer). Probably the sound is tuned in the DSP to compensate and linearize the reproduced sound as much as possible, to get the maximum out of these tiny speakers. After my tests and adjustments, I concluded that the high speaker should be set to +2 dB, the bass to zero, but the sound card used probably matters a lot. For quality sound on the desk, at low volume, they are above everything the competition offers at this size and price. I saw comparative tests on YouTube with all the competing speakers, they are better than any other of the same size or even larger, but they are not the best speakers on the market, they can't be. From the same company iK Multimedia, the more expensive speakers are better, but much more expensive. They are also ideal for transport, they have a dedicated bag for that: iK Multimedia iLoud Micro Travel Bag. They are very well made, from very good quality ABS plastic. After a while, they may have issues - contact defect at the connection jacks between the speakers, which is too thick and heavy to transmit such a small power through it. They lack a subwoofer output, this jack would be absolutely necessary for a simple upgrade. Still, I was surprised that they produce 50 hertz, you wouldn't expect that from such small speakers. Bluetooth playback is good, works without interference but has a bit of background noise, it's not perfect as it's only BT 4.2, it works up to 8-10 meters, it works somewhat okay, but the quality decreases a bit. The speakers have some background noise, you can hear it if you put your ear close to the speaker, an unacceptable aspect for any professional speakers with pretensions. Through BT, it hisses twice as loud. The Bluetooth on JBL speakers works much better, from a greater distance, with less hiss and higher quality. From a meter away, they are okay, you can't hear anything from them, they don't have any hum generated by the power supply. They are medium-quality speakers, almost successful, but imperfect, not for professionals used to maximum quality. I compared them with two JBL Partybox Encore speakers with the equalizer on flat, and JBL sounds much better, especially in the bass. In fact, they are better no matter how you adjust them, you can't compare, but it's normal, as they are 8 times larger. With the optimized equalizer and bass boost activated, JBL are much better, but they have a similar, linear sound to both sets of speakers. I still think they are good for music processing, just when you hear them crackling and drowning, it means the song has too much bass or too high volume. What I like about them is that the LED changes from blue to red, it flashes when it hits the limit, you have a precise visual warning. They are fine speakers, intelligently designed, for the desk, ideal for placing on a laptop, to have clear, quality listening in a place where you don't have space for larger speakers. The sound card matters a lot, with a dedicated one they will sound significantly better. I tested them directly from the sound card of my Dell Latitude E7470 - Realtek Audio and with the external USB sound card Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro. With both, they sound very good, they fit perfectly. I recommend them but with reservations, don't expect miracles, as you can't from such small boxes.
I am still amazed by the product. I read reviews that their size doesn't match the sound produced, but that didn't stop me from being surprised at how small the speakers are when I unboxed them. What's even more interesting is that I heard the kick tail from some of my own productions is too long, something I hadn't noticed on larger monitors. If you step out of the sweet spot, the sub disappears, however, they are an excellent product, a great listening option for the office. If you know what you're doing, I think you can mix and master on them. I recommend them with full confidence. Thank you Soundcreation for the impeccable service. In less than 30 minutes from the order, I had an email from a representative (not an automated notification) that the order is being processed, and in less than a day, I had the product at home in Bucharest. Thank you very much.
The sound produced is extraordinary.
Of course, it matters what signal the speakers receive.
If they get a weak quality signal, that's what they'll play.
But if they receive a quality signal, like vinyl, it sounds amazing.
I connected them via Bluetooth to the TV.
In a 5x4m room, this system sounds sufficient.
A surround system with them is excellent. And for more power in the lows, a subwoofer is good too.
For their size, I was pleasantly impressed by the bass they can produce.
The connecting cable between the speakers is a bit short for surround and is quite rigid.
I had an LG soundbar system with a subwoofer at a slightly lower price than these speakers, but it didn't have the sound of these speakers.
Very satisfied with the sound they produce!
I wish these speakers could remain my little secret when it comes to mixing or accurate listening on a budget. But that's not possible because they're on sale in your store... just kidding. Wonderful.. a 10 out of 10. They deserve even more in my opinion, which is based on reality - I have a pair of Klein&Hummel in the studio costing 8000 Ron each - If I can enjoy ILoud under these conditions, I consider it an amazing product.
Thanks to the SoundCreation team for their professionalism and understanding. People rated 10, I will definitely get a subwoofer from them in the future. The speakers have a full sound and live up to their reputation. For those who want strong volume, a studio subwoofer is necessary, just as a break-in period is needed to open up the full frequency spectrum. In short, a premium-priced product that delivers quality.
Two super monitors with great sound, having an equalizer on the active speaker. They connect very easily to a laptop without downloading drivers. They can also connect via Bluetooth. Together with a quality audio interface, they do an excellent job. They don't take up space and are lightweight and portable. Great quality-price ratio.
I recommend them to anyone setting up a home studio.
