IK Multimedia’s iLoud Precision 6 are professional grade two way reference monitors designed to compete with speakers costing twice the price, if not more. The iLoud Precision series reference monitors are available in Five inch, Six inch and MTM configurations. All of the monitors in the iLoud Precision series are hand crafted in Italy and are individually calibrated within 0.5 dB tolerance before they leave the factory.
The speakers are sold individually so you can equip a home project studio, all the up to larger immersive audio installations. The iLoud Precision 6 reference monitors, as tested here, are in the middle of the range and are made of a solid composite material. High attention to detail and quality construction is immediately evident as soon as you take them out of the box.
The iLoud Precision 6 features an advanced 96K internal DSP system, digital crossover, and has custom designed audiophile amplifiers to deliver a true linear phase response. This allows the speakers to have precise stereo imaging, sharp transients, solid bass, and exceptional clarity and detail across their entire frequency range. Overall, in my opinion the IK Multimedia Precision 6 sound reference monitors sound a lot bigger than they physically are.
The iLoud Precision 6 features a 1.5-inch tweeter and is powered by a 150-watt class D amplifier, whereas the larger MTMs are rated at 175 watts. The Precision 6 monitors feature an ultra-light coated paper 6.5 inch low distortion woofer, and a 1.5-inch high output low distortion chambered textile dome tweeter.
The iLoud Precision 6 monitors are bass ported. Both the Precision 6 and MTM speakers have a frequency response from thirty-six hertz all the way up to 30K, meaning for most styles of music you won’t need a subwoofer. The main input on the back of the speaker is an XLR combo jack which accepts balanced quarter-inch or XLR inputs. Internal operating sample rate is 96K at 24 bits.
The back of each speaker has a Level control and preset buttons for changing the high and low frequency response of the speaker. There’s also a calibration button, which when pressed, starts the ARC calibration (acoustic room calibration) process running through a series of test calibration tones.
There is an input for the ARC test calibration microphone (each speaker in the iLoud range include an ARC test microphone in the box) and a USB input for connecting to free with registration X-Monitor desktop virtual monitoring software. Each speaker comes with a set of acoustic decoupling pads to decouple them from your desktop or monitor stands. An optional four button remote control can be plugged into the back of the speaker.
Like all of the Precision studio monitor range, the Precision 6 reference monitors have IK Multimedia’s ARC Advanced Room Correction software system built in. Once connected to your computer, the free downloadable X-Monitor software facilitates the ARC calibration process with step-by-step instructions and provides visual feedback as you go through the calibration process.
The ARC system allows you to precisely calibrate each speakers’ settings to your specific listening space whether that is a bedroom or a professionally treated control room, the calibration curves of which are then stored to each speaker be recalled or bypassed.
Once the calibration process is completed, the X-Monitor software displays your speaker’s frequency response curve pre and post calibration, green showing the frequency response that the monitor had in your room before the correction, orange displays the frequency response after the correction.
The X-Monitor software lets you choose from among four main voices precision, comfort, high frequency presence and wide dispersion. Precision is the most neutral, transparent, and precise one comfort, which is a curve that is great for for long sessions because it has a less fatiguing character to it, while still being extremely focused and very precise high frequency presence Wide dispersion is a specific voice that increases the vertical dispersion of the monitors by approximately 20 degrees vertically and makes the monitors slightly less flat and precise, but with a lot wider dispersion.
In addition to the main four voices, the X-Monitor software gives you the option to select from three groups of additional voices The first group of voices is called studio monitors, which includes 20+ iconic studio monitors profiles. This is a great tool for getting different perspectives on the sound, exactly as if you were using more than one pair of speakers at a time on your console. In addition to studio monitors, you also get a selection of hi-fi speakers.
These are less neutral than studio monitors and provide the typical experience of a high quality home system, plus you also get a few entries in the multimedia section that include a standard TV, Bluetooth speakers and a smartphone.
Each of the speaker simulations takes into account frequency and phase response, making this an especially useful tool for A-B comparisons and for having different perspectives on your mixes. The X-Monitor software also has a contour section that extends the sonic contour capabilities and fine tune the voices to your particular room.
With the iLoud Precision 6 monitors, IK Multimedia has designed a true reference-grade nearfield reference monitor at a realistic price point. For what they cost, it’s unlikely you will find a currently available reference monitor that’s likely to make such a positive difference in your daily mixes and overall critical listening experience, and the free X-Monitor software exponentially expands the iLoud Precision 6 monitors capabilities.
Well worth checking out and a solid bargain for what you’re getting.
IK Multimedia Precision 6 reference monitors are available now for $699 each.
Find out more at ikmultimedia.com.
