I’ve now owned my Altec Lasting inMotion Mini travel speakers for around five months – you’ll see they’re well used in the photos I’m about to take. I demand a lot from my electronics and I while I take good care of them I don’t coddle them either. The iM Mini’s have stood up perfectly to all the abuse I have thrown at them thus far. This includes a trip to the beaches of Thailand, a couple of months traveling between friends and family in Canada and weekly visits to Love Hotels in Seoul – nine months into it and I still haven’t met my Korean girlfriend’s parents.
I no longer remember the intricacies of their packaging but I do know the speakers came wrapped in plastic and fitted in Styrofoam. Packaging can tell you a lot about the quality of a product and I don’t remember being disappointed or highly impressed.
The main speaker unit measures 178mm (W) x 25mm (D) x 112mm (H) (7"(W) x 1"(D) 4.4"(H)) inches and weighs 0.7kg (1.6 lbs). The plastic feels fairly tough, similar to iBook plastic but a little less rugged.
Two steel grills protect the 25 and 18mm neodymium micro drivers and tweeters. “Altec Lansing inMotion" is neatly printed on the face of the unit. Just below there is a tiny catch that releases the iPod dock and the protective door/stand that covers the ports at the back of the unit.
The top of the iM Mini is nicely rounded. There is an analogue volume slider on the left side with a sunken dust cover and a small power switch/slider on the right side. When the power is switched on you’ll hear a pleasant ding and see a green LED illuminate. Depending on the state of you batteries, this LED can change from green to yellow or red while your music is playing – a handy battery strength indicator!
With the back door/stand open you’ll see three, small rubberized feet to support you iM Mini. The rubber grips surprisingly well, and when the rear cover/stand is shut, the rubber stops the unit from sliding when lying on its back!
Nothing fancy here, just some rugged brushed aluminum siding – love the simplicity.
Again, nice and simple, a battery compartment on the far right and left each house two double A’s. I don’t like the way the compartments open, they use that age-old push and slide technology and I always worry I might break off or wear down those little plastic hooks. I also feel the back cover is a little flimsy and susceptible to breakage, being such a vital piece, I’d have liked to have seen it made stronger.
When the protective cover is open it exposes a 9v DC port and a standard mini jack line-in port. It’s also possible to plug your iPod sync cable into the back should you wish to update your iPod while it’s on the dock – kudos to inMorion for that!
In the package you’ll find:
1 Solid travel speaker system
1 Cover for the system
1 Gray mini plug to mini plug cable
1 iPod dock adaptor (for various size iPods)
1 User manual
1 Power adaptor / wall wart
5 International plug adaptors!
The cover is the same color and made from the same plastic as the main unit. The only difference is that the make and model are embossed on the cover.
The cover is vital to the unit, it protects those precious neodymium micro drivers from impacts and some moisture. The best part about the cover is that it’s so easy to take on and off. With one solid snap it’s on or it’s off. When the cover is not in use I place the speakers on it to ensure I don’t forget to take it with me. Even with the cover on you still have access to the power and volume controls and thus you could run sound through the unit. Be aware though, the back door would have to be open in order to accommodate the line-in cable and an open door is begging to be snapped.
Yet another item manufactures often cheap out on. There’s nothing worse than getting some super cool portable electronic gadget only to find the adaptor is antiquated, heavy and three times the size of the gadget itself. The iM Mini adaptor is a reasonable size and weight. It could have been smaller. Altec Lansing has however included international power adaptors and sturdy yet easy switching system. Oh, and the power cable is plenty long which is always a bonus.
I keep a rubber band wrapped around the plug all the time so that I can just strap the excess cable to it.
I’d say fairly useless, too short in my opinion. I want my laptop in front of, above, under or behind my speakers, not beside them. I swapped out he original cable with this one.
It’s not rocket science, one switch, one slider and two holes you can’t mix up.
Travel speakers take some getting used to. They’re always going to sound worse than your home system... probably worse that what you were hoping. There wasn’t a single set of travel speakers out there that impressed me with their sound quality. The iM Minis simply sounded better than the majority of the others.
These speakers fill an averaged sized room nicely. If it’s nighttime and you just want some ambient music they’ll be loud enough at about 20% of their maximum volume. They don’t perform as well outdoors or in crowded venues. Six to ten people enjoying a calm day at the beach will have enough volume but forget entertaining larger, noisier crowds. I used these speakers at a rainy BBQ, under a large canvas tent filled with about thirty people and only those people within a few meters of the speakers could here beyond the high hats.
Many people have complained about distortion at louder volumes and rightly so. These speakers start to distort in the last 85-100% of their volume range and make that 75-100% if you aren’t using fresh batteries. It’s no surprise that bass is the main culprit, so I set my iPod to “base reduction" mode. Regardless, the distortion is minimal until the batteries drop to around 25%, then things start to sound ugly.
I haven’t done any kind of official test yet but I’m sure they don’t last as long as advertised. I estimate you get about maximum six hours of quality, continuous sound before distortion kicks in. In my memory, I got better batter battery performance out of my Sony’s but I do get better volumes, base and quality out of the iM Minis.
When it comes to consumer products, I do my research (it usually ends up being a 24 hour online research frenzy). I’m the guy who takes home three similar products, tests them, and then returns them all because I’m still unsatisfied. And though I’m still paying off student loans, money is not an issue when it comes to sound. If there were a travel speaker capable of producing tons of volume and bass while maintaining audio integrity, I’d be willing to drop some serious money on the system. I’ve heard and seen many a pair of travel speakers along the way. The InMotion iM Mini’s best accommodate my needs for these reasons, they:
-Are small and durable enough to pack everywhere
-Have sound quality on par or better than most higher-end travel speakers
-Use standard double A batteries
-Have a line-in jack
-Are reasonably priced at around $100 USD
I’ll continue to keep you updated on the life of these speakers. Good luck finding speakers that fit your needs.