Starsky Carr Unleashes the iLoud Sub: Small Box, Big Bass, No Nonsense

Starsky Carr kicks things off with the IK Multimedia iLoud Sub—a subwoofer so small it looks like it belongs in a lunchbox, not a studio. But don’t let the size fool you; this thing packs six-inch woofers on three sides and comes loaded with all the right connections. The real trick? It’s not just a sub, it’s a full system upgrade, bundled with a reference mic and ARC X room correction software. In a world where most compact subs just add mud, Starsky’s already hinting that this one’s got brains as well as brawn.

Every small studio owner knows the pain: standing waves turn your bass into a boomy mess, and unless you fancy knocking down walls, you’re stuck with it. Starsky lays out the science—those nasty peaks at 39Hz, 69Hz, and 112Hz aren’t random, they’re the ghosts of your room’s dimensions haunting your mixes. He breaks down the maths, showing how your room’s length, width, and height line up perfectly with the worst bass resonances.

But here’s where the iLoud Sub’s ARC X system comes in swinging. Instead of just boosting the low end and making things worse, it measures your room and corrects the whole system—sub and monitors together. No more guessing, no more endless foam panels. Just a few minutes with the reference mic and you’re on your way to a flatter, more honest low end. It’s the kind of fix that makes you wonder why every sub doesn’t come with this as standard.

Calibration time: Starsky shows how the ARC X software takes a handful of measurements and spits out EQ corrections that flatten even the lumpiest frequency response. The before-and-after curves don’t lie—the blue line’s got humps like a camel, but the orange line is smooth as butter. He’s even double-checked ARC X against Sonoworks and found the results nearly identical, so there’s no snake oil here.

The real test? Listening. Starsky describes the difference as night and day—suddenly the low end is beefier, cleaner, and way more controlled. Filter sweeps drop below 50Hz with authority, and the buzziness that plagued his monitors is gone. If you want to hear the transformation for yourself, you’ll need to watch the video—some things just don’t translate to words, especially when your teeth are rattling from the bass.

Starsky doesn’t just test the iLoud Sub in isolation—he pits it against both the Dynaudio LYD7s and the IK Precision 6s. The kicker? The Precision 6s play nice with ARC X, but the Dynaudios don’t, so the sub’s room correction becomes a game-changer. He admits that if the iLoud Sub had been around earlier, he might have skipped a pricey monitor upgrade altogether.

Price-wise, the iLoud Sub isn’t pocket change, but it’s a bargain compared to buying bigger monitors and separate room correction. The gap between his £900 Dynaudios and £700-a-pop Precisions shrinks dramatically once the sub enters the mix. Integration is seamless, and suddenly, even mid-tier monitors sound like they’ve had a protein shake and a pep talk.