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inMotion iM4 Portable Audio System
Manufacturer: Altec Lansing Part number: IM4
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Altec Lansing iM4 finally delivers the bass we've been craving in small portable speakers, and they're not iPod-centric, so you can use them with any MP3 player.
Read more
Where to buy
| store | customer rating | inventory | tax & shipping | price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com Marketplace |  | In stock | Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price | as of 11/08/2009 |
CNET editors' review
inMotion iM4 Portable Audio System price range: $84.99
- Reviewed by: Ben Patterson
- Edited by: Jasmine France
- Reviewed on: 07/26/2005
The good: Excellent sound; portable music players fit nicely on the rubberized base; retractable minijack cord; speakers tilt at any angle; can be powered with batteries.
The bad: No remote control; slightly large and heavy compared with other small speaker sets.
The bottom line: The Altec Lansing iM4 finally delivers the bass we've been craving in small portable speakers, and they're not iPod-centric, so you can use them with any MP3 player.
Measuring 10.3 by 5.3 by 1 inches, the folded-up inMotion is roughly the size of a slim hardcover book, and at 28 ounces, it's a little heavier than other portable speakers in its class. The twin speakers swing open in a smooth, firm motion, and you can tilt them at any angle, up to 180 degrees from the base. The power switch and the volume slider sit on the curved front section, while behind the base, you'll find an AC input, a minijack port, and a minijack plug on a retractable cable. There isn't a custom dock for an iPod, but our 20GB model sat comfortably atop the rubberized base. You can also plug the iM4 into your laptop with the included minijack-to-minijack cable. All that's missing is a remote control--a disappointing omission, given that the iM3 comes with a nice, wafer-thin remote that slid right into the assembly.
We were pleasantly surprised by the Altec Lansing inMotion iM4's full-bodied sound. In our experience, fold-up, portable speakers usually can't hack it when it comes to bass (the iM3 comes to mind, actually), but the iM4 delivered rumbling lows and crystal-clear high notes--impressive, considering the speakers' small size. We dialed up Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, and the iM4 cranked out the thumping bass and soaring strings of "Kashmir" without skipping a beat, even when we turned up the volume to ear-splitting levels (very nice). The iM4 can also power from four AA batteries for a promised 18 hours of sound.
User reviews
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Better, but not all that.
by aalasso on December 30, 2005
Pros: Better than other PORTABLE speakers. Goodlooking at a certain distance.
Cons: Sound worse than with even the cheapest creative 2.1 speakers. Plasticlike and cheaplooking finish.
Summary: I chose the IM4 for their size and portability, and supposedly good sound.
The design is fairly good. The black parts have a nice feel: Both the rubber and the ...Summary: I chose the IM4 for their size and portability, and supposedly good sound.
The design is fairly good. The black parts have a nice feel: Both the rubber and the metal (speaker guards) parts. The grey parts, however, Has a very plasticlike appearance and feel. Especially the buttons are of poor quallity, with the one for retraction of the built-in mini-jack being the worst, having an appearance and feel that sugest it might brake off with a mere touch.
This said, the unit does look pretty good when placed open about a meter away, witch will probalbly be the case most of the time.
The blue LED ON-indicator on the front panel is a little to bright in my oppinion. Especially if you want to listen to music while falling asleep, the LED lights up a good portion of my room.
The sound is good for speakers of their size, meaning that the bass is often discernable. However the unit is not able to play very loud. When my mp3 player (creative Zen Sleek)is connected and the output from it is about 75%, and the amplification is 100% the sound is of okay quality, but not loud enough (~75dB at 1m)to enjoy rock and metal, likewise the bass doesn't do justice to these genres either. Any attempt to turn the player's volume to more than about 75%, results in heavy noise from especcially distorted guitars. Less bass-heavy music plays fine however.
Conclusion:
Good portable speakers. If portability is not very important (i.e. if you only need to transport them a couple of times a year) I would propably go for a selfpowered 2.1 system. With a small subwoofer.
Adam Læssøe, Denmark5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good Travel Speakers
by cbborromeo on October 5, 2005
Pros: Small, light weight, good design, decent sound
Cons: Would be nice to have a rechargable battery.
Summary: While the iM4 won't blow your ears out, it serves it's purpose of being a good portable speaker system. The unit folds flat and can be packed away ...
Summary: While the iM4 won't blow your ears out, it serves it's purpose of being a good portable speaker system. The unit folds flat and can be packed away for easy transport. It runs on battery (short life) or may be plugged into any outlet worldwide.
Obviously, the iM4 is not meant to be a main speaker system. However, for travellers weary of listening to the hotel clock radio, or those who want to share music at the beach, the iM4 is a great value!4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great portability and design but fails to perform.
by petko0629 on August 10, 2005
Pros: Design, portability, connectivity
Cons: Sound: no bass
Summary: Thumbs up for the design. These speakers look great, fold into a very portable shape and the setup and controls are idiot-proof. Those tired of portable speakers compatible only with ...
Summary: Thumbs up for the design. These speakers look great, fold into a very portable shape and the setup and controls are idiot-proof. Those tired of portable speakers compatible only with iPods will appreciate the connectivity to pretty much anything portable out there.
But the sound is dismal. The bass is almost non-existent. Bass drums made these speakers sound as if they were going to burst, even at lower volumes. Bass-rich electronic music was completely distorted, ruining the excitement from receiving it super-promptly from buy.com. The latest REM release produced better highs and mids, but again, the low ranges just didn?t cut it. Don?t buy unless you want to sit with your ears pasted to the speakers to hear the bass at very low volumes. But what?s the point then? For the price you can get a fairly decent pair of headphones. I returned this product the next day.4 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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by digitaldude6745 on November 13, 2006
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Cons: gdgdgdsfgdsgsdfg
Summary: dsfgdsgdfgdfgdsfgdfg
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pros: portable, good sound, looks nice, folds out, compatible with all mp3 players, long battery life
cons: max volume is fine for small to medium room, but notSummary: dsfgdsgdfgdfgdsfgdfg
Updated
pros: portable, good sound, looks nice, folds out, compatible with all mp3 players, long battery life
cons: max volume is fine for small to medium room, but not loud enough for larger room
these speakers probably arent worth the 99$ they are selling for a lot of places, but for 65-75$ these are excellent. under 2 lbs, come with cloth carrying case...good sound, battery life is aroun 12-18 hours or for me a bout a month. Anyway, if you have an ipod there are a lot of options, but i think for a non-ipod this is the best choice. 10 of 10Updated
pros: portable, good sound, looks nice, folds out, compatible with all mp3 players, long battery life
cons: max volume is fine for small to medium room, but not loud enough for larger room
these speakers probably arent worth the 99$ they are selling for a lot of places, but for 65-75$ these are excellent. under 2 lbs, come with cloth carrying case...good sound, battery life is aroun 12-18 hours or for me a bout a month. Anyway, if you have an ipod there are a lot of options, but i think for a non-ipod this is the best choice. 10 of 103 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The sound it terrible even though the unit it beautiful
by SplntrCelSpdrMnFn on December 22, 2005
Pros: The construction is mostly solid and the input cord is retractable. This thing can pump out some loud tunes, too.
Cons: The buttons are flimsy and all the sound is disgusting, including the highs and lows
Summary: At any volume, there's very audible distortion. I tried all kinds of music to see this the iM4 could reproduce anything at all decently but everything sounded terrible. I'...
Summary: At any volume, there's very audible distortion. I tried all kinds of music to see this the iM4 could reproduce anything at all decently but everything sounded terrible. I'm returning it tomorrow after only trying it for a day.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Small, Light & Not Very Good
by www.michaelj.org on May 15, 2005
Pros: Very light and portable
Cons: Little hi-range sounds.
Summary: I picked up this unit to play music and review interviews taken on my iPod Mini. The unit is very small and easy to take around with you, however it ...
Summary: I picked up this unit to play music and review interviews taken on my iPod Mini. The unit is very small and easy to take around with you, however it does not proform very well. Seems to have way to much base and at times sounds like a high quality mono sound system. I found it sounded better in a small room (like my office) because it didnt need to be up very loud so you couldent really hear its poor quality. But when I hooked it up in my den and turned it up to about 75% it started cracking up and not delievering good quality sound at all. I will without a doubt be bringing this back and trying out a different unit. The idea is there with this unit, it just dosent quite have what takes so make me want to keep it around.
4 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good little speaker system
by JGreb on April 28, 2005
Pros: Would like a lithium rechargable battery
Cons: The sound and design are really nice
Summary: For $79 bucks this small speaker system pumps out great music in my office. Is it ready for carnegie hall, no but I like it a bunch.
Summary: For $79 bucks this small speaker system pumps out great music in my office. Is it ready for carnegie hall, no but I like it a bunch.
1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good performance to portable ratio.
by gjj1056 on March 8, 2008
Pros: Ultra portable. Battery life (4x AA's). Design. Widely comptaible (standard line jack)
Cons: Lack of power. Sound quality is average. Lack of woofer (a bass is still simulated without them). No dock
Summary: Expected more from Altec Lansing considering the price. Great for travellers that want to bring and share their music... in a quiet place though.
Updated...
I bought this for mySummary: Expected more from Altec Lansing considering the price. Great for travellers that want to bring and share their music... in a quiet place though.
Updated
I bought this for my iPod, didn't want a dock because I am very particular in cycling my iPod's battery. The headphone jack makes it easy to be used for laptops, mp3 players and any other devices with a standard headphone jack.
Pros:
Sound is good enough for its size, enough to fill a small room. Clear highs if you don't set the volume to high. Delivers an acceptable bass without woofers. Folding design. Battery life = 18 hours on 4x AA's.
Cons:
Expensive for having no dock and remote control. Cheaper speakers (but bigger) sound more powerful than it. -
Decent for the dollars
by feature_edit on July 19, 2007
Pros: Flat, portable design; two power options; 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter included
Cons: Kind of cheap feel; not enough oomph
Summary: I bought these to use at work and pipe the sound in with my Nokia 6265i cell phone, so not having to purchase a jack adapter separately was a plus. ...
Summary: I bought these to use at work and pipe the sound in with my Nokia 6265i cell phone, so not having to purchase a jack adapter separately was a plus. The retractable cord makes them ultra portable, but the switch to retract it feels like it's could snap off at any given time. I've tried out several portable systems, and this one definately had the best bass. It's not thumping, but it's not tinny either. The stereo sound is very spacial for both speakers being in such close proximity. They are plenty loud enough for work, but I'm sure I'll be disappointed the first time I cart them along to play outside. I wish I could get more volume out of them, but I think most of the songs on my cell phone are at a lowish bit rate, so the next bunch of CDs I rip will be done much higher. I paid $79 bones for them at amazon.com, so at that price I would highly recommend them to anyone that wanted something more portable than a 2.1 system. Oh, and the cloth carrying case is a nice touch.
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i cant believe i've bought this
by josher1170 on May 16, 2007
Pros: small and light
Cons: bad sound, must not used along with equalizer
Summary: bad sound. when i try to adjust the equalizer on the mp3 player, it sounds very bad that my ears cant stand about it. even the most cheapest of creative ...
Summary: bad sound. when i try to adjust the equalizer on the mp3 player, it sounds very bad that my ears cant stand about it. even the most cheapest of creative inspire series had a better sound. i cant believe altec made this kind of speakers.
im very dissapointed.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Altec Lansing
- Part number: IM4
- Description: You've got a CD player, an MP3 player, and a portable DVD player, but until now you were the only one listening. Introducing the Altec Lansing inMotion iM4 portable audio system. This tiny, portable, battery-operated stereo system lets you share the sounds at home, at the beach, on the go... where ever. A highly efficient Class D amplifier powers four full-range micro drivers to deliver a full spectrum of pure, distinct sound, while the revolutionary MaxxBass technology allows listeners to enjoy deep bass without lugging around a subwoofer. Place your small portable audio device on the rubberized base, plug in the retractable audio cable, and fire up your system. It' s great sound that everyone can enjoy.
General
- Product Type Portable speakers
- Width 10.3 in
- Depth 5.3 in
- Height 1 in
- Weight 1.8 lbs
Speaker System
- System Components 2 speakers
- Speaker Type Active
- Nominal Output Power (Total) 4 Watt
- Response Bandwidth 60 - 20000 Hz
- Signal-To-Noise Ratio 75 dB
- Total Harmonic Distortion 10%
- Magnet Type Neodymium
- Audio Amplifier Integrated
- Connectivity Technology Wired
Speaker System Details
- Speakers Included 2 x Portable speaker - 2 Watt - 60 - 20000 Hz - 8 Ohm - Wired
- Driver Details Portable speaker : 2 x Full-range driver - 25 mm
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x Audio line-in, 1 x Audio line-in ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ), 1 x DC power input
Miscellaneous
- Included Accessories Carrying case
- Remote Control None
- AV Furniture None
Power
- Power Device Power adapter - External
- Run Time (Up To) 18 hour(s)
Battery
- Type Standard battery - AA type
- Required Qty 4
- Included Qty 0
Manufacturer info
- Altec Lansing
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Altec Lansing products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.alteclansing.com/
- Address:
535 Route 6 & 209, Milford, PA 18337-0277 - Phone: 1-866-570-5702
- Fax: 1-570-296-6887
