John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Has anyone tried the Auralex Mopads?
How do they perform and does the performance differ from regular foam?

I don't have them, but I've checked them out at my local dealer. They seem to work just fine. I don't think there would be any major difference between these and regular acoustic foam, or even a couple layers of carpet pad. You just want foam that is firm enough not to squash down too much.

Thomas

I 've had them since they came out and they work great. Even the GRAMMA for a subwoofer makes a difference.

I've read somewhere else (RAP to be exact) that you want a solid surface for your loudspeakers to make sure they don't vibrate. That's kind off the opposite of foam isn't it?
And how does foam compare to using spikes?

Think of it like using the neoprene to isolate your floors. It decouples the speaker vibrations from trasmiting to another surface.

I have a set on order...........well they are on back order

strauss wrote:I've read somewhere else (RAP to be exact) that you want a solid surface for your loudspeakers to make sure they don't vibrate. That's kind off the opposite of foam isn't it?
And how does foam compare to using spikes?

Sounds like you're referring to the idea that the vibrating speaker cones can force the speaker cabinet to move back and forth. In theory this can happen, but in practice the mass of the cabinet is so much greater than the mass of the cones that the effect is negligible. Most cabinet vibrations arise from cone vibrations either traveling through the driver frame, or more importantly, the acoustic pressure waves inside the cabinet. Both of these mechanisms excite resonances in the walls of the speaker cabinet. In the lowest frequencies the pressure waves actually force the walls to all bulge out and suck in, in tandem. Of course, this is all detrimental to the sound. However, firmly planting the cabinet with spikes does little to reduce the vibrations and their associated acoustic emissions.

The best solution is to build a cabinet that has very little vibration. Most monitors are far from this goal -- tap, tap. So the best you can do it just try to isolate all that vibration from the surrounding surfaces that would make the situation even worse.

Thomas

Have my set. They seem to work ok. The main thing is that they stop the speakers from moving(vibrating back and forth) on the desk. But they get a "D" for color. With most monitors being black you think the pads would have came in that color.

I am always amazed at any interest in these things?????

$20-something for one dollar's worth of foam? I have been using two mouse pads under each of my monitors for several years now and there is zero vibration in the stands below the pads. Total cost = $3.00 (Office Depot and Staples always have big piles of mouse pads in their clearance bins for no more than $1/ea.; I was even able to match the exact color of my console)

But then I have a "thing" about the whole idea of foam in the studio. Any of you who spend any time in commercial studios know that you never see ANY foam in those places. There is almost no application of foam that can't be bettered with another product and usually for a LOT less money. (rigid fiberglass, rock wool, DIY traps, etc.) Surprisingly, even Auralex sells the "good stuff", they just bury it in the back of their catalog under "construction materials." Their mineral fiber board just KILLS their foam products for any acoustical installation; trapping, diffusion, broadband absorbtion, you name it, the mineral fiber board beats the performance of foam every time and often by a factor of a few hundred percent! And its not an ugly shade of purple!

Reject the foam while you still have a chance!

You need to understand that most people can't afford to remodel or build a proper recording space. If you have an old bedroom you want to use for recording, you arn't going to dump $15,000 into remodeling the whole floor just to isolate the one room. Foam help these people out in certain situation to control some wild acoustics. I have heard songs come out of one room spare room studios that can blow away million dollar studios.

The Mopads are not thin rubber pads like you mouse pads. They also can be adjusteed to tilt the monitors -8, -4, 0 4 and 8 degrees. Can your simple mouse pads do that?

Your comment is like saying anyone with a $200 guitar will never become a good musician.

Just my 2 cents.

Actually, his comment is more like saying why the hell does everyone buy $800 guitars when the $300 one that takes a little work sounds SO MUCH better?

As far as the mouse pads, yes, you can stick a short block or pencil under the back, you'll never see it. voila, infinitely adjustable tilt angle.

cfuehrer wrote:You need to understand that most people can't afford to remodel or build a proper recording space. If you have an old bedroom you want to use for recording, you arn't going to dump $15,000 into remodeling the whole floor just to isolate the one room. Foam help these people out in certain situation to control some wild acoustics. I have heard songs come out of one room spare room studios that can blow away million dollar studios.

The Mopads are not thin rubber pads like you mouse pads. They also can be adjusteed to tilt the monitors -8, -4, 0 4 and 8 degrees. Can your simple mouse pads do that?

Your comment is like saying anyone with a $200 guitar will never become a good musician.

Just my 2 cents.

My point is towards the foam comment. Not so much the mopads. I am in the process of building a studio that John's designed for me and I can see why people just buy a foam kit and call it a day.

cfuehrer wrote:My point is towards the foam comment. Not so much the mopads. I am in the process of building a studio that John's designed for me and I can see why people just buy a foam kit and call it a day.

Well, yeah, mine too- actually goes more for the foam than the mopad things. There's a hell-with-it-just-throw-money-at-it way, which is a foam kit that'll buy you *some* of the performance at 2-3 times the cost, and there's a do-it-right way, which is rigid fiberglass and maybe some membrane traps. Cheaper, better, more options for making it fit the look you want, it just takes some more elbow grease.

I guess my main reaction was hey, it's the fiberglass way that's more like the dude with the $200 guitar who *becomes* a great musician with it.

My point is towards the foam comment. Not so much the mopads. I am in the process of building a studio that John's designed for me and I can see why people just buy a foam kit and call it a day

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"why people just buy a foam kit and call it a day"

Because the stuff isn't worth the money and doesn't address real world problems!!! (unless you only have problems in the 1k Hz and up range....) For the price of the cheapest foam "kit" available, you can get MUCH better performance out of rigid board insulation just leaning up against the wall! For well under $100 I recently purchased three 4ft x 2ft x 4" mineral fiber boards. I had them wrapped in loose weave burlap for $40 each and they are now serving multiple purposes in my room; two have completely killed all flutter echo at my monitor position and the third is doing a great job as a bass trap in the rear corner. They are not fire hazards, they were covered in material that exactly matches my wall color and they are not glued to my walls. I can drag them to location sessions and use them to treat my temporary control room or use them to baffle a vocalist, etc. They are so many times more useful than any piece of foam.

And foam is f'ugly!