Auralex Mopads

[DeeDrive]

I've been studying acoustics a lot lately, and the more I learn, it seems like most everything Auralex makes it useless. I see no point in foam, when it's only going to deaden high frequencies, and do nothing for bass, and the Auralex "professional" panels they sell are only 1" fiberglass, which seems hardly enough to be effective across a broad range of frequencies.

The only thing I own of Auralex is their MoPads. (Mostly because it's the only half decent looking solution to decoupling monitors.) Does anyone know if these really are an effective solution? How to they compare to the typical speaker stands that rest on 3 or 4 single points, to minimize contact with the stand? Are the Mopads much better than this?

It seems kinda messed up to call Auralex a scam or something, but their whole deal seems to be over-simplifying the science of acoustics and selling you some $1000 package of foam that will magically fix all of your acoustic problems, when this is not normally true. Do you guys think their totally FOS, or do some of their products have any real worth?

[MR5D]

"The only thing I own of Auralex is their MoPads. (Mostly because it's the only half decent looking solution to decoupling monitors.) Does anyone know if these really are an effective solution? How to they compare to the typical speaker stands that rest on 3 or 4 single points, to minimize contact with the stand? Are the Mopads much better than this?"


Hey i'd love a little info on this too. What's the best way to go for my small room/near field setup - MoPads? Speaker stands with the points? Put some points on my desk? .............. (other misc solution).

What's the vibe?

[Mark Warren]

Well best thing to do would be to get stands that have the spike feet on them, so they're decoupled from the floor.

If you must put your monitors on your desk then the MoPads are a great solution to get them to keep from resonating the desk.

On the Auralex I think you're oversimplifying, as far as doing nothing but 'deaden high frequencies' well that's exactly the point. Unless your room is custom designed acoustically you're going to have comb filtering, flutter echo, phase cancellation, due to the multiple reflections of sound waves, especially at the first points of reflection. The Auralex accomplishes fixing this nicely.

I fixed my room for about $250 in Aurelex, but with some RealTraps bass traps as well. You can look at the graphs on the RealTraps site and see that yes indeed the Auralex stuff, even the stuff they design for bass trapping, doesn't do much of anything in the bass department.

So spending $1,000 on Auralex isn't going to magically fix your room, you've got to understand all the problems and solutions first, and it is somewhat deceptive that they market their room kits like this.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by Mark Warren

Well best thing to do would be to get stands that have the spike feet on them, so they're decoupled from the floor.

I discovered, much to my amusement, that about half of the "audiophile" companies that make floorstanding speakers with spike feet claim that these decouple the speaker from the floor...and the other half claim that the spike feet are to *couple* the speaker to the floor! Seriously. I'd love to see some hard science on those devices.

As for MoPads, I bought a pair. I couldn't care less whether they function "acoustically", they hold the speakers at the required angle far more stabley (sp?) & more attractively than any other solution I could find. For $30/pair, as long as they don't sound *worse* it seems like a no-brainer.

[MJGreene Audio]

Much like you I only own a pair of Mo-Pads and without any real scientific evidence the monitors sound better and the bass is much more accurate and tighter with them under the speakers than it is with spikes or with nothing at all.

After I did much research on different acoustic materials I chose not to go with Auralex materials except for some diffusors. Now I am in a different room designed by Studio Bauton and I almost feel bad even using the MO-Pads

Mo-pads are great. They seem to work and they don't cost a fortune. Speaker stands are really the way to go if you have the space and if you don't cause more problems having the speakers in back of the desk.

Michael Greene

[rapfreak]

i bought a pair just because it angles the speakers down in an attractive package.

[bluesj]

Originally Posted by DeeDrive

I've been studying acoustics a lot lately, and the more I learn, it seems like most everything Auralex makes it useless. I see no point in foam, when it's only going to deaden high frequencies, and do nothing for bass, and the Auralex "professional" panels they sell are only 1" fiberglass, which seems hardly enough to be effective across a broad range of frequencies.

The only thing I own of Auralex is their MoPads. (Mostly because it's the only half decent looking solution to decoupling monitors.) Does anyone know if these really are an effective solution? How to they compare to the typical speaker stands that rest on 3 or 4 single points, to minimize contact with the stand? Are the Mopads much better than this?

It seems kinda messed up to call Auralex a scam or something, but their whole deal seems to be over-simplifying the science of acoustics and selling you some $1000 package of foam that will magically fix all of your acoustic problems, when this is not normally true. Do you guys think their totally FOS, or do some of their products have any real worth?

The only thing I own of Auralex is their U-Boat Floor Floaters
it is hard not soft matrial but i don't know whether it is good or not

[tunasafedolphin]

Auralex MoPads work.

-C

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Mark Warren

Well best thing to do would be to get stands that have the spike feet on them, so they're decoupled from the floor.

If you must put your monitors on your desk then the MoPads are a great solution to get them to keep from resonating the desk.

On the Auralex I think you're oversimplifying, as far as doing nothing but 'deaden high frequencies' well that's exactly the point. Unless your room is custom designed acoustically you're going to have comb filtering, flutter echo, phase cancellation, due to the multiple reflections of sound waves, especially at the first points of reflection. The Auralex accomplishes fixing this nicely.

I fixed my room for about $250 in Aurelex, but with some RealTraps bass traps as well. You can look at the graphs on the RealTraps site and see that yes indeed the Auralex stuff, even the stuff they design for bass trapping, doesn't do much of anything in the bass department.

So spending $1,000 on Auralex isn't going to magically fix your room, you've got to understand all the problems and solutions first, and it is somewhat deceptive that they market their room kits like this.

That is a great point you made. I get the question on the phone all the time "should I take down my foam?". If the person has covered to much area I will sometimes recommend that, but there is no reason why you can not use rigid fiberglass bass traps and quality acoustic foam to treat your room. Note I said "quality acoustic foam". Don't fall into the trap of companies like Foam by Mail who are known to be fraud.

Glenn

[nosebleedaudio]

Sorbothane works great for decoupling, its also a tacky material so your monitors wont be easy to bump out of alignment or end up on the floor.

[Dzoing]

Originally Posted by rapfreak

i bought a pair just because it angles the speakers down in an attractive package.

Haha I must admit... that I did exactly the same thing!

I don't think those MoPads are really of any great help, but it cannot hurt, is quite inexpensive, and it angles the speakers, so why not...

I know well about physics, acoustics and vibrations (I mean the scientific part of it), and I can tell you this is one of the most complex domain. As far as speaker standing, the best (and only) way would be hanging on very flexible elastic cords, so that they'd be like staying free in levitation through the air...

As far as room treatments... the first treatment is the room size and architecture/design of the room itself. Then some effective bass trap in all the corners you can: here are plenty of choices / trap design, but FORGET the foam bass trap. Third: treat the reflexions/ ambiance: diffusers are good for that matter, the ones I like the best are quadratic schröder wood panels (better for bigger sized rooms), auralex plastic ones might be ok. When all thoses things are ok, then, but only then, you can add some foam or melamine in order to deaden that room following your own taste...

Hope this is not too much confusing. Good luck!

[u b k]

if you want to hear how much decoupling they're doing --- or not doing --- plug one ear and stick the other against your stand/desk/what have you.

ime a lot of sound still gets thru the mopads; 4 cones under the monitors and 4 spikes under the floor are way more effective.

also, fill your speaker stands with sand (it's why the column is hollow).


gregoire
del ubik

[u b k]

Originally Posted by Mark Warren

On the Auralex I think you're oversimplifying, as far as doing nothing but 'deaden high frequencies' well that's exactly the point. Unless your room is custom designed acoustically you're going to have comb filtering, flutter echo, phase cancellation, due to the multiple reflections of sound waves, especially at the first points of reflection. The Auralex accomplishes fixing this nicely.

but auralex only fixes these issues at really high freqs; the same problems still exist in the mid and lower bands, and while phase issues in the midrange aren't nearly as obvious as they are in the highs, they're every bit as damaging to the truth.

rigid fiberglass panels address all this stuff so much more effectively, and deal with bass as well.


gregoire
del ubik

[Anderson]

Fixing your room acoustics with Auralex & co is like healing a multiple fractured leg with band-aid.

Trust me on that

[velvetgeorge]

Old thread, I know. But I just put Mopads under my HR-824s and it did do wonders for the low end accuracy. If you can even use the words "low end" and accuracy" in the same sentence with hr824.

I feel good about the $30 I spent on these.


George

[Glenn Bucci]

I believe you get different responses with mopads, based on your acoustic treatment, monitor size, their weight and your type of monitor stands.

I just purchased black Raxxess ERSS-42 stands which replace my tripod home made stands. Well the Raxxess look great. In putting them together, I put a very thick plastic bag inside the column and started filling it with sand.

I first listened to some familiar music in my studio with the old stands. Then I switched the stands with the new ones. It was hard to judge because the new stands are 1" higher so the angle was a little different. I have to admit, I really did not hear much of a difference.

The second thing I did was to put the mopads underneath the monitors and played the same music again. Afterwards I switched back again with no mopads. Did I hear a difference.......yes. Without the mopads the music was a little more livelier. With the modpads it was a little bit more controlled.

I then listened again more carefully and spent more time with and without the mopads. I found with the mopads the music was a little drier sounding. With them, I found my mixes easier on my ears compared to without them. So the verdict is the monitors with the mopads sound better.

My previous stands were not angled properly, so the new stands also helped in this area and they look better. With the mopads, I have them angled down which made them more accurately pointed to my ears. All and all my mixes sound tighter and more controlled. The monitors toward have less of a splashy sound to them as well. My Tannoy Precision 8D's are a little splashy without them. Bear in mind I had a piece of ribbed rubber mats on my original stands and I did not hear them as splashy like they did with the new monitors stands minus - the mopads.

The other thing I noticed was no bass vibration into the stands which on some bass notes gave it a clearer sound.

[Tubthumper]

Anyone else have deja vu???

BTW: there was talk somewhere, maybe at PSW, initiated by an industry hard-head, that in some instances Mopads might diminish bottom end clarity. I can't say I've noticed this myself however.

[Glenn Bucci]

Originally Posted by Tubthumper

Anyone else have deja vu???

BTW: there was talk somewhere, maybe at PSW, initiated by an industry hard-head, that in some instances Mopads might diminish bottom end clarity. I can't say I've noticed this myself however.

I would not say diminish, but the word tighter, or more controlled comes to mind. I touched my monitor stands with the mopads on and I did not feel any vibrations. Without the mopads of course I felt vibrations in the stands. I think this has a lot to do with it.

[DesertDawg]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

I discovered, much to my amusement, that about half of the "audiophile" companies that make floorstanding speakers with spike feet claim that these decouple the speaker from the floor...and the other half claim that the spike feet are to *couple* the speaker to the floor! Seriously. I'd love to see some hard science on those devices.

This is why I suspend my monitors using a chain & turnbuckle assembly, with the upper turnbuckles anchored into hockey pucks suspended in the ceiling via bungeee cords attached to the roof joists, surrounded by a hermetically-sealed packet of Moon-Gel, and the lower turnbuckles fastened to the speakers with a set of Gabriel Hi-jacker shock absorbers off a '72 350 Chevy Nova... you have to replace the Gabriel's every 3,500 hours, though, or else they're useless.

Oh, and to the subject of the thread, yeah the Mo-Pads serve to decouple near-fields pretty well... the idea is simply to keep your desk from becoming part of the amplification system, in a manner of speaking - and in that regard they do their job.

[Dean Roddey]

Like other folks, I just use them A) to angle the speaker down, and B) because my speakers have a fancy piano black finish and I'm using them on their sides, so there's no way I can sit them on the actual mixing desk top rail. They'd scratch all up and move around very easily. So for that purpose, the Mopads work very well. Plus, if you are having a really bad day creatively, you can cut a small piece off and smoke it.

If you don't need the angling, just go to the local muscle head store and buy a neophrene workout mat. I bought one of those and I've found many uses for that stuff. Just whip out the scissors and cut out a piece the size you need.

[fooman]

My desk is one of those MDF desks from office depot. It has two areas that are made for printers on each side that are pretty much ear-level when sitting. Without the Mopads the desk resonates a lot. The Mopads have helped that quite a bit. It's also nice that potential clients come in and say "Those things like cool!".

[Glenn Bucci]

Since I have capet and padding on my studio floor, I will be putting a piece of floor tile underneath each stand. It should not affect what the mopads are doing, but they should assist in the way the primeacoustic pads work by reducing any movement of the stands if the monitors move in anyway. I have not seen the stands move at eye level when I played music at a higher level, but the laws of physics state some movement is going on.

[nosebleedaudio]

I believe it's far better to have heavy stands and decouple the speakers from the stands as well as possible.

[Arthur 1]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

So for that purpose, the Mopads work very well. Plus, if you are having a really bad day creatively, you can cut a small piece off and smoke it.

True dat!

Mopads do what they say they do: decouple your monitors somewhat from the surface they're on. But they seem very pricey when you can just go and get some neoprene for a fraction of the price.

Still, I got my Mopads for free.

[ed97643]

Huh, I use mo(USE) pads. I have maybe 3-4 mouse pads under each of my near fields. Seems to work just fine.


I got the idea after reading something from one of 'the Bobs' (apologies, I can't recall if it was Ludwig, Clearmountain, or Katz), stating something like "heck, even an old pair of Dr. Scholl's shoe inserts would do the job just fine". (Apologies for the uncertain citation and for the paraphrase.)

[GPl]

I tried using my "old" Dr Scholls gels but the stench was making my mixes stinky.
Are you gel'n?

What makes the primacoustics pad at $100.xx per unit that much more effective than the mopads at 30.xx?

[nightscope]

Originally Posted by DesertDawg

...a set of Gabriel Hi-jacker shock absorbers off a '72 350 Chevy Nova...

Damn. That is so cool. Do they have to be off a vintage Chevy?

__________________
My ambition is to someday have my signature line quoted as someone else's signature line. thumbsup

[doncaparker]

A set of Mopads is the only foam I use; all other treatment is done with Ready Bags.

I have the monitors on top of Mopads on top of landscaping bricks on top of a big old heavy desk. It feels both solid and decoupled, and seems to work well. Who knows?

[Getafix]

I remember reading a post here where someone said that they actually made his monitors sound worse. The reason being that the monitors were not heavy enough to compress the mopads sufficiently.

Is there any truth to this? My monitors are around 16kg each so i don't know if they're heavy enough to compress the mopads. I had thought of putting a 5kg weight on top of each monitor, would that work or make things worse?

[dft3670]

I have no idea what frequencies Mopads are supposed to isolate. I can only tell you that if I touch my stands without the pads I can feel a slight vibration and with the pads I don't. I'm not even sure how much that vibration would afffect the room even if it were transmitted through the floor. Whether or not something cheaper would work, who knows. They are quick to install and look good and change angle in a snap. I want to make music not test speaker isolation materials and I spend more than they cost on coffee every week, so for me it's a no brainer. With that said, I think they are best suited for a light computer desk where vibrations can build up faster through the particle board.

Unless your speakers are rattling your desk in some way, I would just invest the money in building or buying your own bass traps if your looking to upgrade the acoustics of your room. It's the best investement you will ever make in your room and there are tons of posts and lot's of great guys like the GIK and Real Trap guys who go above and beyond on helping you out. You can never have to many. I have 20.

As far as the foam goes, it may be a bit of strech to say ALL Auralex sucks. The wedges are good for small spot treatment, but you need to use it very sparingly. It is very easy to over do it. I know, I have a closet full of it. The corner traps are very overpriced and not nearly as effective as a $40. panel you can build yourself. I think the wood diffuser are just as good as anyone elses out there, but again your not going to find wood diffusers anywhere at a cheap price.

I agree, the packages they sell are not your best investment for a better sounding room. It is better to spend some time figuring out exactly what your room needs and buying and building to meet the application. I think for many rooms, installing a full Auralex package would make it sound like you had cotton balls in your ears.