Isolating Monitors

JoeFX69

JoeFX69

JoeFX69

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9 Sep 2009
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298
Hi guys,

I need to isolate my Monitors a bit without spending a fortune on a "proper" vibration deadening(?) foam.

At the moment they vibrate the desk they are on far too much for me to get anywhere close to a decent sound whilst using production software.

Any tricks would be much appreciated!

x
 
Just how expensive is this foam stuff like?

WOuld have thought the sheets you buy for sound proofing the inside of your pc would do the job and they are pretty cheap.
 
Like £40 for each speaker for some stuff.

Its definitely an idea.

The denser it is, the better. Do you have any experience with the stuff?
 
JoeFX69 said:
Like £40 for each speaker for some stuff.
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It doesn't cost as much as that. I've seen proper ones selling for £26 to go on a pair of monitors. The ones i saw for that price are called Auralex MoPAD. I've never tried them but i've seen several people recommend them.
 
A much cheaper and maybe better alternative to foam is to put balls of blu-tac on each corner of monitors. I've read that blue tac is better because the less contact there is the better.
 
dz1 said:
It doesn't cost as much as that. I've seen proper ones selling for £26 to go on a pair of monitors. The ones i saw for that price are called Auralex MoPAD. I've never tried them but i've seen several people recommend them.
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Like I said, some cost £40 mate. Plus, thats £26 for a pair of pads, not for a set that fits a pair of monitors.

So my monitors (a very small pair) would need 4 to be balanced (side mounting not an option), making it a £52 spend.

Blue tack would be essentially useless aswell for what im doing Im affraid as the sound will still reflect/reverberate.
 
dz1 said:
A much cheaper and maybe better alternative to foam is to put balls of blu-tac on each corner of monitors. I've read that blue tac is better because the less contact there is the better.
Click to expand...

^^^^^THIS^^^^^

Just make sure you use quite decent size balls of blu-tac as the weight of the speakers makes the balls of blu-tac squash down over time. iirc PMC used to advise using blu-tac!
 
A single pair of Mopads is four pieces, it fits any pair of monitors. There's a shop on fleabay that sells them for under £30, they're have the 'UK's biggest Auralex dealer' tag. I'm currently building my own speaker stands for my desk. Copying this, more or less, except I'm adding some concrete bricks underneath to further isolate, and also raise the speaker off the desk more, which will reduce desk reflections:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/376831-diy-speaker-isolation.html

There's a guy on fleabay that sells mild steel plates, you can message him and he'll create a lot cut to your size and spec (I got 20x20c1cm). Came to about £15 including p&p.

If you can source the foam yourself, it'll probably come to about £20-30 for a pair of DIY stands. Mine will be £30-40 since I was too lazy to look for the right kind of foam, and just bought Mopads. To put that in perspective, a single Primacoustic Recoil Stabiliser is £80-90, and it essentially is just foam, steel, and rubber. My speakers will come with a rubber mat, plus mine will be higher off the desk with the concrete layer (which will be wrapped in fabric to look less grimy).
 
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For about £1 you'll get a strip of those round sticky back rubber feet things that you get under almost everything that's designed to go on a desk. Don't waste money on daft foam pads etc.
 
I havent used it for speakers but used it for my case

Acousti AcoustiPack ML 3-layer 12mm OEM Material

It's 12mm thick and made up of three different density layers to block out sound of different frequencies and costs less than £20 for a big sheet which would so several speakers depending on your speaker size.
 
Thanks to everyone for giving me some pointers. Sorry to dz1, you were right dude.

Somnambulist, I would be eager to see your speaker setup, any chance you could link or put some up?
 
Sure, I'll take some pictures later today as I should be finishing them off today. Currently I have the Mopads and the steel plates (painted black yesterday), just need to grab the concrete bricks today from a trade place and get the fabric to cover them (some kind of corduroy should suffice). I also need to cut the Mopads down to size, because they're far too long, which is annoying but if I ever upgrade then I can sell them as complete stands.
 
I had zero luck obtaining concrete bricks, so I just bought the heaviest ones I could find. It shouldn't matter too much since they're mainly to raise the height to ear level, the Recoil Stabiliser clones will do the job of isolating. I'm about to get busy with the bricks and fabric, should be finished in the evening, pics in the morning as the light will be better.
 
The only problem with Mopads on their own, is that foam is good for absorbing the mids/highs, but less so the bass, and also if your speakers aren't heavy they can tend to move about at higher volumes, which messes with the imaging slightly. This is why I copied the Recoil Stabilizer design by putting a steel plate on top of the Mopads and then using the rubber mat that came with the speakers on top of that.
 
Somnambulist said:
The only problem with Mopads on their own, is that foam is good for absorbing the mids/highs, but less so the bass, and also if your speakers aren't heavy they can tend to move about at higher volumes, which messes with the imaging slightly. This is why I copied the Recoil Stabilizer design by putting a steel plate on top of the Mopads and then using the rubber mat that came with the speakers on top of that.
Click to expand...

well currently I am not getting much low end out of my KRK's at all tbh :/ must be my room/isolation cos i know a few mates who have them and they get a perfect amount out of them, just using mopads
 
Somanmblast, thankyou.

I did suspect that bass would be an issue with those pads. Although definitely helping, if they arent mounted to a dense stand/surface they're gonna struggle. Especially with the heavy rock I tend to be writing and producing these days.

Interesting that hellarda says they are fine though. depends on environment I suppose.
 
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