Isolating Monitors

Somnambulist · 4 Jun 2011 at 17:56

Room acoustics can vary the sound of the monitors greatly. What size KRKs do you have? The idea with isolating is that the surface the speaker is on doesn't colour the sound, which is important for their main use (backed up against a wall they'll be boomier but that's something you'd want to avoid for home mixing as you're aiming for accuracy). Decoupling from a surface shouldn't take anything away from the speaker in terms of frequency response e.t.c. You're just stopping energy from the speaker from travelling through the surface it's sitting on, which in my case = boom boom (boomy bass does not equal deep/accurate bass), and sound travels at different speeds through a solid material to a gas, which is another accuracy thing.

Sure you're not confusing a lack of boomy mid-bass with 'low end'. Any filters at the back for LF shelving you've got tweaked?

Somnambulist · 4 Jun 2011 at 18:08

Also for those who wanted to see:

Bricks in fabric (just some black, thick fabric that cost a couple of quid)
Mopads
Mild steel paint + Hammerite
Rubber mat (came with Focals)
Focal CMS 50.

I need to trim the Mopads down at the back, and obviously they go on my desk not by my TV, but you get the idea. I did plan on using concrete bricks but they were impossible to get hold of, so I just found the heaviest ones I could, although they're more for a heavy, raised platform than isolation as the Mopads and metal/rubber do that. I'll add a pic to the 'post your desk' thread in the Cases forum when I have everything set up properly.

JoeFX69 · 5 Jun 2011 at 14:52

Thanks again Somnamblast, its giving me lots of ideas.

I dont use KRK's, I use these at the moment.

EDIT: Just realised you werent talking about my setup there, sorry dude

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MAudioAV40.html

Small, but incredibly clear and powerful for the money I payed.

The FQ response isnt so great in the low end (goes to about 80hz iirc) but it does have a bass boost. Completely pointless when mixing though, as it just adds about 4db to the 80-200hz range...good for gaming maybe

bendabanga · 5 Jun 2011 at 15:18

what ive used is the dense foam you may get encasing something like a new laptop when you get it and cut it to size and spray it back this it what i did it does the job is fairly discrete aswell and cost £3 for a can of spray paint

Somnambulist · 5 Jun 2011 at 18:17

You can always used eFoam.co.uk too, they will cut acoustic foam (denser than the packing foam you used) to size for you. I only found them after I'd ordered the Mopads, but whatever. You can get the steel plates off a guy from eBay, you message him and he creates a listing of what you asked for. He will actually paint them for you too if you want (again, only found that out after I'd ordered!), which saves having to buy Hammerite.

Somnambulist · 5 Jun 2011 at 18:21

JoeFX69 said:
Thanks again Somnamblast, its giving me lots of ideas.

I dont use KRK's, I use these at the moment.

EDIT: Just realised you werent talking about my setup there, sorry dude

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MAudioAV40.html

Small, but incredibly clear and powerful for the money I payed.

The FQ response isnt so great in the low end (goes to about 80hz iirc) but it does have a bass boost. Completely pointless when mixing though, as it just adds about 4db to the 80-200hz range...good for gaming maybe

Ah right. Yeah with bass roll-off at 80hz, you can't really do much (even the 'bass boost' on my EQ options is for roughly 60hz) unless you deliberately back them up against the wall to make them a bit boomier. My Focals go down to 45hz, but don't feel like they roll off extremely sharply, so I haven't been left wanting a sub, for music at least (deep sub-bass is a no no anyway as I have thin walls!) While I can isolate them from the desk, my cupboard itself remains a bit of a problem given it's enclosed and I'm cramming in a fair bit of gear, although I'm thinking ahead for when I move more than anything.

bendabanga · 5 Jun 2011 at 21:32

but who doesnt want their whole house to shake ?

Somnambulist · 5 Jun 2011 at 21:37

Amongst other people, my neighbour who is bed-ridden with MS. Many people on Head-Fi invest in a high end headphone set up precisely because they live in such places as flat-shares where they simply can't enjoy speakers.

I would love to build an SVS cylinder sub clone, some 6ft job that went down to 10hz, could play Bass I Love You loudly without blowing up, and cause mild structural damage to the house, but I don't live in a detached abode in a sound-treated room. Yet.*

*can dream

JoeFX69 · 5 Jun 2011 at 22:26

Hehehe.

At the moment anyway, its not massively important with the music I produce. All of it is instrument based, only with a few synths/strings etc.
And as I roll off all the instruments high and low to make room for the mix, nothing ever gets significant signals under 50 hz or so. Majority of peoples Hi Fi cant respond that low anyway so im all good in that respect.