Studiospares RED10 vs Primacoustic Recoil vs Auralex MoPads?

[dickiefunk]

Hi,

I've just seen these on the Studiospares website :-

Studiospares Red10

http://www.studiospares.com/speaker-spares+accessories/studiospares-red10-monitor-isolator/invt/465250/?htxt=m4O%2F5L1kjuyXGUzXslaEzeAwf3liQc5fOD7oykszY9yMna4YAyDV%2F0JRWbrB7AsCLESio865bC1%2F%0AtNkS9m6u7g%3D%3D

They look like a copy of the Primacoustics Recoil Stabiliser's? They are made from foam, steel and rubber like the Recoils?

Does anyone on here know how they compare to the Recoils and if they will be better than MoPads?

[Hugh Robjohns]

The idea of the steel plate is to 'load' the foam slightly so that it is in enough compression to act appropriately as the spring in a mass-spring-mass damper system. Mo-pads on their own can be too stif to be effective when used with small, lightweight speakers. The steel plate in the Recoil and other designs addresses that issue.... although a heavy ceramic tile or slab of metal will work just as well on mo-pads if necessary.

Hugh

[Jonesd90]

Is there any info anywhere as to how much weight you do need on mopads to properly load them?

I tried to do a search but couldn't find anything relevant at all...

Dave

[nathanscribe]

I see the Silent Peaks isolators mentioned in the Studio SOS articles sometimes - presumably they're good too? At £65 per pair, they're a good deal cheaper than the Primacoustics, which is something that would tempt me.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Is there any info anywhere as to how much weight you do need on mopads to properly load them?

I don't think I've ever seen it mentioned either. Basically, you want the foam to compress a bit -- maybe 25% or so -- when the speakers are in place.

hugh

[. . . Delete This User . . .]

compression anywhere between 5-10% and maybe about 65% will be fine..... outside of that, the material does not act reliably as a spring.

large areas of foam become surprisingly hard to compress, especially when the load is not directly vertical...

the other way to do it if your load is insufficient, is reduce the area, but cutting mopads down along their length. so they present less of a square area to the load.

and it's not just cheap nasty lightweight designs that are a problem, for example, a set of NS10's is not really heavy enough to sufficiently compress a std set of mopads.

[Jonesd90]

It seems weird that they wouldn't publish guidelines for how much weight is needed for optimum foam compression.

The monitors I have on the Mopads are VXT8s which, like the NS10s, have an 8 inch driver but are also active so have the added weight of the amp and crossover etc... Do you recon they are loading the Mopad properly?

Thanks, Dave

[Martin Walker]

It seems weird that they wouldn't publish guidelines for how much weight is needed for optimum foam compression.

I suspect that might result in a lot of people thinking they are 'too complicated' and therefore not buying them

The monitors I have on the Mopads are VXT8s which, like the NS10s, have an 8 inch driver but are also active so have the added weight of the amp and crossover etc... Do you recon they are loading the Mopad properly?

compression anywhere between 5-10% and maybe about 65% will be fine..... outside of that, the material does not act reliably as a spring.

That's all you need to know Dave - measure the thickness unloaded and then when your loudspeakers are on top measure them again to check that the compression is at least 5% but not more 65%

Martin

[Jonesd90]

Thanks to you both Martin and Hugh for the foam facts!

Dave

[Martin Walker]

Our pleasure I'm sure

Martin