FOAM MONITOR STANDS

[thepsychedelicdollhouse]

I'd like you to share thoughts on foam stands.
I've got a pair of Yamaha HS7's.
The stands that i see advertised seem to be pricey for what they actually are.
Worth it?

[drumsound]

I'm a firm believer in the Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers. They aren't cheap, but they make a WORLD of difference.

[thepsychedelicdollhouse]

I'm a firm believer in the Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers. They aren't cheap, but they make a WORLD of difference.

Thanks for the tip. Regarding price, you're not kidding.

[digitaldrummer]

I tried some cheap foam (like the mopads but not the name brand) and was not impressed (sounded worse). I would like to try the recoil but will be very disappointed if I spent that much dinero for nothing. So what I have is a layer of bricks (sitting on 2 sidecar racks) and then a layer of that thin foam shelf-liner and the monitors on top of that. My thinking is that the bricks make a very solid base (so it's not just wiggling around) and then the foam just isolates it a bit. it sounds better than if I don't have this in place, but I probably need to get some real iso pads... hell I probably need some real monitor stands. but I get by.

[Scodiddly]

So the argument is either that you need your monitors essentially floating in space, or you need them anchored to the bedrock? I've heard arguments both ways.

I do know that at somebody's studio a few years ago we tried some of those foam pads that have the heavy steel plate on top, and it did seem like there was better low end with them.

[drumsound]

I'm a firm believer in the Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers. They aren't cheap, but they make a WORLD of difference.

Thanks for the tip. Regarding price, you're not kidding.

I tried some cheap foam (like the mopads but not the name brand) and was not impressed (sounded worse). I would like to try the recoil but will be very disappointed if I spent that much dinero for nothing. So what I have is a layer of bricks (sitting on 2 sidecar racks) and then a layer of that thin foam shelf-liner and the monitors on top of that. My thinking is that the bricks make a very solid base (so it's not just wiggling around) and then the foam just isolates it a bit. it sounds better than if I don't have this in place, but I probably need to get some real iso pads... hell I probably need some real monitor stands. but I get by.

So the argument is either that you need your monitors essentially floating in space, or you need them anchored to the bedrock? I've heard arguments both ways.

I do know that at somebody's studio a few years ago we tried some of those foam pads that have the heavy steel plate on top, and it did seem like there was better low end with them.

I reviewed the Recoil Stabilizers for a website years ago. It was the offshoot of Front End Audio when Warren from Zen Pro was still there.

What I did was mono summed the CD player to two channels so I could easily switch sides, while I had one monitor on the Recoil and the other on the rubber erasures I was using to isolate them from my wood stands.

I figured there would be a lot of "I think I hear this or that," but instead immediately heard the difference in clarity. I thought I'd listen for a while and then put both monitors on the Recoils and go about listening and then working. Instead, after one song, I put the other monitor on one, and listened to music for the rest of the day.

I have them under my new monitors and am still a big fan. This time I used cinderblocks to build monitor stands and I'm still a fan of the Recoils!

[numberthirty]

I'd like you to share thoughts on foam stands.
I've got a pair of Yamaha HS7's.
The stands that i see advertised seem to be pricey for what they actually are.
Worth it?

While I get this being the gut reaction?

I tend to think about it like a more "Pricey..." set of guitar pickups. It always seems like a lot of money for what it is until I finally heard a really great set of pickups that were not exactly cheap.

Also...

I get the feeling that no one would really flinch at the idea of a "Pricey..." microphone or microphone preamp possibly being worth it for what it is.

You go to something a little bit more "Ho Hum..." like a microphone stand or this?

Folks seem like that is where they want to get "Well, but..." Sometimes something is on the "Pricey..." side because it does a really good job at solving a particular issue.

[thepsychedelicdollhouse]

I'd like you to share thoughts on foam stands.
I've got a pair of Yamaha HS7's.
The stands that i see advertised seem to be pricey for what they actually are.
Worth it?

While I get this being the gut reaction?

I tend to think about it like a more "Pricey..." set of guitar pickups. It always seems like a lot of money for what it is until I finally heard a really great set of pickups that were not exactly cheap.

Also...

I get the feeling that no one would really flinch at the idea of a "Pricey..." microphone or microphone preamp possibly being worth it for what it is.

You go to something a little bit more "Ho Hum..." like a microphone stand or this?

Folks seem like that is where they want to get "Well, but..." Sometimes something is on the "Pricey..." side because it does a really good job at solving a particular issue.

Regarding the Recoil Stabilizers, your point is well made.
I was originally referring to the vast majority which, according to most reviews, don't really work and are basically pieces of standard foam that you can buy in a hobby shop. Maybe I'm wrong about those, too.

[digitaldrummer]

I was originally referring to the vast majority which, according to most reviews, don't really work and are basically pieces of standard foam that you can buy in a hobby shop. Maybe I'm wrong about those, too.

you are not wrong about those. I think you have to have the "mass", or in the case of the recoil, the heavy steel plate. in my experience, the foam only blocks just made the low end very smeary and caused more ringing in the sub lows (there is another thread where I posted a bunch of measurements from Room EQ Wizard and I think one of them showed this - so it wasn't just my ear's opinion)

[trodden]

I use the thicker rubber mouse pad under mine.

[Scodiddly]

My boss had this whole DIY system he described to me years ago. I should dig out the bits and set that back up to see if I notice anything.

Basically it was a stack with a vinyl tile on the bottom, a really hard ceramic floor tile on top of that, and then sometimes three glass beads on top of that. The vinyl tile is soft enough to absorb something, the ceramic tile did something else, and then the beads to allow the monitor to move freely.

[vvv]

I almost went to get the Recoils based on this thread but then, always dangerous, I got to thinking:

They'd likely do better than the 3" stack of acoustic foam wall tiles with car rear carpeted heavy-duty rubber floormats atop my desk.

But - I have 3 monitors stacked so how would I isolate the ones above better to make sense of the $?

Currently the Auralex and floor mats to Tannoy PBM6.2's, to some cheap foam speaker stands to Auratones, then rubber coasters to some Monoprice crossoverless 5" 2-ways.

I mean, I think I would be kinda wastin' the dosh ...

Why, I could buy one of those cheap MonoP U87's in the other thread.

[jrmastering]

In a few of my studios I was given the foam monitor stands and stabilizers for free, I used different combinations. Used them for years. I changed studios and forgot to use them, for at least a year. Just speakers and metal stands. During that time I mastered several songs that were on the radio in Europe and charted Billboard, with nothing under my speakers. I didn't even notice the foam and springs were missing until after a year. My point - FOR ME, there was no difference with or without it. Hearing the songs and results, same thing. I later found the speaker foam and springs and just threw them all out.

[thepsychedelicdollhouse]

In a few of my studios I was given the foam monitor stands and stabilizers for free, I used different combinations. Used them for years. I changed studios and forgot to use them, for at least a year. Just speakers and metal stands. During that time I mastered several songs that were on the radio in Europe and charted Billboard, with nothing under my speakers. I didn't even notice the foam and springs were missing until after a year. My point - FOR ME, there was no difference with or without it. Hearing the songs and results, same thing. I later found the speaker foam and springs and just threw them all out.

Thanks, John. Appreciated.