I recently had a customer ask me whether I thought the Auralex Mopads are worth the money. Wouldn’t any old piece of foam do?
It’s a good question. Essentially the theory is if you decouple the monitors from the supporting furniture it will improve the focus and accuracy of the monitors. I have the Auralex Mopads myself, and they are a well designed products that perform as advertised. I did an experiment with different grades of foam in place of the Mopads to see if they would perform as well. I must say, it does depend on the thickness of foam and the density. It is possible to make your own, but it takes a degree of experimentation.
The one thing Auralex Mopads won’t do is influence the acoustics of your room. If you have significant room modes and low frequency problems, isolation pads will make negligible difference.