Sonic Impact Stick-On Speaker SoundPad Pair - 5029
By: Sonic Impact Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 8
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 On: 2008-03-28
These could be used as speakers in non-traditional ways (vibrate your car door panels instead of cutting holes for speakers, use your trash can for a speaker...), or you could use the them in a science project. Either way, for $20 they are fun to play with.
On: 2008-02-17
A fun project finding what these speaker pads can stick on to to turn it into a speaker. I found that my wood doors work great, but the best use is hooking it up to my sound system and attaching the speakers to the bottom of my pillow. Works Great.
On: 2007-10-02
I bought these along with my first SI 5066, but bought them for very different purposes. I figured the SoundPads would be good for either a cheap pair of auxillary speakers or a few low-tech noisehound options for the home studio (I make funny noises with scads of gear and computers when Im not teaching or listening to music). I was particularly intrigued to see if I could get a "weird" guitar speaker out of these (no, I dont use 50-watt tube amps)- havent tried them yet for that purpose, but initial results are very promising.
I "sampled" them by pushing them loosely up against various materials and items I had sitting around. If you want to make a "hi-fi" speaker, I think a small cardboard box (the corrugated variety, a little bigger than a shoebox) would be optimal and yield the most normal-speaker-like results (SI seems to agree with this, since they either make or made a pair of cardboard speakers of similar size using the SoundPads as drivers). It does, however, sound a little "boxy." Rimshot, please. No, but seriously. It sounds boxy. And cute. Larger boxes do not work very well.
I had some 1/8" thick melamine material around that resembles a dry-erase / whiteboard - was not happy with those results (a little too heavy for these to push suitably). Ended up affixing them to a piece of 20x30 foamcore split in half, based on another review here (tried a full size piece too-- slightly better bass response, but a little less loud and much more impractical).
These things do in fact get pretty loud (I can hear at least 300Hz and up throughout my house without issue). However, the bass response seems to be strongly centered around the driver, at least on most of the materials I tried. This might also vary depending on how youve set up the material (I am thinking about playing with the foamcore partially inside another box). The overall frequency response is very much dependent on where the SoundPad itself is located. I would try and mount these *suspended* with the SoundPads aligned with ear level if I was going to use them for incidental speakers and mount them to a larger chunk of material.
The sound with the foamcore on the whole is akin to an extremely loud boombox. Its midrange-heavy and a bit harsh in the room if you do not have them at ear level, but still very interesting. You can hold or suspend the pieces of foam up parallel to each other on either side of you for the worlds largest set of earphones, no earbands required. Its definitely an experience.
The only thing that makes me sad about these is they are meant to be permanently affixed to a surface-- the "attached adhesive" is not reusable. You could probably reaffix them with some care and creativity, and experimenting by simply holding them gently against a material gives you an idea of the sonic results thats approximately 85% of the way to the "affixed" result.
Poor mans Magnepans? Absolutely not. Fun? Yes. If you are looking for a $20-25 pair of utility speakers, well, you dont have many options... and these would in fact do better than most in that range (I agree with the reviewer who states that a hundred bucks would get you a better "real pair," especially on eBay armed with a little dangerous knowledge). I look forward to having some fun with these on the foamcore in the studio and think I will probably buy another pair in a couple months.
On: 2007-10-01
I bought these along with my first SI 5066, but bought them for very different purposes. I figured the SoundPads would be good for either a cheap pair of auxillary speakers or a few low-tech noisehound options for the home studio (I make funny noises with scads of gear and computers when Im not teaching or listening to music). I was particularly intrigued to see if I could get a "weird" guitar speaker out of these (no, I dont use 50-watt tube amps)- havent tried them yet for that purpose, but initial results are very promising.
I "sampled" them by pushing them loosely up against various materials and items I had sitting around. If you want to make a "hi-fi" speaker, I think a small cardboard box (the corrugated variety, a little bigger than a shoebox) would be optimal and yield the most normal-speaker-like results (SI seems to agree with this, since they either make or made a pair of cardboard speakers of similar size using the SoundPads as drivers). It does, however, sound a little "boxy." Rimshot, please. No, but seriously. It sounds boxy. And cute. Larger boxes do not work very well.
I had some 1/8" thick melamine material around that resembles a dry-erase / whiteboard - was not happy with those results (a little too heavy for these to push suitably). Ended up affixing them to a piece of 20x30 foamcore split in half, based on another review here (tried a full size piece too-- slightly better bass response, but a little less loud and much more impractical).
These things do in fact get pretty loud (I can hear at least 300Hz and up throughout my house without issue). However, the bass response seems to be strongly centered around the driver, at least on most of the materials I tried. This might also vary depending on how youve set up the material (I am thinking about playing with the foamcore partially inside another box). The overall frequency response is very much dependent on where the SoundPad itself is located. I would try and mount these *suspended* with the SoundPads aligned with ear level if I was going to use them for incidental speakers and mount them to a larger chunk of material.
The sound with the foamcore on the whole is akin to an extremely loud boombox. Its midrange-heavy and a bit harsh in the room if you do not have them at ear level, but still very interesting. You can hold or suspend the pieces of foam up parallel to each other on either side of you for the worlds largest set of earphones, no earbands required. Its definitely an experience.
The only thing that makes me sad about these is they are meant to be permanently affixed to a surface-- the "attached adhesive" is not reusable. You could probably reaffix them with some care and creativity, and experimenting by simply holding them gently against a material gives you an idea of the sonic results thats approximately 85% of the way to the "affixed" result.
Poor mans Magnepans? Absolutely not. Fun? Yes. If you are looking for a $20-25 pair of utility speakers, well, you dont have many options... and these would in fact do better than most in that range (I agree with the reviewer who states that a hundred bucks would get you a better "real pair," especially on eBay armed with a little dangerous knowledge). I look forward to having some fun with these on the foamcore in the studio and think I will probably buy another pair in a couple months.
On: 2007-06-08
These speakers are wonderful! They dont necesarily work with everything youd think they would, but when you find something they do work on, they are great. I found that they best work on pieces of cardboard. lean them up against the wall and the space between creates a mini woofer for bass. If you want a cheap but great sounding pair of speakers, these are it!
On: 2007-03-29
These little things are pretty impressive when applied to a suitable surface. They actually sound really good at lower volumes. They wont rock your house but they can produce some very nice easy listening volume. I found construction foam to be the best media to use for a sound panel.
 On: 2006-02-25
I have them hooked up to 2 of the whiteboards in the office. It is great.
 On: 2006-01-28
I dont doubt that your speaker-designer friend, if youre lucky enough to have one, can make something nice out of them. For the rest of us, theyre just for fun. Im pretty sure you can get much better speakers for $1000 a pair or even $100. These are still a good buy for $20 if you have a use for them or just to play with.
They seem to work well with cardboard boxes (such as the outer shipping container) if you want to carry them around, or with posters mounted on boards if you want to hang them on the wall.
Youll need an amplifier, of course: perhaps the Sonic Impact T-Amp. That product has been highly praised by credible sources as comparable to 4-figure equipment if you only need 5 watts or so. The speakers are not that. They are OK, cheap and delightfully silly.
On: 2005-04-01
Ive been an audiophile since the Nixon administration. I first heard about the Sound Pads from a friend who is an accomplished loudspeaker system designer. I went over to his shop the other day and sat down to listen to his latest system configuration. It wasnt quite what I was used to hearing there, but I figured hed been fooling around with his digital equalizer. He typically runs some very esoteric high frequency horns along with some enormous sub-woofers. What I was hearing was pretty good, but not quite up to his usual grade. Hanging from his ceiling next to his prototype loudspeakers were a pair of 2 foot by 3 foot pieces of foam core, the stuff that artists use. I figured he was doing some sort of acoustic room treatment with them. I was more than surprised when I went up to examine his speakers and found that they were not playing at all, but that the sound was coming from the hanging pieces of foam core!
The foam core pieces each had two Sound Pads taped to their backs. He was using two Sound Pads for each side to get more efficiency. The foam core was 1/2" thick. We talked about what materials he was experimenting with for use with the Sound Pads and it was agreed that light and stiff materials worked best.
No, this wasnt truly high end audio, but it was miles better than the usual dreck you get from places like Circuit City, Good Guys, and the like. It was good enough that I could have enjoyed myself listening to that all night. Youd have to spend a good $1500/pair for speakers that would be any better than these things!
Now mind you, the idea of hanging 2 foot by 3 foot pieces of foam core from your ceiling, and draping speaker wire along with it, probably wont go over very well with your wife. But if you do your listening in a college dorm or co-op, wood shop, auto shop, or some other less tidy environment, this could really work well for you. These things sound *GOOD*!
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