I was thinking of the sort of foam used by these... http://www.theinsolestore.com/insoles-store-brands/sole-custom-insoles.html?material=34

Messing around with clay every few minutes does not seem like an ideal solution...

Thanks for the input. (Maxvla, I could need that on my chinrest!)

I decided on molding, the precise 3D method of our forefathers.

Notes to the pictures:

 Several CD's was needed for sufficient stiffness, I glued them together with double sided tape.

(Who said the time of the CD was over?)

The white thing is a cement based stuff intended for small repairs ( sold as "Husfix" in Scandinavia)

The molding stuff is a polyurethane based thing called Sikaflex, sold internationally. Much better than, say silicone, because it can be sandpapered, painted etc after hardening.

(the finished pads feel a tad heavy, maybe on could add some lightweight grains to the Sika flex or smth).
The form can be re-used, needless to say.

To be continude. Follow this thread, pirates! Big question: Will the future end up in ruins or as a smashing success? Yo ho and a bottle off rum (in any case).

Thanks for the response Solderdude.

Distance to driver: I don't believe this ever has been a consideration by - practically- anybody (well, which doesn't mean it ideally shouldn't...).
 
(Think yourself in the place of a manufacturer: You will make the pads soft for comfort and make sure that the ear does not touch the driver arrangement.There is not more to it, really. There cannot be, in a way, the enormous weight placed on aesthetics nowadays. You just want the cup as flat and nice as practically possible, otherwise nobody would buy it).*

Inner walls and reflection? Well, if I find some bothersome peak in the treble, I could always try to line the walls with some absorbing material (chamonix faux leather being a favorite) to see if it helped. I could even bore lots of holes in the Sikaflex walls and fill with absobents. But OTOH the inner walls are not much exposed. The pads are made to put the drivers in angled position exactly outside the ear.

Why should there necessarily be a need for "absorption over the whole FR range"?  (Is even such a thing possible outside a large anechoic chamber?) The ESP9's are weak when it comes to bass level, I want max pressure to the (ear) drums.

Reminder: The whole idea with these (hard/firm) pads (for the old Koss ESP9)  is exact individual fit, both to the  head shape and to the ear. cheers, Olaf




*An example: If the manufacturers really cared about such small things (as "distance to ear") they would also apply some elementary rules to their products like avoiding circular shaped pads ( to avoid concentric standing waves). Now take a look around at some of the most expensive cans from the top manufacturers....

One must keep apart things (or rather see them together). The big difference measured  by different pads that you mention (up to 10 dB) will only be possible only if something is wrong in the first place: Too much regular shapes and parallel surfaces, resulting in resonances with big Q involved.  If you OTOH make pads of irregular shape, and in addition manage to reduce cavity size, you will have gone to the root of the problem.

I believe that you are over-rating the manufacturers, Solder! Had they done their jobs, there would be no need for clever modificators like Anax and Jerg and yourself.

And I am convinced that the fellow at Senn who openly suggested to reduce the 6kHz peak of the HD800 by increasing the distance by a couple of cm, say, rather would get fired at once.

Wasn't it you BTW who once suggested a nice notch filter for use with the HD800? (correct me if I am wrong). Such a thing should Senn have implemented with their top hp amp of course, if they had a tad more of common sense.