How does original PAD's looks?

Hi.
Im new with MPC 1000, its my first sampler. Well I just bought second hand Akai and I had to fix not working buttons. After opening casing I noticed that the pads may not be original. Pads are not separate, they are connections with each other as a one big panel. Am I right? I heard that the original pads are separately and can be replaced individually if necessary. I also noticed that when I hit pad the one that is above is moving a little bit, is it normal?

Well to be honest it's not a big problem during making music but pads are not so sensitive, it is possible that they are not the original or just used..

The improved pads are on a single sensor sheet and a single sheet of rubber. You want these, not the old individual ones.

yeah, the individual ones are bad! your lucky you have the new ones, it costs around 180 to upgrade. if you had the single ones they would eventually die one by one.

and a very slow, aggravating death at that. it's not instant dead-ness, it's a pretty gradual but non-stop increase in how stupidly hard you have to mash to trigger anything.

my longstanding and vocal complaint against AKAI PROFESSIONAL's scruples and dignaty was triggered by the pad issue. it's been 9 years, and they never one publicly acknowledged a clear, demonstrable design flaw.

completely disreputable, and they've done nothing to shake this characteristic. for 9 years!! i honestly don't know who to blame anymore, their marketing team or their goddamn gullible customers.

Ok so it seems that I have better PAD's than the individuals.
What do you think about spare PADs? I've seen thicker ones made of different companies, may be better than the original?

MPC Stuff makes the thicker more sensitive pads and also different color pads, I dont believe anyone else actually makes them, they only resell his pads.

But regardless, they generally get very positive reviews - I've never tried them myself.

Yeah the fat pads.. I hear they are great on some models (like the 500 I would guess... since I dont think it can get worse) but I am still not sure how I feel about them on the 2000.. I am giving them some time to decide. (I got them from a generous forum member, because he hated them on his 2000xl) ... I might try them out on an mpc60 eventually.. and maybe an mpd as well if I decide they are not as good on the 2000 classic.

However people who put them on the 1000 seem to really like them.

Thanks alot! I will try them one day