Turntable mats

[Nigel]

Anyone looking to try a different mat for their dearly beloved look no further,

www.analogueinnovation.com/page4.htm

Scroll down to Plattamat.

Sounds great with my LP12, reasonably priced too in the scheme of things.

[Deleted]

What differences did you notice Nigel, ive got a Linn LP12 (with Zeta arm and Koetsu Signature Red cartridge), will give one a try if you think its a worth while improvement.

[Nigel]

Definitely get one.

I was looking for a mat that gave me a halfway house between a ringmat & Linn's felt. I've been alternating between both over the last fifteen years, never quite knowing which one was better but hearing advantages & disadvantages in both approaches. Well, the Plattamat has surpassed any thoughts I might have had about it being a middle of the road compromise. Music flows as well as Linn's felt but without the smear. You have all the detail of the Ringmat but without the lack of body. Surface noise is less noticeable as well. I really think you'll enjoy it, you have a great arm & cartridge there. Email the guy he provides great service, maybe even money back if your not satisfied. But for £16 you haven't got much to lose anyway.

[Deleted]

Thanks Nigel, will give one a try, like you say for £16 must be worth a go and in the scheme of things comparatively cheap ( just spent £450 having my CD player upgraded but well worth it). Thanks again Mick.

[XTRProf]

As I can't read clearly what were written at that webpage due to the poor contrast of the words against the background, I can only say it's a cork mat from the picture. IMVHO, the acrylic mat will be much better than the cork mat as it's almost the same mechanical resistance as the vinyl and can transfer resonance energy from the record much better than thru cork material.

Anyway, both can be diyed so you can try them and give your opinions here. I had just diyed a vinyl mat from PVC material and is waiting to try it on my LP12 when I have transferred the Ittok to it and setup the TT when I have the time. I will post my diy vinyl mat picture here later.

For those wanting a great acrylic mat without the hassle of diy, try the Funk 3mm Achromat for the LP12. The 5mm version will be better if you don't use a record clamp.



Here:






Funk Achromat website here!



Review here!

[Nigel]

Get one Mick, I'd be surprised if you don't prefer it over Linn's felt.

[Deleted]

Will do Nigel, will give the guy a ring and order one this week, regards Mick,

[XTRProf]

My diy vinyl LP12 mat, mates!








Ya, I chose shiny black as I will be moding my LP12 to piano black finish when I have the time and will. This mat will be coated with a destat coating later for obvious reason.



Cheers!

[Nigel]

Are you pleased with it, does it out perform Linn's felt mat?

[XTRProf]

Aug 19, 2008 13:05:38 GMT Nigel said:

Are you pleased with it, does it out perform Linn's felt mat?

Sorry, bro. Have not tried yet as I have not transferred the Ittok to the LP12 as the armboard, in piano finish acrylic paint now, has not dried thoroughly yet. Also, have not enough time and the will to do that as well. Will report once tried and tested.

[rossman]

Just made payment for the mat today so hopefully I will have it by the weekend. I had been looking for one of these composite mats for a while so was pleased to see them available.

I have had a ringmat in the past and found it to be lacking warmth.

I have recently been using a silicone mat as supplied by Martin Bastin with a DIY anti slip drawer lining material over it to prevent the silicone mat from coming off the platter when removing records and the combination has worked very well. Over the last year I tried various DIY mats that combined layers of polymeric and felt materials as I have access to these at work but for me the silicone/DIY combination was best

First I will try replacing the current DIY mat with the Plattamat to maintain VTA.

[Nigel]

Is this for an LP12? Don't forget to let us know what you think.

[rossman]

I'll be using it on a Thorens TD160B.

[Sol]

I use a neoprene matt ... keeps detail and plenty of weight. For untimate detail I go straight on the acrylic platter .... but with some LPs it sucks like that with other's it glorious!

[rossman]

Having had a couple of extended listening sessions with the Plattamat I would say that the improvement is worthwhile.

It has brought a bit more clarity to the low and high frequencies and possibly a bit more weight to the low end. Sibilance is definitely reduced. There is not much difference in the midrange that I can hear though.

I am happy with the mat mainly because it has made a huge difference to taking record off. I always take LPs off while the platter is still turning and the Plattamat has made it so much easier without having to worry that my DIY mat was going to be lifted off at the same time the whole operation now feels much more solid and safer.

My turntable set up is fairly basic, a TD160B with standard RB250. I am hoping to upgrade the arm over the next year starting with a counterweight mod then moving onto a rewire. The mat should be better with the upgrades than the DIY mat.

I think there is still room for improvement so other options would be to get another Plattamat or use some sort of spacer between headshell and cartridge so that I only need the Plattamat without the neoprene mat underneath.

Right, I'm off to listen to Kooper/Stills Supersession

[rickcr42]

My old as dirt AR XA came with a foam rubber mat that I felt had severe problems until I tried to "better" it oprning up a real can of worms.

My experiments went to :

Cork-too harsh/stark sounding for my taste (looked like crap too so to be honest i am GLAD it sounded like sh*t )

Ring Mat-aptly named 'cause I swear I could hear my platter ringing when playing music

Felt-nice but maybe just a bit too subdued in the dynamics

TNT Janus-Ah ! now we are getting somewhere.A nice balance between dynamic,not too bright and a silent background.Problem is the original AR tonearm has no means of adjusting the VTA and the Janus is thicker than the original foam mat so the stylus angle was off...DAMMIT !

A goofy ass graphite mat (maker name escapes me it being a bad experience).No comment.

The open cell "rug slip stopper" mats that damn near ruined a couple of treasured LPs when fkn CHUNKS of the sh*t stuck to the viny

Did some "light" reading on the subject and was convinced by some knucklhead with a very persuasive argument that the disc being vinyl the platter mat should be the same or close to the same in material composition so I tried THAT and while the sound was somewhat nice there was something screwy going on that i cold never quite put words to but that in the long run I really came to dislike sooooooooo.....

Back to the foamy which by now was getting a bit "ratty" looking at the edges

What interests me here and now is I am totally 100% convinced that the way to ANY audio system damping/tuning is through the use of dissimiliar layered damping which in a nutshell means no two contacting surfaces should have the same sympathetic frequency but that should work against one another rather than in harmony and why those chunky cork and rubber footers seem to work so damn good and probably why I liked the sound of the Janus even though not workable with my table it being too thick.

Maybe this "Plattamat" with its cork/rubber melding will bring some of the cork/rubber layers type sound that I like so worth a try,especially at the price of admission which in these days of aftermarket audio "tweakery" is a bargain even if the experiment ends in tragedy as most "tweaks" do once you listen to the results over time

[canjunkie]

Took the plunge and got one of these plattamat thingies ;D

On my SystemdekII/Modded RB250/Corus setup I must say I'm mighty impressed.

It replaced the standard felt mat sitting on the glass platter. THe improvements were much along the lines of what everyone has said previously. Lower surface noise, better definition and Rossman is spot on about the reduction of top end sibilance.

John Ruggles gives an excellent service to boot, so for £16 this has got to be one hell of a bargain!

Thanks for the heads up on this Nigel.

[Nigel]

Glad you like. Yeah, you can't buy much to improve your hi-fi for £16 these days.

[guadixman]

I use a Kenwood KD 990 DD and it's original heavy composite rubber mat, there is no ringing at all, music comes from an inky silent background -90dB so this is not an issue for me. In fact most quality TTs of that period used the same type of platter mat. If you can manage to find one of these you maybe surprised.

[rickcr42]

not an option for a spring "tuned" soft suspension table like my AR which would bottom out with such a heavy mat which brings me to another "b*tch" about modern turntables.

They are mostly so into looking cool or being BIG 'N HEAVY MASS MONSTERS that they entirely forgot to add an actual suspension that can be tuned relying instead on sheer mass (either in the turntable itself or the turnatable stand but somewhere) while the AR's,the Linn's,the Oracles and the Pink Triangles have a REAL suspension,one that can be tuned and that allows one to use a low mass turntable stand.

Yes the new BIG THICK PLATTER with BIG ASS STAND tables look cool but the reliance on mass to cure all internal and external vibrational ills seems to me to be wrongheaded and if you look at what occurs in an area hit by an earthquake what is usually destroyed ?

High Mass building

What usually survives ?

Anything with "give" and that usually means low mass or some kind of buffer

Why this is important (at least in my warped little mind) is the relationship between the earthquake and the subsonic vibrations in a turntable.BOTH are purely low frequency vibrations so BOTH should have the very same requirements for eliminating the effects of that subsonic so no matter how much mass you throw at a suspensionless table there just has to be a point of either the ridiculous or diminishing returns when the solution would have been to do some damn engineering up front,something sorely lacking these days of "oh so pretty"


Purpose and form.The platter and mat are there to isolate the table from the vinvyl,the cartridge suspension from the arm,the arm from external vibration and that along with the table itself via either high mass or isolation

www.vinylnirvana.com/mechanical%20resonances%20bruel.pdf

[clausdk]

Glad I live in a non earthquake zone..

[clausdk]

On another note is it possible to sand down one of those rubber mats ?? or is that to cumbersome..

[rickcr42]

Glad I live in a non earthquake zone..

NO ONE lives in a "non" earthquake zone just "less likely" zones

As for "sanding" rubber,almost shot my mouthfull of coffee out my nose on that one.Kinda be like sanding the family pet or sanding water,not recommended

[clausdk]

You can sand rubber, you just need to do it wet and with fine grains, but it is damn hard to make it total flat.

All our tires get sanded everyday when we are out driving.

So it is not impossible just very timeconsuming.

[rickcr42]

Apr 30, 2009 21:44:33 GMT @clausdk said:

You can sand rubber, you just need to do it wet and with fine grains, but it is damn hard to make it total flat.

All our tires get sanded everyday when we are out driving.

So it is not impossible just very timeconsuming.

First guy "what do you do for a living dude ?"
Second guy "I sand rubber"
First guy "they actually pay you for that ?"
Second guy "Nope.But it keeps me out of trouble"

Actually I guess if someone was anal enough that they just HAD to sand rubber they could mount the mat on a flat board which in turn could be mounted on some type of jig so one could control the amount of sanding depth then do the actual sanding with a drum sander but man,I have to say that is making more work for at best an "iffy" project than any "normal" human would undertake and especially so when there are so many cheap "grab it and slap it on" options out there plus you need to remember that ALL platter mats produce an audible change due to the nature of the vinyl disc/platter mat material/platter material/turntable resonances and their interactions when used as a single "unit" which make a one size fits all solution just about impossible (manufacturer claims aside).

This is the reason we have so many types.What works for me may not work for you or even if it does you may not like the way it "sounds" taste also playing a role here