Acoustic Revive RTS-30 platter mat & Origin Live Gravity One LP puck

Just a heads up on a couple of additions I'm finding fascinating positives with.
I have a heavily modded Trans Fi Audio Salvation rim drive TT. Serious mods to it have included a Permali/aluminium sandwich plinth with Stacore footers, and a SOTA Eclipse motor using Farad Superconductor on Condor controller, and Roadrunner speed tach. All on a Stacore Advanced isolation platform.
These upgrades have banished a persistent negative I had, a grey/grainy tonal colouration that pervaded all LP playback to the point of serious curtailing of transparency, most notable in jazz and classical.
However one coloration that has also been a bit sticky has been a certain hardness or aggressiveness to my sound that I've struggled to ameliorate, most evident on solo piano.
On visiting Montesquieu/Tom to hear his superlative modded Thorens 124 idler, he commented he had trialled the mat I was using, Reso Points made of Delrin which "suspend" the LP a half inch above the platter, effectively undamped, the record sitting on ten minimal contact points.
Designer Vic believed this to be preferable to clamping and damping the LP.
On hearing Tom's excellent sound, and that he found the Reso Points to be too "excitable" a sound, backed up by his HQ Audio platter mat review, my curiosity piqued.
I was going to go his route of the HQ, but a recent price rise dissuaded me.
My idea was then to a/b the Hexmat Eclipse and Origin Live Strata mats.
However, a midnight stroll thru Google dug up this Acoustic Revive mat, and my plan was then for a three way comparo.
As things turned out, the Acoustic Revive was *so* impressive, and *so* achieved what I was hoping for it, thoughts on a wider comparo evaporated.
So, what is this RTS-30 mat? Well, Acoustic Revive website says it's a silica-infused rubber-type mat, flexible not hard, medium weight at just shy of 400g.
It seems to have its own take on vibration management.
Despite comments that it overdamps and oversoftens the sound, I find no loss of dynamics, a smoothness where before I had borderline harshness, especially on percussive solo piano.
Maybe for some that smoothness would be a loss of bite or energy, but I'm not getting that.
Caveat, I'm coming off a mat that as Tom confirms is overly excitable, too edge of seat.
This new mat feels controlled and communicative.
Many more nuances, speed maintained, bass sure footed and super articulate.
Calm, expressive, warm and open, sums my verdict.
--
Ok, I've now thrown in (more accurately, thrown on) the Origin Live Gravity One LP puck. Puck is the best description, at well under 100g, it's the polar opposite of the heavyweight stabilisers out there.
Fascinatingly, it's feather light, and only the central part of it contacts the LP. It seems to have an internal "loose leaf" construction (rattles when you shake it).
Not sure what I was expecting, but it's a total joy.
It seems to really enhance openness, ambience and air, and like the mat it takes another level of harsh edginess out of my sound.
Totally brilliant at highlighting a sweet, layered top end and upper mids in my sound, the mat working more in the lower mids and bass.
--
Have I totally banished my aggressive edge on piano? No, I'm sane enough to know that my TT has characteristics specific to it.
But the mat and puck go *way further* than I had reasonable expectations of, and for less than £600 combined, a no brainer in my system.
All I'm considering now, beyond a mandatory Record Pi LP flattener purchase, is a newly made up Cardas Clear copper tonearm wire, to compare with my Zavfino silver, but the reasons for getting this are hugely addressed by this mat and puck, I may not bother trying copper wire.
One of the best decisions I've made as I reach the end of my decade long journey to squeeze as many lemons from my LP playback.

Thanks Barry, appreciated.

Tom, the system is now performing at a sufficiently high level that it's all about the nuances. And the OL puck really helps reveal a lot of info to boost overall musicality.
It's been a real suprise, based on its 67g feather lightness and fact that only part of it contacts the LP.
A little goes a long way.

It's been brought to my attention the Acoustic Revive mat is infused with Tourmaline and releases negative ions as the platter spins.
I believe this is mentioned in the advertising blurb from the company.
I have zero idea if this is contributing to the positive outcome I'm getting from this mat, but it seems a cool concept.
Can't say I'm noticing any static issues at all when playing LPs on this mat.
The mat remains a really great addition to my sound, along with the Zavfino-1877 copper armwire and Alphason Audio cartridge stabilizers in my tonearm, I've pretty much banished a major shortcoming of my TT sound, a previous intrusive grey/grainy tonality and tendency to harshness especially on solo piano.
Really ameliorated in so many ways, only occasionally draws attention to itself, in comparison to the best TTs that I've heard.
A year into using this mat and puck, it remains a delight album to album.
I may compare it to a new mat that's just been released, the Hexmat Absolute.
I wanted to try Hexmat to compare with the Acoustic Revive, but the previous model was too thin at 3mm.
The Absolute is 7mm thick, and thus is now a practical possibility in my system.

Fascinating discourse on what is unique to this particular platter mat. I wonder if this property of releasing negative ions is contributing majorly to the serene SQ resulting?

Concur with your findings. The AR mat certainly favours a dense presentation, but as you say at no detriment to higher frequencies.
For me it's been a critical part of taming or ameliorating a certain hardness or graininess in my sound.
There's a touch of mellow in the new sound, but LPs with great dynamics seem more dynamic than ever.
Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers is a case in point, the AR mat really imbues his drums with verve and space.
One thing I've learnt with tweaks and mods as I developed my system was to be very careful with changes that tickled my ears in one direction while worsening other aspects of the sound, or imposed a colouration that was euphonic but imbued every album with a samey quality.
IsoAcoustics Gaias footers under my Zus and the Funk Firm Houdini cartridge isolator are classic examples of initially highly positive feelings that led quite soon to dismay that sound was being homogenized. My balanced power transformer required total removal after a decade to reveal the same negative outcome about its "worth" (although this was more down to my specific install than balanced power as a concept).
I'm now very sensitive to and aware of this phenomenon. It's why I want to try one dramatically different mat to make a direct comparison, the Hexmat Absolute.
But as things stand, your positive appraisal pretty much matches mine.

mtemur said:

IMHO this is spot on description about IsoAcoustics speaker footers, cartridge isolators, isolation transformers and tweaks in general.

Click to expand...

That's maybe too broad a blanket statement. Systems are...system dependent. And within those, tweaks.
IsoAcoustics Gaias were poor in the end, but Revopods have proved amazing.
My balanced transformer was unfortunately in an install that produced losses and/or noise. A much better with audiophile breakers.
And replacing the Houdini with Alphason Audio cartridge stabilizers has been totally amazing.
I'm 100% sold on the Acoustic Revive platter mat, I just need one contrasting type of mat to compare it to for some perspective.

Suchness is a good word. Always tends to be in the low mids/bass where one can get caught out that an upgrade or tweak is doing something right, but that sameness pervades.
For me, changing from a slate plinth to one of Permali/aluminium was a case in point or getting suchness over sameness.
The aforementioned Revopods used as spkrs footers, ditto.
And now the Alphason cartridge stabilizers plus Acoustic Revive mat.
I'm not detecting any euphonic coloration in the mat at all.
In your opinion, you feel it fully passes the test for suchness?

But most platters are metal, surely? Acrylic etc is a minority choice.
Re pucks, our needs are very different here, my TT design doesn't accommodate heavy mats or pucks, I can't easily exceed 500g for mat plus puck (deffo no weighted LP damping rings are feasible).
Your Technics has got more scope for heavier mats and pucks.
I'm currently using a 67g Origin Live Gravity One puck which acts as a light (literally at 67g, and figuratively, as it "sits" on the LP, doesn't bear down on it), and adds a little to the magic of the AR mat.

I'm tempted to look at the Stack Serene Stabilizer LP puck. My only reservation is having tried audiophile footers using Tungsten for damping qualities, and found that despite some positives, a certain character was imposed.
Wary of the same outcome re the Stack.