Platter mat preferences!
- Thread starter Johnny Vinyl
- Start date
That Clear Audio mat is very similar indeed.
Do you use a record clamp with it?
What table do you have?
That is interesting Barry. I think the platter of my SME 30/12 is basically "a coated aluminum plate". There is a scrolled layer of some damping material, perhaps similar to Isodamp, adhered to a nicely machined aluminum platter.
Some find the SME turntables to lack energy or sound a bit dark or dull. Others think they sound more neutral. Having only done two direct comparisons with vintage Japanese DD turntables, I don't really know.
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UPDATE:
The two record approach sounds awesome but I ran into a rumble snag on the first track of several LP's.
As feared the height of two stacked records was not a perfect height match to the original rubber mat, caliper measurement of 3.5mm confirmed this.
Adding to complexity is the small platter recess for the mat whereas the records ride on the bare metal rim.
All said the result of minor height discrepancy was random almost violent lateral oscillation when put on the blank anti-skating track of a Cardas test LP.
I resolved the situation by placing a super heavy and almost twice as thick 78 album on the aluminum platter, bonded with 3 pea sized balls of Duct Seal on the lable to control resonance. One album buzzes less and has better bonding over two as well.
I also put a screw driver to the screw on the anti-skate plate on my old Dual TT and although it did not turn seemed to steady the anti-skating so much That I almost did not change to the 78 sub disc.
Beware of rumble and anti-skating issues when trying mats of differing thickness.
If your turntable tonearm has a VTA adjustment do not forget to use it.
If you have no VTA, then measure before and after to mate/match heights as close as possible.
The two record approach sounds awesome but I ran into a rumble snag on the first track of several LP's.
As feared the height of two stacked records was not a perfect height match to the original rubber mat, caliper measurement of 3.5mm confirmed this.
Adding to complexity is the small platter recess for the mat whereas the records ride on the bare metal rim.
All said the result of minor height discrepancy was random almost violent lateral oscillation when put on the blank anti-skating track of a Cardas test LP.
I resolved the situation by placing a super heavy and almost twice as thick 78 album on the aluminum platter, bonded with 3 pea sized balls of Duct Seal on the lable to control resonance. One album buzzes less and has better bonding over two as well.
I also put a screw driver to the screw on the anti-skate plate on my old Dual TT and although it did not turn seemed to steady the anti-skating so much That I almost did not change to the 78 sub disc.
Beware of rumble and anti-skating issues when trying mats of differing thickness.
If your turntable tonearm has a VTA adjustment do not forget to use it.
If you have no VTA, then measure before and after to mate/match heights as close as possible.
try the acrylic mat from Hudson music in my previous post. its $20.00, what have you got to lose. it doesn't mess with VTA very much or at all on most tables, it has label relief so the record lays flat. its not ugly.
https://www.hudsonhifi.com/collections/high-fidelity
Oh, I see they make some cork and rubber ones too. This is what George Merrill and his PolyTable use, and I do not get it. I mean he makes a whole table out of vinyl then changes it at the record contact point? He must know what he is doing.
My rumble issue turned out to be a dirty volume control on my subwoofer. However it forced me to look carefully at the rim contact and raised lable areas, almost went out to the shed where my router and thin sheet plastic is. Just too darn cold today, it was snowing.
Anyway, I juiced up (cleaned and oiled) a Technics SL-3200 with Grado Black and got it running, be it slightly fast. Right out of the gate was doing everything I was laboring to do with the Dual.
The Dual draws you in with fresh tempting fruit. The Technics direct drive bashes that fruit with a baseball bat and gets it all over you.
I'm going to have fun with these two side by side and tweaking them each to best the other.
I will pass on the Hudson acrylic as I favor the Clear Audio one, but have to find where it's sold in the USA.
After many various mats I have settled on the music hall aztec blue mat, it's a 3 piece cork mat that really brings out the bass and cleans up the highs so they are not tinny sounding or shrill. aztec blue mat — a resonance isolating turntable mat by music hall
After experimenting with many materials my all time favourite is
https://oswaldsmillaudio.com/mat
the Oma graphite mat!
https://oswaldsmillaudio.com/mat
the Oma graphite mat!
Yes my Simon Yorke mat was graphite--was superior to my previous fav the French Spectra.
BruceD
Strange. The buzz I have read always indicated that some thought they were a bit stark and edgy. I have never found mine to match any descriptions I have heard on the negative side.
I have eschewed the screw on clamp (never liked it, never wanted large screw-on forces on fatigue-able metal) for a 2Kg machined passive brass weight and the washer for a thin leather mat. Sounds great to me, and I can change records without turning the turntable off and on. The weight pretty much solves any spindle sticking problems, and I can twirl it for the start up boost by hand when required. I did have to re-adjust the pillars for the extra weight.
I put the Audio Tekne carbon “mat” on my CSPort TAT2M2 yesterday. Has anyone else ever used it? At 10mm thick it’s almost like a sub platter. The spindle needs enough length to accommodate it and your arm height adjustment too. The change is not subtle!
Attachments
The center weight, mat, headshell, and cartridge are all Audio Tekne and made from his proprietary carbon material.
Nice.
I think when we talk about 'carbon' having one type of sound or another, it can be a very broad topic ( material specs, how produced etc.)...
I think when we talk about 'carbon' having one type of sound or another, it can be a very broad topic ( material specs, how produced etc.)...
I replaced a cork mat on an acrylic Groovetracer platter with Herbies Grungebuster mat. It was a substantial improvement. The record played directly in the platter was clearly inferior to both mats although is is commonly suggested as the best use of this platter type. Also I use a small carbon fiber grounded static neutralization arm. It is quite astounding how this combination of mat and static neutralization device result in reduction of noise.
