Platter mat preferences!

TLi

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2016
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No mat's for me please.
Actually, there’s no such thing as no mat. The record has to be placed on something, may it be acrylic, aluminium or rubber. There bounds to be a material that contacts the record.

Different contact material has different sound. That’s all.
 
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Yeti

Well-Known Member
Dec 25, 2020
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I’m trying the other Herbie's mat, the “Way Excellent 2” at the moment on my Artemis in place of the hard acrylic one that came with it. The results are predominantly positive with more resolution and a better piano tone, particularly if I dispense with the 100g puck that benefits the acrylic mat. Timing doesn’t seem to have been thrown off at all..
There is a wide range of sizes available which works for me as the Artemis platter has a recess for the mat 3.2mm deep with an outside diameter of 292mm and an inside one of 105mm. Herbie’s were able to supply a size to fit wirh a thickness of 4.5mm, close to the 4.4mm thickness of my acrylic mat.
One Rega turntable owner, who moderates another forum I frequent, posted that the Herbie’s mat was a disaster on his P10 but worked well on his Thorens 124, after I’d ordered it I might add, so maybe it’s quite deck dependent.
 

Republicoftexas69

Well-Known Member
Actually, there’s no such thing as no mat. The record has to be placed on something, may it be acrylic, aluminium or rubber. There bounds to be a material that contacts the record.

Different contact material has different sound. That’s all.
There is no mat on my platter??
 

Bbock

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2022
150
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Illinois
One Rega turntable owner, who moderates another forum I frequent, posted that the Herbie’s mat was a disaster on his P10 but worked well on his Thorens 124, after I’d ordered it I might add, so maybe it’s quite deck dependent.
I’m using the Herbie’s mat on my P10 and really enjoy it. What mat is to his liking?
 
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Yeti

Well-Known Member
Dec 25, 2020
113
82
93
France
I’m using the Herbie’s mat on my P10 and really enjoy it. What mat is to his liking?
A Way Excellent or a grunge buster? We were discussing the Way etc and the comment was that it made his Rega sound leaden and disjointed in the bass. I think he uses the Rega mat. I’m not finding the bass disjointed on the Artemis, though it does go deeper.
 

Bbock

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2022
150
156
50
Illinois
A Way Excellent or a grunge buster? We were discussing the Way etc and the comment was that it made his Rega sound leaden and disjointed in the bass. I think he uses the Rega mat. I’m not finding the bass disjointed on the Artemis, though it does go deeper.
I’m using the Way Excellent. I’m not noticing any issues with bass integration. I feel it is a little more articulate and a touch deeper.
 

Hi-FiGuy

Member Sponsor
Feb 23, 2015
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I’m trying the other Herbie's mat, the “Way Excellent 2” at the moment on my Artemis in place of the hard acrylic one that came with it. The results are predominantly positive with more resolution and a better piano tone, particularly if I dispense with the 100g puck that benefits the acrylic mat. Timing doesn’t seem to have been thrown off at all..
There is a wide range of sizes available which works for me as the Artemis platter has a recess for the mat 3.2mm deep with an outside diameter of 292mm and an inside one of 105mm. Herbie’s were able to supply a size to fit wirh a thickness of 4.5mm, close to the 4.4mm thickness of my acrylic mat.
One Rega turntable owner, who moderates another forum I frequent, posted that the Herbie’s mat was a disaster on his P10 but worked well on his Thorens 124, after I’d ordered it I might add, so maybe it’s quite deck dependent.
Herbies was no bueno on my Rega, acrylic was the way to go.
 

Bbock

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2022
150
156
50
Illinois
Herbies was no bueno on my Rega, acrylic was the way to go.
What acrylic mat are you using? Is this going over the ceramic platter?
 

Hi-FiGuy

Member Sponsor
Feb 23, 2015
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What acrylic mat are you using? Is this going over the ceramic platter?
 

Stelly

Well-Known Member
Jun 6, 2020
6
2
68
59
The Hanenite mat from Naigai Rubber Industry Co. LTD in Japan (offered by Tokyo Soundproofing as the Ultima Turntable Mat THT-291) is an easy recommendation for high mass systems utilizing underdamped platters. Also works great without additional weights or clamps. ~ 5mm thick & 291mm diameter.

I like the 5mm Achromat for lightweight suspended platters.
 

Bonesy Jonesy

Well-Known Member
Jan 3, 2017
682
508
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UK & Spain
I’m trying the other Herbie's mat, the “Way Excellent 2” at the moment on my Artemis in place of the hard acrylic one that came with it. The results are predominantly positive with more resolution and a better piano tone, particularly if I dispense with the 100g puck that benefits the acrylic mat. Timing doesn’t seem to have been thrown off at all..
There is a wide range of sizes available which works for me as the Artemis platter has a recess for the mat 3.2mm deep with an outside diameter of 292mm and an inside one of 105mm. Herbie’s were able to supply a size to fit wirh a thickness of 4.5mm, close to the 4.4mm thickness of my acrylic mat.
One Rega turntable owner, who moderates another forum I frequent, posted that the Herbie’s mat was a disaster on his P10 but worked well on his Thorens 124, after I’d ordered it I might add, so maybe it’s quite deck dependent.

I used the Herbie Audio Lab's 'Way Excellent II Turntable Mat 2mm / 295mm full-size' when I had my Rega P10 With Apheta 3 and it was a big improvement in sound over both the standard Rega felt mat (which was a major duct catcher) and no mat all i.e. a much better and deeper bass (which the P10 lacks), wider sound stage, taming the treble (which on the P10 although great clarity sounds digital sounding) and overall better musicality in particular the music not sounding as flat across the frequencies. It also helped a lot with static which I found my P10 to be like a dust magnet !
 

Bonesy Jonesy

Well-Known Member
Jan 3, 2017
682
508
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UK & Spain
I’m using the Herbie’s mat on my P10 and really enjoy it. What mat is to his liking?
I had the same experience (just sent a post on my experiences with the Rega P10).
 

Bonesy Jonesy

Well-Known Member
Jan 3, 2017
682
508
230
UK & Spain
A Way Excellent or a grunge buster? We were discussing the Way etc and the comment was that it made his Rega sound leaden and disjointed in the bass. I think he uses the Rega mat. I’m not finding the bass disjointed on the Artemis, though it does go deeper.
This wasn't my experience with the Herbie Ay Excellent Mat on my Rega P10...in fact quite the opposite (just sent a post on my experiences on this subject).
 

mtemur

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2019
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I tried many mats with La Platine Verdier and settled on Concert Fidelity Shin’en mat. I prefer it over Zanden TPM-1 mat which I also have. I haven’t tried Steinmusic’s top of the line mat yet which looks promising.
 
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Bonesy Jonesy

Well-Known Member
Jan 3, 2017
682
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UK & Spain
Has anybody tried an after market mat on their Kuzma XL DC and found it an improvement over the original Kuzma XL DC permanently installed / fixed platter mat ?
 

Stelly

Well-Known Member
Jun 6, 2020
6
2
68
59
I tried many mats with La Platine Verdier and settled on Concert Fidelity Shin’en mat. I prefer it over Zanden TPM-1 mat which I also have.
Curious where I can find info on the Concert Fidelity (VDM? or VTS?) shin’en mat? Seems interesting. Fairly certain the Zander TPM-1 is the same referenced Hanenite mat as used by Luxman these days.
 

Chop

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2020
241
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England
I tried many mats with La Platine Verdier and settled on Concert Fidelity Shin’en mat. I prefer it over Zanden TPM-1 mat which I also have. I haven’t tried Steinmusic’s top of the line mat yet which looks promising.
FWIW, I have been using a Puresound gunmetal mat for a few years on my Verdier and love it.
 
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mtemur

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2019
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Curious where I can find info on the Concert Fidelity (VDM? or VTS?) shin’en mat? Seems interesting. Fairly certain the Zander TPM-1 is the same referenced Hanenite mat as used by Luxman these days.
unfortunately it’s discontinued.
 

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