Different platter mat material

Was he? What's the difference?

Very few (if any) records are sufficiently flat to make equal contact at both the centre and the outer edge. Many records are slightly concave/convex - these records will sit on the outer edge on one side and the inner edge on the other - effectively experiencing a different support structure on each side.

 

Is yours the cf disc with the little knubs to support the centre of the record?

If so, what did you decide on as a good gap between platter and record so as to keep all but seriously warped records clear of the platter at the outer edge?

I had a quick go at this last night with some bits I had to hand and was surprised by how much what I had thought a flat-ish lp was actually warped when supported in this way, ie slapped flat on the platter it looked pretty good; supported and clamped in the centre only it gave the arm a fair roller-coaster ride. Sounded fine though.

This is on a spacedeck btw and as far as I am aware Tom Fletcher always intended them to be used without a mat at all. With my last arm/cart set-up this actually worked well; changing arm was what set me off on playing with mats again.

 

Yes, it is.

Just over 3mm I think (3.12 is in my mind without checking measurements).

 

Which product is that?

 

On experimenting I prefer felt to cork. The sound With cork was bright and bass light with my setup (p25 with shure v15 mkIII with hyper elliptical stylus). I'm aware this could change with a cart swap

A worthwhile experiment, I'll pick up a new felt mat though as mines tatty and miss shaped

 

Just going back to this. Instead of replacing the felt mat for a new one I managed to pick up a used achromat and I instantly prefer it to anything else I've tried, unlike many things hi-fi its not subtle! I sourced the 3mm version as I have a rega arm and didn't want to have to mess around with vta.

Observations: With the achromat in place tapping the glass platter creates less ring than with either cork or felt. Tapping the mat itself gives a dull sound so I'm assuming there is less resonance from the platter.
Another observation is fixing the achromat in place with vasaline as recommended elsewhere brings the resonance back I prefer the sound of the mat decoupled from the platter than coupled.

The sound: As already said, its not subtle. The thing I noticed first was drums take on a real scale and speed, base in general is deeper and sharper. Separation across the the whole audio spectrum is improved making vocals clearer, more 3 dimensional and real.

Overall I'm really happy with what a simple mat change has done to the sound of my glass pattered turntable.