Interesting topic ddriveman....
It's so true that different platter mats all sound differently on every turntable regardless of the drive system employed, so finding the one that sounds 'the best' is a labour of love....
But one worth doing 😎🎼
Having gone through the same exercise and tested literally dozens of mats and combinations of mats (don't forget combinations 👅) I agree that the CU180 copper mat sounded wonderful on my Victor TT-101 DD deck so I can believe that the TTM Mat sounds better and that the AS SDP sounds better still....👀
The problem for me with the SDP (as you rightly say), is the fact I would have to make three new higher tonearm pods for my setup
http://i.imgur.com/JEroaY8.jpg
which would be a costly exercise as they are cast bronze 😱
In the end, even though the CU180 sounded so well on my deck, the weight of it worried me as the Victor has an electronic brake system which stops the platter 'dead'.....but it can't be adjusted for the heavy weight of the CU180.
Surprisingly....I found that using the Victor pigskin mat directly on the aluminium platter
http://i.imgur.com/OvDW2EZ.jpg
achieved a sound almost identical to the CU180 😘
I may try the TTM Mat on my Raven AC-2
http://i.imgur.com/WXRFfcK.jpg
as Acoustical Systems makes extension pieces for the Raven arm mounts to accomodate for the extended height of the TTM Mat 😀
But as you brought up platter mats.....you must also know that different headshells and their materials similarly make as much (if not more) difference to the sound.....👀
And the choices here are daunting.....
But perhaps that is a subject for another Thread....❓
It's so true that different platter mats all sound differently on every turntable regardless of the drive system employed, so finding the one that sounds 'the best' is a labour of love....
But one worth doing 😎🎼
Having gone through the same exercise and tested literally dozens of mats and combinations of mats (don't forget combinations 👅) I agree that the CU180 copper mat sounded wonderful on my Victor TT-101 DD deck so I can believe that the TTM Mat sounds better and that the AS SDP sounds better still....👀
The problem for me with the SDP (as you rightly say), is the fact I would have to make three new higher tonearm pods for my setup
http://i.imgur.com/JEroaY8.jpg
which would be a costly exercise as they are cast bronze 😱
In the end, even though the CU180 sounded so well on my deck, the weight of it worried me as the Victor has an electronic brake system which stops the platter 'dead'.....but it can't be adjusted for the heavy weight of the CU180.
Surprisingly....I found that using the Victor pigskin mat directly on the aluminium platter
http://i.imgur.com/OvDW2EZ.jpg
achieved a sound almost identical to the CU180 😘
I may try the TTM Mat on my Raven AC-2
http://i.imgur.com/WXRFfcK.jpg
as Acoustical Systems makes extension pieces for the Raven arm mounts to accomodate for the extended height of the TTM Mat 😀
But as you brought up platter mats.....you must also know that different headshells and their materials similarly make as much (if not more) difference to the sound.....👀
And the choices here are daunting.....
But perhaps that is a subject for another Thread....❓