Definitely found the Ringmat to be superior to the stock felt mat, which IMHO sounds convoluted and less dynamic. Then again, I ended up swapping the Ringmat for the (much cheaper) Non-felt donut mat that showed similar strengths as the Ringmat but offered more body in the sound. Will be trying the new Boston Acoustics Graphite mat shortly, which is getting rave reviews on the Linn.
Has anyone here tried double-stick taping the felt mat to the platter? Works great eliminating distortion caused by the mat slipping on the platter. I like the Ringmat myself. Something I learned is that when you change something -- anything -- it can and usually does affect something else. By making other adjustments, i.e. speaker placement, or what-have-you, you can get the sound you want. My room is bright anyway, so I turned down the setting on my aktiv crossovers to accomodate. YMMV.
I always found the felt mat to be great, and whenever I substituted, I wasn't happy. Last year I did try the ExtremePhono None-felt donut mat, and after going back and forth, I thought the sound was a bit more dynamic with it. Haven't tried some of the more pricey mats.
It's going to be a matter of taste, and will also depend on your arm and cartridge. But I've used the felt on my LP12, the NoFelt donut mat, and Herbie's Audio Lab's Way Excellent mat, and they all sound different, and in my experience, the Herbie's wins.
I've never been tempted to swap my felt mat for anything else. The Sondek's metal platter rings, and the felt damps it fine for little money. I haven't ever encountered a consensus on another mat that worked better.
In fact, UHF magazine suggests, cynically or accurately, that other mats are usually thicker and therefore reduce the VTA. In other words, people who try them and like their sound better didn't have VTA properly adjusted in the first place.
What aspect of your table's sound would you be improving with a new mat?
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