I would agree with you if I didn't hear what I hear. It isn't a brightness or an edge to the music masquerading as additional information from the grooves which you might get with what you describe. It is an opening up of the soundstage and a removal of noise and confusion. Bass is much cleaner, yet goes deeper when called for. Audience sounds are improved and dynamics more real and almost startling. The instruments take on more color with piano hammers and cymbals presenting texture where with a mat there is none. I'll give it another test tonight.
Platter mat insanity
I was doing an idler upgrade to my 401 (more anon) and when finished used the Keystrobe disk to ensure speed. I use a 10" EP as a platter mat. I played a bunch of albums and it sounded fantastic. On the 6th side, I noticed I'd forgot to remove the 4" strobe disc. Duh. I took it off and figured VTA was responsible. So I lowered the arm to see if that made it sound so good. Nope. Put back on the 4" strobe disk and raised arm. The awesome sound returned. So air under the record removed haze, smearing, flattened soundstage and muddled bass; and made it so more musical. Comments...
- ...
- 45 posts total
Looked at this critically last night. Notes: 1. The LP is not stable at all while perched on the strobe disk. Not that I don't know but as @slaw pointed out, the label recess is absent. 2. I ruled out any VTA issues for certain. 3. I removed all mats (10" EP and strobe disk) and tried 3 tiny 5mm high stone tiles between record and platter. Same result with previously noted improvements. (Music became slightly "harder" as the material suggests) 4. Rooting through the workshop, tried 3 tiny flathead brass bolts with screw heads on platter under the label, thread end up. This was quite stable and gave very good results. I am going to explore this path in more detail. |
bdp24
... It was long ago established that an LP groove being traced by a phono cartridge stylus causes the vinyl to vibrate/resonate like crazy, especially if the vinyl is suspended in the air, with no surface below it to absorb and damp that vibration ...Please tell us who you believe established this effect that you report as fact rather than theory. |
The record to platter interface is a critical design element in a turntable. While it ranks behind bearing & speed accuracy in the hierarchy of things, it does make a difference and system tastes and interactions will definitely affect your preferences. I liken the "free air" preferences to folks who prefer a little bit of reverb. There’s nothing wrong with it, but I’ve found this to be recording-specific - something I’m always wary of. Strictly speaking, you’re trying to drain as much stylus chatter (noise) as possible from the LP, into the platter and the right mat help in this regard. This is where matching the acoustical impedance comes into play. The closer the speed of sound of your platter surface matches that of an LP, the more absorption (and less reflection) you’ll have. It’s the reason we like our carbon fiber top plates (and graphite before that). It’s also the reason we’re puzzled by preferences for acrylic over PVC in monolithic platter designs, because PVC is better behaved with respect to absorbing noise from the LP. It’s not as pretty as flame polished acrylic, and many folks buy with their eyes instead of their ears, but that’s a story for another day. Cheers, Thom @ Galibier Design |
- 45 posts total