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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... 
128x128noromance
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,821 posts
 
Everybody I knew dumped their rubber mat when the Audioquest Sorbothane mat came out. Then companies started exploring, as Thom @ Galibier put it, impedance matching materials like Acetal (Delrin), Graphite, even lead.
sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
Box head, I know it’s a good idea because of your reaction. 😂 😆 🤣 
boxer12
8,656 posts
 
Fair enough. You probably should just keep it then sleepy. 
pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 
Interesting: I have used a ringmat for years after trying just about everything available.

Nothing I have tried has been able to persuade me to make a change. This is probably one of the best
examples of the use of air suspension with minimal ccmtact area.
noromance's avatar
noromance OP
9,837 posts
 
@terry9 I tried the Boston graphite mat. Beautifully made but killed the sound - sucked the life out of it. Sent it back.
@sleepwalker65 Rubber sounds like rubber. Rubbery and like rubber sounds.
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