Turntable Mat question

What kind of turntable do you have?  What kind of platter does it have?  Why do you think you need a different mat?  What are you expecting the new mat to do?

Most of my tables have acrylic platters and I use a clamp or weight and no mat.  I have a couple of DD tables with metal platters and find that the mats that came with them work fine.  I've tried cork and also some deer skin mats.  The cork was good, the deer skin seemed to quiet things down and help with static, but also took some of the life of the music away.  In the end, I'm not using either.

That's why all the questions above.  Maybe you already have things set up well and don't need to change anything.

Here's what I like and use: Hiraoka Diskmat SE-22. MIJ. Bought it in 1977 at Harvey Sound (48th St. NYC). Cost: $20! I regret not buying several! Well, only had one TT then! It does what the mfg claims: provide the most neutral playback of LPs for any TT! I'll bet I'm the only one here with the SE-22!

@rocky1313 - I have not used a mat ever since I changed from the glass  platter on my completely rebuilt Rega Planar II - to an acrylic platter

All TT's are different and the selection of the right mat can be difficult and time consuming.

Using an album for a mat is not the best solution for the reasons pointed out above.

If you have a Rega I can suggest an acrylic platter that should work well, but I would not consider recommending you try any of the mats I have tried, simply because they did not work for me and may not work for you.

The abilities of the mat are dependent the turntable it is used on and will vary greatly from one turntable to another.

There is no "one size fits all solution", as many members on this forum can tell you.

If I were you i would repost with the make/model of your turntable in order to solicit opinions from those members with similar turntables. It will save you serious $$$ in the long run

Regards - Steve

I'll go with millercarbon on this one. Bad idea unless all your records are 200  grams. The best mat I ever used was glass plate with a thin layer of felt on top. It had a recessed center and the diameter was slightly less then a record. Dead as a door nail. SME,  Kuzma, Walker, SOTA, Basis and the Air force tables use the best record hold down systems. SOTA was the first to use vacuum. SME, Kuzma and Walker flex the record into the mat. 

It has been suggested that I post the type turntables that I have..
I have :
          Technics  SL 1600
           Pioneer PL 122D belt drive
           Yamaha P350
            Rotel RP 9400
I read this article about Mats which stated that LP Records were being used for mats and this surprised me....this is the reason for my post asking for opinions .