Turntable Mats: Rubber, Felt or Cork.

Chakster your an a$$ hole!!! I’ve been a member here over 15 years and only have 200 post and one of the reasons is I don’t want to deal with people like you. A lot of people prefer the Basic to the Axis. I own the Axis it makes wonderful music for its entry price.

Am i dealing with you anyhow ? Slaw turned this thread to advertising of his mat that he is selling, well ok. I just posted many different mats as an alternative to his DIY stuff. I posted ONLY mats that i bought and have been using myself for a long time, the latest was Sakura THE MAT.

What’s the deal ? I’m not dealing with you anyhow in anyway. But may i ask what is your useful information left on this forum in 15 years? Do you think your comment will help someone to find the right mat ?

This thread is about MATS (there are many) and not just one mat that slaw is selling, can you dig that ? Basic or Axis, personally i prefer Direct Drive and this is my opinion, yes.

The Linn Basik is NOT awful. Could you please try to open your mind up to those of us who are not "cost is no object" members!

My philosophy is quite opposite (i do not buy expensive stuff), i paid $1000 for my Luxman PD-444 and about $700 for Denon DP-80, no more than $1200 for Technics SP-10 mkII and every tonearm used on them are no more than $1500 max. My favorite cartridges are no more than $800 (most of them).

This is what you call "cost no object" ? You’re wrong!

For a $2500 turntable some nice $250 mat is quite reasonable, don’t you think so ? But i’m not selling Sakura Systems mats and i do not work for them (i live in Russia), i paid for Sakura The Mat myself (in fact i bought two of them) ! And even more for better mats like Micro and SAEC, highly recommended!

There were many reviews of the Basik/LVX table paired with a Shure V15 that declared it the best value in high end (for that time) audio. Even if the Basik was awful(NOT); the idea that a freakin mat could resolve all it’s IMAGINED faults is just bull SH!t. Repeat BULL $HIT!

Who said the mat will solve the weakness of belt drive turntable ? :))
But i can’t recommend BAD mat, no matter what turntables, please try to understand. $250 for a nice mat like Sakura The Mat is even cheaper than nearly same mat from Boston Audio with rave reviews online.

Freaking mat is this, it looks so funny that a 10 year old kid could cut it better, but it’s $49 DIY from Slaw (similar price for a nice original Japanese pressing LP that i would buy instead).

cut it out please!
that’s just plain mean and vindictive especially as you have not even tried one.
your personal thoughts are just that.
shame on you!

I tried those Linn in local high-end shops long time ago, not impressed as with many similar belt drive turntables, what do you want me to say ? My opinion, yes. You’re free to post yours and i do not ask you to post what i like, but we like different things, so what ?

I never supported the idea to buy mediocre cartridge (for example) if the turntable is mediocre. I think it’s always good to upgrade stuff, no matter mat or cartridge, or tonearm, or turntable. In which order user can upgrade them doesn’t matter, what is important is final result in upgrade. So people can start with the mat, why not. Normally we upgrade everything after all, this is the nature of the hobby.

*************

P.S. Answering the OP’s question "Rubber, Felt or Cork?" i would say Gunmetal, Aluminum or Cabron Graphite!

I'm fortunate that most people see the unsolicited/uncalled for anger displayed by chakster for what it is.

Chakster
I was referring to you slagging off member Slaw.
Which you know full well but you decide to play dumb instead.
Which you most definitely are not.
But no you chose to blithely ignore the true meaning of all of the posts directed towards you.
Have a great day

A person I know used to have the tag line, "different is easy, better, not so much" I suspect this can apply to mats also. 

I bought my third table second hand, its a base model Brinkmann Bardo, I put an Audiomods Series Six arm on it and an Ortofon A90. 

Brinkmann has an upgrade for their table where they have an integrated glass fiber mat, the base model has an integrated acrylic mat. Previous owner included a carbon fiber mat from TTW in this purchase. I used the table with the mat in place, and it indeed did sound nice, but the sound was a bit restrained, and I was honestly thinking it was the Ortofon.

Well yesterday I did two things. I removed the carbon fiber mat in order to evaluate the table in pure stock form, which is what I should have done to start with. The sound was far more immediate and present. I then installed 4 magnetic lev feet, these happen to be the Ebay sourced ones, so nothing terribly expensive. Once the table was balanced, I went through music and the level of resolution and transparency took off. To be honest the sound exceeded my expectations of what I thought this combination would be capable of. The sound is absolutely captivating, this is supposed to be my casual listening table, but its come to  point where it could be as good as anything I own. 

Guess the point is that not every mat is an improvement, even an expensive high tech one. 

It has been useful and is helping me conclude Which mat will satisfy my audio taste. Many thanks to all of you.