Mat for Rega P10

FYI- I started a new mat discussion last week looking for other alternatives because the dirt accumulating on the white part of Herbie’s mat was bothering me and I had to keep taking it off and wiping it down, so I thought maybe the static issues with my Rega mat would disappear with the humidity of the summer. I tried it and although it still lifted off when flipping the records, I thought it sounded slightly better than Herbie’s, kind of like bypassing tone controls even when they’re set  at 12 o’clock.

After all was said and done I made the smallest yet impactful investment in my stereo ever:$2,97 for double sided scotch tape, and put 6 1” strips at the edges of my platter and put the Rega thick mat back down. Doesn’t budge and I’m happy. Sold the Herbie’s on US AM in an hour for $50.

At the end of all of this, I think if the TEAC Washi mat was not quite as large, it wouldn’t come up with records off the platter, and that mat sounded as good as or better than the Rega.

I think the price of the Stein mat is ridiculous and a friend of mine tried it on his P10 and thought it was a giant rip off. Maybe as good as the Rega.

Roy Gandy knows what he is doing.

I'm now using the Teac Washi mat with my Planar 8 and I no longer have any static issues or mat lift issues. It's roughly the same size as my platter (which is smaller than a record) so I don't understand why people are having issues picking up the mat with the record given the record overhangs about a 1/4 inch. 

If I hadn't blown my money on a Planar 8 before I read the review about the Stein Perfect mat being equal to $10k component upgrade I would have kept the Planar 2 and gone that direction. Missed opportunity I suppose. 

@guy-incognito you are joking, right, $10K component upgrade for $650 in a mat?

$$ spent on a P8 is not “blown”. IMHO it is the best value at its price point be a lot. The arm alone is almost worth the price. It is fantastic.

too bad my Washi mat kept coming up- I guess it was static and not size, but I seem to remember it being hard to get the record up without the mat, and I didn’t think it was static. Oh well...

I think it may have been slightly thinner than my thicker Rega mat (not standard issue I don’t believe), I think I kept it from my old P5 when I bought the special mat, or the P8 came with the upgraded one. Not sure.

How about a Ringmat?

If I remember correctly, that also had to be glued to the platter, which is what I was originally trying to avoid. If I was going to tape or glue something down, I might as well keep the Rega mat.