I'm a Dummy, Tell Me About Turntable Mats

Just why do you think mats change the sound? Could it be because they dampen the record in differing ways? If so would they be dampening some sort of resonance? Where would you guess that is coming from?

I knew I would get this type of response as I was typing what I typed. Substitute "deaden" for "dampen" and I can answer your question. Too heavy of a platter vis a vis the motor and bearing deadens the sound because of they-the motor and bearing-are over-loaded. Imagine a diesel tractor chugging up a hill with a heavy load. The same applies to adding too much weight and sound absorption with a cushioned mat and weights. 
You can insist in calling it "dampening" if you wish. Speaking of vehicles, imagine a Porsche 911 loaded up with four 350 lb occupants. Besides the grotesqueness of the mental image, would you call the driving quality-besides being blatantly dangerous-"damped" or "dead". 

I think Ralph would opt for replacing the stock G series tonearm (are they all the same tonearm, regardless of cost?) with a Triplanar, if he had his druthers.

what this discussion suggests is that most don’t like heavy floppy rubber mats, most prefer either a metal mat (copper or other) or a mat that attempts to match the energy impedance of vinyl. I have 5 TTs up and running. I use metal mats on 2, copper or SAEC SS300, and Boston Audio graphite mats on the other 3. The latter approximates vinyl. SQ is mainly sensitive to cartridge choice and tonearm, not to the particular mat. But that’s because I’ve already gone through the process of selecting mats for each, I like to think.

I’d be very interested to hear from anyone who uses a Resomat or similar.

I can’t define tracking noise but I know it when I hear it. Except I’m not even sure of that.

@lewm Make sure you turn the volume all the way down, so you can only hear the mechanical sound of the cartridge playing the vinyl. The quieter it is, the better the platter pad, in a nutshell.


@fsonicsmith  You have mis-characterized my comments about the Technics, just so you know. I think its a very good deal. But I have a Triplanar on mine, as I feel the machine's weak points are the arm and the platter pad. Equipped with the Triplanar and a very different mat, it does an excellent job in comparison to my master tapes.

@fsonicsmith  You have mis-characterized my comments about the Technics, just so you know. I think its a very good deal. But I have a Triplanar on mine, as I feel the machine's weak points are the arm and the platter pad. Equipped with the Triplanar and a very different mat, it does an excellent job in comparison to my master tapes.

It was not intentional. I have already been corrected above by lewm. I do apologize. I have no doubt that a 1200 variant with a Triplanar arm can be a David amongst the Goliaths when it comes to price/performance. That is somewhat similar to my personal philosophy and yet paradoxically worlds apart. My hot rodded vintage idlers are night and day from a modern DD but I do focus on the arm and cartridge rather than the drive. 
And more to the point I continue to disagree that mats make a significant qualitative upgrade in SQ. 
Perhaps we should have a fun well-intentioned intellectual debate about the price/performance ratio of this https://www.audiogon.com/listings/turntables-shun-mook-audio-lp-clamp-legendary-record-weight-the-be...

It was not intentional.

@fsonicsmith  I didn't get the impression is was. I just though I should point out the issue, since the 'table is quite different if you have a good arm on it.


As far as the mat goes, its pretty easy to demonstrate with nothing more than a few different mats and a turntable that you can hear differences. You don't need amps or speakers for that. What a weight or clamp brings to the 'table (if you see what I did there...) is helping to keep the LP in contact with the mat so it can more effectively control resonance in the LP. Vacuum works even better, but the vacuum system I had damaged a lot of records (ticks and pops due to dirt pressed into the grooves on the backside of the LP; this was over 20 years ago) so on that account I've stayed away from vacuum systems.


The problem as I see it is that many aftermarket platter pads are no better than the one that they replace. So you get variable results. But if you hear one that actually does what its supposed to (as I described earlier) then there is no going back.