I have now had the opportunity to Trial a Selection of Platter Mats as made known in my earlier post in this thread.
The demonstrations were limited to Platter Mats only of which a pristine condition AT 666 Mat was in the Line Up, along with a AT 677, AT 600, Tenuto 5mm and a second TT was used with a Platter Produced with a Spot Mat design.
The additional interest during this Demonstration was that Two SP-10 MkII's were to be used Side By Side and were played through the same resident System.
The TT's differed only in Plinth Materials, and one Panzerholz and was on Sorbothane Footers and the Other was Marine Plywood and on AT 616 Footers.
The Tonearms Differed one was the very latest design of a Bespoke Tonearm with a Ortofon Windfeld and the other was a Advanced Working Prototype Design for a New Tonearm to potentially become a Marketed Model. This Tonearm had the Audionote IO mounted on to it.
To keep the experience able to be maintained as comparisons between the Two TT's I brought along my Spare SP-10 MkII Platter with the Damping Material Intact. This was used once the Spot Mat had been compared in use.
The Spot Mat design when used in this new environment and through this System was quite speedily discovered to be very subdued without any projection that would be considered attractive.
When the Platter was exchanged and the 5mm Tenuto was added the Presentation came quite forward and was noticeably expansive, it was agreed instantly that this was for the better.
Keeping with the Metal Theme the AT 677 was used on both TT's and the difference between the Tenuto and AT 677 was noticed on each TT, the AT 677 had drawn the projection in a little and added a underpinning to the authority. This trait was said to be an attractor and was preferred as it was described as being a more honest presentation.
The AT 616 was put to use and the result was interesting, it resembled the Tenuto with the Sonic Trait, but was sensed to be a little bit leaner and Airy/Spacious. It certainly gave the impression of more details being presented and all listeners agreed on how noticeable this was. Where it was picked up on as being slightly off to the other mats used, was that it seemed to be artificial in comparison and not delivering the sense of honesty the AT 677 was able to create.
This experience has not deterred me from searching out a AT 666, it is a very enjoyable Mat on a DD TT.
The owner of the TT with a Marine Plywood Plinth has now got my Spare Platter the Mats used in his possession, minus the Tenuto, but I will bring my Tenuto to his home when he has selected his preferred Mat in his own listening environment, and that could even revert to the Spot Mat.
Its a Funny old game when working with these types of Interfaces.
