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Stacking mats on Technics SP-10R

I have a new Technics SP-10R on the way, and I'm going to need to stack several mats on it the majority of the time for purposes of centering records. I collect and restore 78s, and a good portion of them are pressed sligtly off-center. The mats need to be high enough so that the record is seated within the round part of the top of the spindle. My arm, of course, has plenty of VTA adjustment to allow for this. I'm thinking that it's probably fine to get a bunch of generic silicone rubber mats and call it a day. An engineer friend who does a similar thing said he just collected old Technics SP-10/15 mats. Would this be optimal? The goal is to keep things as neutral and undistorted as possible.

mke246
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

Wouldn't it be easier to make a jig and drill them all to be centered? 

lewm
13,732 posts
 

Sorry, I don’t get why you need to stack mats in order to correct for eccentric 78s. And most of us wouldn’t know what mat sounds best with old 78s, which I assume could be shellac. For vinyl, I definitely would not recommend the original SP10 mat(s).

billstevenson
605 posts
 

Your plan makes perfect sense.  Any generic rubber mats will do the job.

Bill

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

lewm, He has 78s with holes off-center. Stacking mats raises the record to the top of the spindle allowing him to position the record to be centered on the platter. He could drill a whole stack of them all at once and have them be centered, but for some reason prefers to mess around fussing with them one by one by hand.

I'm with fuzztone on the OL mat.

lewm
13,732 posts
 

Thanks, MC. Now I get it. He needs a nakamichi TT.

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