Best Platter Mat For Linn Sondek

I always found the felt mat to be great, and whenever I substituted, I wasn't happy. Last year I did try the ExtremePhono None-felt donut mat, and after going back and forth, I thought the sound was a bit more dynamic with it. Haven't tried some of the more pricey mats.

The felt dulls the sound. Ringmat makes it too bright. The Herbie's provides the most natural, balanced sound on my LP12.

Has anyone here tried double-stick taping the felt mat to the platter? Works great eliminating distortion caused by the mat slipping on the platter. I like the Ringmat myself. Something I learned is that when you change something -- anything -- it can and usually does affect something else. By making other adjustments, i.e. speaker placement, or what-have-you, you can get the sound you want. My room is bright anyway, so I turned down the setting on my aktiv crossovers to accomodate. YMMV.

Definitely found the Ringmat to be superior to the stock felt mat, which IMHO sounds convoluted and less dynamic. Then again, I ended up swapping the Ringmat for the (much cheaper) Non-felt donut mat that showed similar strengths as the Ringmat but offered more body in the sound. Will be trying the new Boston Acoustics Graphite mat shortly, which is getting rave reviews on the Linn.

Herbie's is "Way Excellent". I am very happy with mine, and a substantial improvement over the felt.

Good listening,

Mark