Anyone use a Ringmat on a TT

Ringmat was HUGE improvemtn on my Systemdek XII and (not as) HUGE improvment in my Rega 3. Seems to improve most tables- But you gotta listen & like the results

My experience is that the poorer the suspension of the table, the more beneficial the Ringmat will be. Tables that can't properly drain air-borne vibrations or lack isolation from floor-borne energy may respond positively to tweaks like the Ringmat.

The arm / cartridge tracking across a record with / without the Ringmat is kind of like someone walking across a floor that is rock solid in terms of consistent support or a floor that is "springy" due to having limited support with the supports spaced a distance apart. Obviously, one of these will be far more consistent in terms of what to expect in terms of "sure-footedness" ( tracking and vibration ) whereas the other is going to introduce variables into the equation. It is for this reason that tables that are more advanced / suffer less from microphony and smearing due to vibration induced resonances won't take too well to this type of device.

With that in mind, i would recommend avoiding the $60 - $130 expense on one of these items and investing that towards a better turntable and / or turntable installation. After all, you are talking about a piece of cardboard with a few rings of cork glued to it. I'm NOT saying that "tweaks" don't or can't work. What i am getting at is whether or not this "tweak" is really worth the money. Could you find a more effective way to combat the problems that this tries to address? Personally, I think so. Sean
>

PS... No weight to transport, no fancy packaging required, minimal outlay in terms of production materials, etc... Must be a helluva profit margin in something like this. No wonder the places selling it recommend it so highly.

I have used the Ringmat in two models for ten years on my Linn. I bought the Anniversary to move the previous Ringmat to my AR table. The Anniversary improved performance when playing very loudly a series of passages that have always had trouble. After years of improving the isolation, connections, etc. the expense was well worth the extension of performance. I would have to spend a great deal to upgrade my Linn, and I rather buy more expensive new releases.

Aceto's comments would lead one to believe that the Ringmat improved the vinyl to cartridge interface by negating some of the effects of either floor-borne vibration and / or air-borne vibration due to the increased spl levels he mentioned. This is exactly what i was getting at in my previous post i.e. the Ringmat is acting as a "band aid" for the lack of proper energy control in the turntable design and installation itself. As such, it might be a viable alternative to replacing a TT system that you already have and are already happy with, but there may be other side-effects that this "tweak" brings with it. Nothing is a "cure-all" without having some other side effects that one has to deal with. Sean
>

Sean, that makes sense about air-borne. I have good isolation from the floor. At least I think I do, because I have added a stand with legs terminating in spikes, a heavy marble slab, Black Diamond cones with their carbon graphite shelf on top, and the added Linn suspension (trampolinn?)and have seen stepwise improvement. So if the ringmat is a band-aid for the air-borne vibration, what is the non-band-aid approach? Or have I got this all wrong? Do you tink Linn has inherent design flaws that another maker has solved? I would not want to invest in a whole new rig.