Acrylic platter

Sorry, but the very fact that you are entertaining this expensive change in platters made me think you were entering into it with the bias that acrylic would be superior to alu. Anyway, you asked for opinions, and you got opinions. I would sooner experiment with platter mats, if for no other reason than the cost factor.

One bit of caution: you probably want to be sure that any new platter is not too far different in mass and circumference from the original, for three reasons: (1) the motor was probably chosen and tuned to move the mass of the OEM platter, (2) if the tt is belt-drive or rim drive, then the motor pulley circumference was chosen to give the correct speed when coupled with the OEM platter circumference, and (3) an excessively heavy new platter might cause premature bearing wear.

Lewm...thank you for the sugestions . I'm more inclined now to experiment with mats instead of going straight for the platter .

If the spindle is long enough I'd be more inclined to experiment with mats like TT Weights 4mm copper, Trans-Fi ResoMat, or a combination of both. These would be portable across turntables should you decide to move to a better table. With the copper mat you will hear the combined effects of platter material and increased inertial mass. The ResoMat, which uses vinyl cones to elevate the LP, may tend to minimize the effects of varying platter materials. I use and like both.

FWIW, a few OEM designers I know prefer stainless steel to acrylic, aluminum, and brass. There's a machinist advertising on Agon who makes them and may be able to help you.

It goes around and around. The original VPI platter was aluminum. Then when it was changed to acrylic, with lead insert like the aluminum one, all the critics approved. Now VPI is back to aluminum on most of their tables, without lead I think. Why? This writer can't figure it out. My guess is that it's cheaper to manufacture. Now everyone is looking for some sort of pad to put on top of their aluminum platter. Meanwhile VPI's top of the line TT remains with acrylic. Go figure.

Maybe to keep the price down on their lower end tables .