Does a tt mat really make a difference in sound ?

[conaway]

Psrjr - thanks so much for the pic ! the setup on your tt with the shure cartridge and AR headshell looks identical to mine - including the contact angle of the headshell and cartridge with the surface of the LP. I;m very happy with the 'new' sound from the new tt mat - and now believe it has to do with the contact angle,rather than the tt mat material - which makes a lot more sense to me.

next question - I have the protractor that came with the shure M97XE cartridge- how do I use it ??

I;ve set the overhang on the AR XA tt with the gauge that came with the tt - is this OK, or do I need to do something with the protractor that came with the shure cartridge ?

thanks - Jim

 

[Balifly]

Here is an interesting combination:

TTWeights Turntable Mat - TTCopper Walnut Wood


Description
This mat is in excellent condition , I am only selling because I have upgraded to the TTUltimat CopperCarbon . These copper / wood mats are soon going to be obsolete from TT's line up due to supply and cost issues . They will be replaced with an alloy that looks more like stainless but isn't as good as copper . Only the top end TTUltimat will use copper . Get it while you can .

Dimensions: 11.45 inches/290.83mm diameter x .120 inches/3.04 mm thick.
Designed for the ultimate coupling, the outer lead in edge of the LP clears the mat and the center is relieved to clear record labels and thus playing surface is coupled correctly
The spindle hole is bored to .284 inches/7.366 mm diameter
The edges are CNC chamfered, no sharp edges
Weight: 1860 Grams (1.86 KG/4.1 lbs)
Diamond Machined and sprayed with clear coat special anti oxidant | Read More


Benefits Summary
Eliminates platter vibration using a material with a high specific gravity improving tracking and stylus stability and dramatically improving the depth of sound
Copper provides beautiful full range and dynamic sound, very similar to Brass, the cartridge is reading the music grooves not the "vibrating record"
Adding High Density Mass to the platter improves the turntables ability to dampen vibration structural born vibration
The platter is flat within .002 of an inch over the entire area and parallel within .0015
The COPPER provides exceptional static grounding of the vinyl record dramatically reducing static and surface noise reduced electromagnetic interference (noise) to the sensitive stylus


This is what some people are using on their turntable!

 

[pjsjr]

next question - I have the protractor that came with the shure M97XE cartridge- how do I use it ??

I;ve set the overhang on the AR XA tt with the gauge that came with the tt - is this OK, or do I need to do something with the protractor that came with the shure cartridge ?

thanks - Jim

Yes it is, Jim, for years all I used was the gauge that came with mine and the Shure M75MG Type II cartridge.

When I installed the M97xE I used the protractor that came with it.

Check it with both and see if you can hear a difference(I couldn't)...if there is, then go with the set up that you find most listenable. Enjoy, Preston

 

[ripblade]

I suggest anyone using a deck w/ metal platter try a metal mat such as the one mentioned above. I have one on my Technics SL-110. Knocks out the platter's ringing tendency dead w/o overdamping it or the record. In fact, it improves dynamics considerably whilst maintaining correct tonal balance. Best way to kill metal resonance is with another piece of metal.

BTW, anyone thinking the RingMat is overpriced should try making one. It's not the cost of the materials but the difficulty of manufacturing it that sets the cost.

 

[Russellc]

I have been playing with metal platter damping for years. In my experience [and this has been with Dual, Philips, and Garrard only] a platter can be over-damped. Seems that an absolutely-dead platter can kill the sound, especially if capped with a full-contact mat.
But a dead platter with a spot-mat to liven things back up can work..

You gotta play.

Agreed. Too much dampening can really kill the sound goodies...

Russellc

 

[dumptruck]

The headshell on my tt appears to track completely horizontally on an LP, so I don;t really know what else I should check. overhang, according to the AR manual and protractor, is set OK.

This is correct - the headshell (or top of cart) should be level when it is playing. The other advice you mentioned finding doesn't make sense because it would have different results on different tables.

The end of the headshell has to be higher with the thicker mat, but maybe not enough to eyeball. If you make drastic changes in mat thickness, you could go too far off level for the cart to work properly, but here we are just saying that you have probably changed VTA enough to make a small difference in output.

 

[gkimeng]

AR turntables never came with rubber mats. The classic ARs used lightweight vinyl foam mats about 2mm thick. Later models from the 80's used neoprene foam mats about 2.5mm thick.

 

[gary7]

Well, I took the bait. Ordered the "Sonic Bliss" mat of the bay. Got it a few days ago. For the life of me, it looks just like the rubber shelf liner rolls at Wally World. But his is cut better than I can do. It seems a bit thicker than the felt mat I made. Tried it on several lp's on my Planar 3. Seems to mute the high end some what. Could be it's throwing the VTA of my OM 30 off with the added thickness. Was it worth it? We report, You decide.