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Turntable mats - Is it a Ginger vs Mary Ann thing?

There are so many different approaches taken by designers/manufacturer, it's got to come down to difference in theories, beliefs and preferences.

Obviously, a rubber mat on an aluminum platter was the standard for a long time. But there's a wide spectrum on either side of that approach. We had Rega selling Planar 'tables with glass platters that had felt mats. Both of which you could argue are the opposite of the ideal, glass resonates and reflects, and felt mats don't hold the LP firmly, but allow it to slip. On the other end of the spectrum is the original Well Tempered Record player which not only didn't have a mat at all (not that uncommon in higher-end 'tables), but the platter was concave, bowl-shaped, and had a clamp that screwed the LP down into the center of that dish, effectively fusing the record to the platter.

To me, this says we're free to try whatever and see how it performs. So, try whatever, and see how it performs, keeping in mind what the designers intention was, because often I find their choices were the best to begin with.
 
Question. I noticed that most manufacturer's OEM mats are rubber with raised rings, on which the vinyl surface lies. So that the record really contacts a very small surface area. Unlike most aftermarket mats where the record contacts the entire mat surface. Wonder why that is? :idea:

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Are there any tables that the ORIGINAL mat is where to stay at ? Example Thorens 147 original mat.......
 
canton said:
Are there any tables that the ORIGINAL mat is where to stay at ? Example Thorens 147 original mat.......
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I use a Herbies Way Excellent Mat on all my Thorens tables, vastly superior to the stock Thorens mats. IMHO I use no mat on my two Clearaudio Acrylic platters though.
Regards,
Jim
 
Was always resistant to changing mats because of the thickness differences and changing the vertical tracking angle , so I don't know whether that makes a huge difference or not.
 
Thunderbox said:
That may or may not be true. Many machines make noise but a noisy motorcycle does not lose energy for driving because of the noise. Any sound that may go into a mat does not mean the cartridge is losing something. No mater what you do the cartridge rubs the grooves and some of that will go into the mat. Stopping it may not be the best idea.
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It's an odd analogy, as the nice is a byproduct for the bike, but the actual goal in the case of the table.

Generally a mechanism loses energy through heat and noise. One that's perfectly silent should be very efficient. A noisy table will absolutely not work well, where a bike with straight pipes might perform better while being much louder.

A good example of this is an idler drive. A noisy idler will totally send mud through the cartridge. The same mechanism running quiet and smooth will not.

As far as mats go, as long as it's isolation characteristics are similar to the original it should work, but by the numbers every table will respond differently to different mats. I've tried cork, rubber, leather, Los, and more. I always end up back at the stock mat. The only exception is the 4hf which really prefers felt over the hardened original.
 
Mr Boochie said:
Question. I noticed that most manufacturer's OEM mats are rubber with raised rings, on which the vinyl surface lies. So that the record really contacts a very small surface area. Unlike most aftermarket mats where the record contacts the entire mat surface. Wonder why that is? :idea:

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-denon_dp_1000_turntable_with_grace_707_tonearm-1_155.jpg
Click to expand...
Most likely to minimize contact with the record in order to protect its underside from dust intrusion into the grooves. Most ppl don't clean the mats, so they get quite dusty...
 
I switched a felt mat on my old Music Hall MMF-5 W/ Glass platter to a corkAudiophiles Anonymous.jpg mat when I put a Ortofon Blue cart on it at a shop. It originally came with a........... damn 26 years ago what was the cart on those turned out it was a very nice cart but the stylus got bent to hell. Now the stylus is very expensive but people tell me get the stylus that body is worth it. Speaking of bodies Mary Ann all the way Memories for sure. On an island I think I could out slick the professor and those other two clowns. Minnows ...... So the body I am drawing a blank what was the cart original well respected. I hate this old age stuff. Old blues song OH Marinanne great song OK too much out of me.
 
I have a silicone, 3mm, mat on one table. An acrylic mat on another. Under the acrylic I have a thin, maybe 1mm, mat I made from a sheet in the kitchen dept. The tables are very different but the thick silicone mat worked well on both. It's from Hudson. I bought the acrylic 2nd hand and it sounds good so I haven't moved it. I have a Technics that has holes for sensors so it stays original mat.
 
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