Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

Halcro,
The purpose of a mat is to provide a stable surface with a similar impedance of the record, or so they say. Some think the best mats are forms of acrylic, methacrylate (Delrin), carbon, or vinyl. The trick is in preventing vibrations from reflecting back to the record. Achromat does this with bubbles somehow. Perhaps a lead sheet would be more affective.

Beside the obvious problem of weight, lead is soft and manufacturing a flat sheet might be a problem, but I doubt if any material is more affective at slowing vibrations. A lead sandwich or under mat might be ideal.
Regards,

Fleib,
To paraphrase Mike Tyson...

Everyone's got a theory until they're punched in the face

After listening to multiple different materials and combinations on the Victor DD turntables......I know what sounds best to me....and so far it's what the Victor engineers themselves agreed on, the pigskin thin platter mat.
The last mat I will try is the glass one....also designed for these decks.

The Walker Proscenium turntable uses a platter made of granulated lead and epoxy I believe...😎

The funny or sad fact is that the mat has a large effect on sonics,…. after all the money is spent on the tt, tonearm, and cartridge. It's the salt and pepper of vinyl.

........or have their ear bitten off. Bon appetit.

Sorry I chimed in.
This has already been done by Pierre Lurne, only with a platter rather than a mat. I happen to have some sheet lead. Might see if it's doable.

Mat wise, did anyone try the old Oracle groove isolator?
It's a bit smaller than the TT platter but thick enough to be higher than the edge. I have tried carbon fibre (Boston) and Acrylic hard mat and found them hard and bright sounding. The Groove Isolator seems to have a very good tonal balance to my ears without losing details/muffling the sound.
Your mileage may vary.