That’s right, those I mentioned used copper mat with top level Technics MK III in systems that exceed just about anything.
Mat doesn’t have to be the same hardness as vinyl.
Mat doesn’t have to be the same hardness as vinyl.
Nottingham Spacedeck vs Rega Planar 8 vs Technics SL1200G
If the mat should be as the LP why not just put an LP undern LP ? Some people actually doing it I use gunmetal Micro Seiki CU-180, CU-500, and SAEC SS-300 alloy mat. I have a comparison chart made by Micro Seiki and SAEC comes very close to Micro Mats, not to mention that SAEC is the lightest and almost half the price of Micro CU-180. In my opinion the SAEC is a must have for everyone, great mat even for belt drive turntables! Micro CU-500 is superb for turntables with very high torque like Technics SP-10 mkIII or mkII. The only problem is that CU-500 is impossible to find. Micro CU-180 is great for most of the DD turntables, love it on my Luxman PD-444 |
I’m not putting a $700.00 Mat on a 4K turntable! I already put in an inquiry to an Oracle dealer on their mat which is in the $200.00 range. I am willing to bet that both of those mats will not be a night and day difference from the stock mat. My Cartridge was only 600.00! At 200.00 I am willing to take a chance, at 700.00, forget about it. My platter already has the brass on it and I question what a expensive metal mat may do to the sound. |
@stereo5 If you are open to global vendors, here's a link to a guy in Vietnam(Tran Van Tan - TVT Analog Shop) who makes very high quality machined parts for many high end turntables. He does everything from copper and ss mats to arm pods etc. His work is often for vintage Japanese tables (e.g. Micro Seiki), but he has done an incredible variety, all to custom order at VERY reasonable prices. When I had a Technics SP10mkII he made a stainless steel mat at very high mass that was exactly to my needs for $200. I decided to order after hearing two of his mats that a friend, @dgarretson, owns. We compared these to 6 or 7 mats including all the usual suspects recommended here regularly. Very happy with Tran's work. https://vnav.vn/threads/tvt-analog-shop-chan-chong-rung-da-nang-san-pham-moi.30728/page-13 Cheers, Spencer |