Turntable Mats?

I've tried rubber, cork, and felt on my vintage TT. I ended up going back to the rubber mat as I noticed no real sound difference but it seemed that mat generated the least static of them all which is the only real difference I noticed. YMMV .....

 

I use the stock rubber mat that came with my turntable.

 

Yeah, there might some reason almost EVERY manufacturer uses it, do you think?

These guys buying these expensive new Technics SL1200 reboots are already flying around ideas for mat replacements. Why? The top of the line Technics have these beautiful, thick, quality rubber mats -- the best ever made. Yet, the urge to spend money make people want to ditch the TURNTABLE DESIGNER'S MAT? Give me a break.

 

I don't think most manufacturers today use rubber mats, at least not most of the ones I see marketed to us audiophiles.

 

Now the trend is to throw on a .50 cent piece of felt. I can tell you one thing: FELT MATS SUCK.

 

Cork on my Rega RP1. It has been a noticeable improvement over the stock felt mat.

 

Felt does have some bad properties, but I think the fibers can support the record more evenly than a rubber mat and doesn't damp the record (and cartridge) as much as the rubber either, which is good in my view. It's mostly down to what you want the mat to do.

 

Fast forward to 2:50 for one of the great guitar solos. Weird to think this band became Sad Cafe.....

 

I like the sound of felt but have struggled too much with static and clingy mats to ever want to make that compromise.

I’ve found the Funk Firm Achromat works well, adds a bit more damping to the sound (duller? Warmer?) but gives better bass control. It’s all about trade offs.

I’ve tried cork but could never stand the look on my turntable....call me shallow.

 

What should I be using for my mofi sounddeck, currently I am using nothing is that the way to go?

 

I use the stock rubber mat that came with my Technics CL1210M5G and Pioneer PLX1000.
These are designed to kill platter resonance and so I have no desire whatsoever to reinvent my tables with different materials.
I DID experiment with different weight record clamps and decided a lighter one that just barely clamped the record tight to the mat was better than a super heavy one which seemed to thicken the sound too much.
After that I bought a pile of 2 and a half mm "Hudson HiFi" rubber mats to use as shims to get my arm in the approximate height required for best stylus rake.
The stock mat on the Pioneer was too thin to hit the numbers even with the arm cranked all the way down.
Extra mats put the arm in the ballpark for final tweaking height wise.
The Hudson HiFi mats are an exact fit for both tables as the diameter puts these mats right at the edge of the platter for maximum coverage without hanging over.
I'm a big fan of getting the correct geometry for best function of a cartridge.
So I feel that mat HEIGHT is one useful function that MUST be addressed.
Mat COMPOSITION is of some interest and I feel good about all my mats being rubber so as to work well with metal platters.
After THAT I'm done and it is time to go fuss about something else.
I bought a handful of Vishay resistors last week to re-tune my LOMC and will now experiment to get the levels matched and impedance matched going into my Jolida JD9.
So my answer is to MATCH stuff and not go chasing around after "upgrades."
But that's just MY philosophy.
YMMV.
My two cents.

 

Was told no mat was best for my project/acrylic platter, looks great with coloured/translucent records as well