Questions on Extreme Phono "None-Felt" turntable mat

I haven't made any changes to my Rega Planar 3 TT setup in about a year (since I got a new arm for it), but having read Wayne Garcia's article on Rega tweaks in the latest Absolute Sound I grew curious, and I'm going to be auditioning a few products.

Firstly, I've ordered the Sheer Audio (now Iron Audio, I guess) acrylic platter to replace the stock glass. Reactions to this have been mixed, to say the least (Garcia gives it a thumbs-up, but you'll find many different impressions on other message boards), but I've been wanting to try it for a while and I look forward to seeing what difference it will make ... I know I very well may end up not keeping it, but I look forward to doing some comparisons.

Secondly, I'm considering trying the Extreme Phono "None-Felt" turntable mat, which Garcia (and others, including Sam Tellig in Stereophile) also liked. A few questions on this for anyone who may have experience with this mat:

1. Some have reported a kind of residue transferring itself from these mats to their records. Anyone have any experience or knowledge about this?

2. Two varieties are available, the "standard" and the "donut" (which is more expensive and has a larger hole so it doesn't touch the spindle). I believe I recall reading that the standard is recommended for Regas, for some reason. Can anyone verify and/or explain this?

Thanks so much.

 

I've heard that about the None-Felt--leaving residue. Have you checked into the Herbie's mat?

http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/ttmat.htm

John K.

 

Hi John,

I hadn't heard of that mat before today, when I saw some references to it while searching the forum for posts about mats. I'm trying to find some reviews online.

It's a little pricier, but might be worth a try. The residue issue concerns me with the Extreme Phono so I'd be especially keen to investigate comparable alternatives. I wish it were easier to "try before you buy" with these items ...

 

Herbie has a VERY reasonable trial period--I think 90 days, and a full refund of price AND shipping charges.

John K.

 

I think often times, with respect to swapping mats or platters, the change isn't necessarily better, just different. All you can really do is try it and see if it sounds better to you.

Personally, if I had a glass platter, I'd keep the felt mat. I once heard a ringmat on a glass platter and thought it sounded a bit etched. I think felt just complements glass better (differently). I think felt better (differently) complements the LP12 platter, too, although plenty of folks don't.

I don't know of any personal experiences with the Extreme Phono mat. All you can do is try it and see. I guess you could keep an eye on your LPs to see if anything's being left on the LP surfaces from the mat...

Of what you have coming, I'd be most interested in the results of the acrylic platter sans mat. I've never tried a mat on my acrylic platter, but I *suspect* it might sound a little dead. Just try every combination and see what you like best. Let us know what you think.

 

I couldn't agree more. That's the spirit with which I'm going to try these products. I've just been curious about the differences, and whether or not they're really improvements, and in the end the only way to tell whether they do anything for you is to just try them yourself in your own system.

I believe I'll have 30 days to return the acrylic platter if it doesn't do anything for me. Regarding mats on the acrylic platter ... Most of what I read indicates that many acrylic-platter people like the sound sans mat, maybe with a clamp. The problem in my setup is that I can't adjust VTA, and apparently the Sheer acrylic platter is the same height as the Rega glass platter, without mat. So to keep the same VTA and make a worthwhile comparison I'm going to need to use the mat ... and up to now I've been using the stock Rega felt mat. I do have a Ringmat as well, but I may not for much longer ... If it's still around when I get the acrylic platter, I may try that combination just for the heck of it. But I certainly wasn't impressed with the Ringmat on the Rega glass platter.

Anyway ... The first comparison when I get the acrylic platter will be glass platter with Rega felt mat versus acrylic platter with Rega felt mat. When I get a handle on the differences there, perhaps I'll move on to experimenting with different mats.

 

Maybe you could shim the underside. No doubt different materials would yield different sounds. I'd try something hard. As a temporary fix, maybe you could stick an old, beat-up LP under there that closely approximates the thickness of your felt mat.

Who knows, maybe you'll like it. Might be a hot new tweak.

 

RE: Extreme Phono mat. I have it(nondonut) on my P3. I do like it better than the felt mat. I also have tried an Audioquest Sorbogel mat. The Sorbogel mat left a totally black background but the sound became extremely dull. The effect to my ears is inbetween the felt and the sorbogel mat.

I personally like it.

I have been tempted by the acrylic platter but decided against it as the mat is supposed to have a similar effect.

I am tempted to get the Heed power supply and the 3M sound adhesive sound absorption to apply to the plinth and bottom of motor.

Has anybody tried either of those?

On the other hand, it may be easier just to upgrade the table to the Nottingham Horizon SE.

 

Thanks for the input! Haven't heard of the 3M stuff. Is it like tape or maybe like blu-tac?

 

I don't know. It is in the musicdirect catalog though. You might call them for a description. Its only $25.

 

Maybe I'll just order some. I'm sure I've got something around here I can stick it on...

 

DIY mat..save yer moolah...have fun.

I made a nun felt style mat several years ago when I first saw that rubbery shelf liner stuff at W-mart. A few months ago I got both styles of nun felts. The one I made was at least as good. There's many varieties of this stuff at various stores. Save some $ and have fun! There's a lot of other stuff to try also, like that craft foam... Go to a big craft store and poke around!

 

PS. The mat touching the spindle or not (donut style) has to do with grounding the static charge and varies with platters/tables. Don't know the specifics.

 

Thanks for the thoughts and discussion, everyone. I've decided to stay away from the "none-felt" type mats, as I'm just too concerned about the residue issue.

I'll either stick with the felt, or maybe try Herbie's mat (that 90-day return policy, including shipping refund, is very generous). And maybe at some point, if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll remove the 2mm spacer under my tonearm and try the bare acrylic platter sans mat. (I have a KAB Record Grip I can try in that situation as well.)

My acrylic platter has been backordered (I'm not surprised ... plenty of people have probably placed orders since that Absolute Sound review was published), but I'm assured it should be available soon.