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Path: utzoo!watmath!watdcsu!herbie
From: herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong, Computing Services)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: turntable pads
Message-ID: <414@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 9-Sep-84 21:06:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.414
Posted: Sun Sep  9 21:06:12 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Sep-84 07:22:03 EDT
References: <1158@ihuxr.UUCP>, <76200010@hpfclk.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 21

I find platter mats extremely useful.
My turntable platter rings like a bell when there
is no plattermat on it.  Putting one one deadens it so that it will not
add anything to the sound.  A soft flexible mat helps here.  A very sticky
mat is desireable because the record stays in full contact with the
pad and does not leave resonant cavities that add garbage to the music whenever
the cartridge goes over that part of the record.  The shape is very important
because incomplete contact means any advantage of the mat is lost.  I am 
personally against record weights unless the turntable is specifically
designed for them. Excessive bearing wear can result if it is not designed
for the extra weight.  I prefer to use a clamp to hold down slightly warped
records.  Aside from the mat that came with my turntable, I have two
others: the Eon Research Tripad (goes with the Tripod), and the Angstrom
platter mat.  Of the two, I prefer the Angstrom.  It is similar in profile
and material to the Platter Matter mat, but is made of conductive rubber.
It comes with a small clamp and is a very good mat.  I have not compared
it to any ones other than the ones I own, but the difference is the bass
is slightly tighter and the highs are more cleanly reproduced.  Overall,
the accuracy of my system is improved.  This is not to say the other platter
mat I have are bad, nor are they garbage.  This one is simply better.
Herb...