HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Bond it to the platter for best effect- double sided tape can be used
I use achromat and others- much prefer achromat
I made my own from several lps bonded together by spray adhesive- sanded the top lp surface until silky smooth- polished it up
Have diversified with coloured lps- currently blood red - the effect is very good and it’s cheap and limitless

Another user of the Funk Firm Acromat here, I'm sure would work well on your Logic.

If I may come in from left field. You could try a suede mat. I’ve just fitted one to my Lenco platter. My son bought it for me as a Christmas present. It’s absolutely superb.
Static is also completely eliminated.
I don’t know if the one in the link below is the one he bought me, but it gives an idea of what they retail at.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293363119193 ... Swu1Fd6QVD

On my turntable:

Nice burgundy red mat there Steve. I have been using a suede/leather mat for several months now, quite happily.

But then ....
.... I got curious, again.

So, this afternoon a package arrived containing a blue Winyl W-mat. These are made in Spain and cost about 1/3 of the Funk Achromat.



No time like the present, so, time to test.

Giving Yes 'Drama' a quick spin as it was still on the turntable, I switched the leather mat for the acrylic one and wondered what would happen.

What I didn't expect is that the same LP would then sound as if it had been cleaned, remixed and remastered! The sheer quantity of detail just shot up, I was hearing things in the mix that I never knew were there.
For the first time I got to properly hear Trevor Horn playing the bass on 'Run Through the Light' and could also easily follow Chris Squire's subtle and intricate playing on the rest of the album. Drum and guitar parts that were previously muddy were now crystalline and clear. Synth effects burbled from speaker to speaker.

I often use following basslines as a test for the clarity of a system (as they are often buried in the mix and difficult to hear) with the new acrylic mat this isn't just made easier - bass-parts are served up on a plate for open inspection.

Then onto some synth-pop from Thomas Dolby and the same can be said: detail and more detail delivered with a crispness that, luckily, is neither over-bright nor fatiguing.

Now listening to a tricky record: Van Der Graaf Generator 'Godbluff', a murkily intense listen. The new mat is making more sense of the manic noise of Peter Hammill and his chums,

First impression is a big Wow! Now I'm just going to play as many albums as I can.

Bop til you drop.

Now onto a rather 'trebly' LP - 'Tinderbox' by Siouxsie & the Banshees. Bucketloads of accuracy and clarity with no edgy splashiness.

Hey, I can do hifi-reviewer-speak as good as anyone.

A thought struck me this morning - that you can hear the turntable mat and descibe its character in terms of the material it is made of:

Felt - loose, floppy, lightweight
Rubber - heavy, bouncy, flexible
Leather - lush, luxury, natural
Acrylic - solid, clear, stable, smooth

(I haven't tried a cork mat - and for some reason I don't want to)



Anyhow, this is how the W-mat looks on the deck (it is actually a bit darker than in the photo - there is a black version also available as well), it is a recent product that only came on the market in 2020. Maker Winyl is a firm in Spain well-known for their popular range of LP cleaning products and they specialise in accessories for the vinyl fanatics - so I think they know what they are about.
There is very little info to be found about this mat - whereas the Achromat does have a lot of detail, this from the Funk Firm's website:

"The stylus accelerates at up to 20,000g. This means your groove wall is not so much caressed but more akin to being pummelled by a road hammer creating travelling shock waves.

When there is a material change, like the record sitting on a felt mat, say, these waves bounce back from the bottom of the record (a mere 2mm thick) and are sensed by the stylus.

We hear this as colouration."

The Achromat itself: "It is only 3mm thick, and this is where the science kicks in. Millions of tiny bubbles within create complex pathways and that’s where the energy gets lost as heat. In this way, Achromat acts like a considerably thicker mat."

So, the Achromat is made from a sort of perspex foam that has the rigidity of vinyl, but comprises internal cavities that disperse and cancel the vibrations caused by the stylus tracking the LP. In this way no mechanical (kinetic) energy is reflected back through the record to the stylus which would affect the purity of the sound being picked up from the groove.

Well, that makes sense.

It also explains why various mat materials will give a different 'colour' to the sound, depending on how much of the stylus's own energy is reflected back to it. Following this course of thinking a mat or platter that is effectively the same material as the LP and directly coupled to it will absorb this kinetic energy in the same way as the record and is the least likely to generate reflections. Felt, for example, will absorb a little but leave most of the generated mechanical energy inside the vinyl of the LP, resulting in the possibility of distortion.

All rather fascinating, really.

Fretless wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 11:47 am A thought struck me this morning - that you can hear the turntable mat and descibe its character in terms of the material it is made of:

Felt - loose, floppy, lightweight
Rubber - heavy, bouncy, flexible
Leather - lush, luxury, natural
Acrylic - solid, clear, stable, smooth

(I haven't tried a cork mat - and for some reason I don't want to)

to which i can add

Sorbothane (AQ mat) : nothing obviously wrong, other than having all the life drained out of the music
Cork : not bad, bouncy natural, a bit like leather but slightly different.
Draw liner : as above but grippier, in both ways. Do not leave record on it overnight. It'll eat into the record surface.

I currently use a self made PVC mat on top of the sorbothane mat (viscoelastic layer) on a bamboo/lead composite platter.
A centre raised washer and a clamp push most of the playing surface onto the PVC surface in all but badly cupped or bent records.

Respect!

That's the first time I've seen bamboo used for making a platter, I'll assume the lead is 'inside' the bamboo.

It's in a routed groove underneath, i was trying to get the centre of balance as low as possible. A bit like a teres platter, except this is a DD TT.