LP12 mats: is anything better than felt?

[ThomasOK]

My answer to this question is: not that I have found. But I started this thread as a way for people to give there feelings on various mats they have tried on their LP12s. Certainly there have been a large number of mats made over the years with claims of improved performance so I'm sure many on the forum have heard one or more alternatives.

What made me decide to start this thread now was the recent arrival of an LP12 for upgrading and setting up. I installed a new 50Hz motor, a Hercules II power supply, a new Linn armboard and the customers Basik LV-X and Grado wood body cartridge. I did a complete setup with precision torquing of all the fasteners.

When he brought the turntable in I noticed that he had a mat I'd never seen before (and, believe me I've, seen a lot). It was a spongy foam type so I immediately had my doubts about it. I asked about it and was told it was a Herbie's Way Excellent II mat (yes, that's really the name :) ). After setting up his LP12 I asked if he had compared it with his original felt mat. He said he had just bought the LP12 used and the felt mat on it was ratty so he had just thrown it out without using it. I asked if he would like to hear how it compared to a new Linn felt mat and he said sure. I just had the LP12 connected to our test bench which is an older NAD integrated amp with built in phono stage and a $300 pair of Paradigm speakers. I didn't tell him what to expect but just played part of a track of music on his "Way Excellent" mat and then again on the Linn felt mat. He was amazed saying: "My mat sounds dull and muffled. It is easier to follow the bass line on the felt mat and the vocals sound better as well." I feel this is a pretty good description of the differences in musical performance. The "Way Excellent" mat muddied things up making it harder to follow any of the instruments and making the rhythm sluggish and halting. Another one bites the dust! :D

Probably needless to say, he immediately bought a Linn felt mat. He also ordered a Trampolin2 which I have since fitted. He is now a proud member of the ranks of LP12 owners and he went away with a list of the other possible upgrades in his hand and some suggestions as to the next best improvements to make.

So add Herbie's Way Excellent II mat to the list of mats that make your LP12 less musical. I know Fredrik recently listened to a cork and rubber one he was not impressed with and I'm sure he and others have heard numerous alternatives. I think this would be a good place to relate those stories for the benefit of any who might be considering buying the latest wonder mat.

[ThomasOK]

In this post I thought I'd just list a number of the other mats that I have heard on LP12s, none of which have been as musical as the stock felt mat. I won't relate the sonic qualities of each mat (to be honest I can't remember exactly what each one did wrong) but I didn't find one which wasn't substantially worse than stock. Some sounded superficially more detailed and lively but did so by pushing some stuff forward while reducing the tunefulness - these tend to be the harder ones. Others were more muffled and dead sounding. I suppose they give that "blackness" between the notes some people talk about but I find they remove a lot of the music and make things slow and dull - these tend to be the softer ones like the "Way Excellent" mat above.

So here, in no particular order, are a number of mats I have listened to and found wanting:

Funk Firm Achromat 3mm
Original Ringmat
None-Felt mat
Mission and Oracle Sorbothane mats
Hard acrylic mat (unbranded, about 6mm)

It should be noted that the owners of all the above mats replaced them with stock Linn felt mats - except the Oracle which I borrowed off an Oracle turntable for the comparison. Anybody want to start a turntable mat museum?

I have also listened to the original Linn hard rubber mat which is, of course, inferior to the felt one. And a number of years ago I tried switching around Linn and Rega felt mats only to find that the Linn mat sounded best on the Linn and the Rega mat sounded best on the Rega - what a concept!

[lejonklou]

In the early 90's, when I sold Linn in a shop, we tried all mats we could get our hands on. Most of them were supplied by customers who thought they had found something better and wanted to share their finding.

Nearly every time we all agreed on that the Linn felt mat was superior when it was tried in our carefully installed systems. My conclusion was that the alternatives seemed to appeal to people who had a problem with their system or installation. Once their system performed better, most of them went back to the felt mat.

I've probably forgotten most of the mats, but in no particular order I can add the following:

Thorens rubber mats
Dual rubber mats
Project fel mat (thinner)
Carbon anti static mat
Cork mat
Plattamat

[ThomasOK]

I have also tried a number of other mats back in the early 80s off turntables such as Dual, Denon, AR and others but don't really remember all the specific ones I tried so I didn't bother listing them all.

Another angle on this subject it that I have also found felt mats improve the musical performance of almost every other turntable I have tried them on. Indeed, we keep a stock of Linn and Rega felt mats in the store and often sell them to people who bring their turntables in for a new cartridge or a tuneup. I have found that most turntables which tend to have resonant platters such as Technics, Denon and the vast majority of Japanese turntables sound best with the thicker Rega mat. Some with less ringing in the platter when in place such a most ARs and older Thorens work well with the Linn mat. The only table I can recall that didn't benefit significantly form a felt mat was a later AR turntable which had an unusual thin, dense foam mat that had a consistency close to that of the felt. The customer and I both felt :) that the improvement of the Linn mat was minimal.

[Tony Tune-age]

I've spent some time conducting a comparison between my original Linn felt mat, and a new thinner Linn felt mat. Needless to say, and much to my surprise, the thinner felt mat does perform better than the thicker version 8) .

Overall, not a bad upgrade and certainly affordable as well :!: