REVIEW - A new giant killing platter mat

[Wakefield Turntables]

Right lets clear up the "Chinese whispers". The mat is great at replicating searing treble and in some systems this may be too much i.e. system's with excessive gain, a good example being a highout MM cart of lets say 1mv partnered with a phonostage with 40db of gain for example .Totally stupid numbers but hopefully you get the point. I looked at the Marillion track Forgotten Sons & The Ripper by Judas Priest, these are two tracks which have probably more lower E string work than most. The mat replicated the treble energy conveyed of the lower fret work perfectly in my system but your going to get a high searing treble in high-gain phonostage /MM output cartridge rig. So, the intelligent thing to do is either turn the gain down, swap your cart or platter mat. To simply "deadpan" a product because it has the ability to faithfully replicate the high energy treble sitting in the vinyl grooves is silly and a little myopic IMHO (DON'T GET OFFENDED)!!!! I did state in the review "The Lenco does have a high output Shure MM cartridge coupled to the EAR Clone which to some ears can produce an overly energetic treble". In fact I'd even go so far as suggesting that the mat could be used to assess if you have a excessive phonostage gain/ cart output mismatch. It certainly had me questioning my system and I came to the conclusion that this could be the case. Consequently I have swapped over my previous reference platter mat on the 1210 (The Crystal Mat) for the SSS mat and the Crystal Mat now sit's on the Lenco, in fact I'm assessing the effects for a future update in my Lenco L75 blog. The short comings of the Lenco became apparent when using the SSS mat and I'm also now considering a slightly lower MM output to replace my favourite M55E cart. So, to conclude, I'm extremely happy to see all the added benefits of this mat in my 1210 system whilst also being very happy with it highlighting the short comings of the other systems. I'm very thankful for high searing treble!

[Wakefield Turntables]

Good write up Andy. Just wondered if you had tried the Funk Firm Achromat and how that compared?

Your Lenco is striaght from the Brutalist school I think

Yes I have tried the Achromat, it was then replaced with the Resomat which then get replaced with the Crystal mat. The Achromat is great but can be bettered.

I'm really pleased to see a product of this kind for sale at this price.

Good write up but yes, "Searing Treble" is a little off putting. Can i ask why you suspect the platter mat would contribute to this? I know you report it coming when the mat was installed but what do you think is the reason for that ? I am a big believer in the merits of a good quality platter mat and do think very highly of the 5mm Tenuto. I noticed a lot better clarity and resolution with it and i am wondering if you think the previous mats you have experimented with maybe dulled the treble and this one simply allowed it to be heard?. Kind of unbalanced the way the system is tuned?

I am only hypothesizing, but i find this sort of thing fascinating.

Fair play for having a go. We need more of this from people!!

I hope my comments in post #11 clears things up. I think very highly of the Tenuto platter mat, it's sits as the reference mat on my Garrard 301 system, I've tried it on the 1210 and the Lenco, it didn't gel. I do have three radically different platters on the three systems so this could contribute why one mat sounds better than another and highlighting the treble issues.

yep "Searing Treble" puts me right off,i cant see how it can be a 'giant killing' mat with those attributes ??

and all similar posts.


See post #11.

[mikeyb]

I took searing to mean it grates, cuts right through and really annoying. Like fingernails on a blackboard ?

Perhaps searing isn't the right word to use in this context of it isn't any of those ?

If instead, it is sharp, clear, concise, exactly as it should be with no edge or glare or harshness then that's a different story. I'm interested then

[struth]

firey maybe

[Macca]

I think Andy is saying that the mat highlighted a problem that already existed with his Lenco set up. Not that the mat creates 'searing treble' where there was none before.

At least that is how I read it.

[Bigman80]

I think Andy is saying that the mat highlighted a problem that already existed with his Lenco set up. Not that the mat creates 'searing treble' where there was none before.

At least that is how I read it.

That's what I was getting at. I've had a few mats here and I couldn't attribute an inbalance to the mat, only the exposure of an inbalance in the setup.

The Tenuto being the most revealing of any I tried. I'd like a go with this though.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I took searing to mean it grates, cuts right through and really annoying. Like fingernails on a blackboard ?

Perhaps searing isn't the right word to use in this context of it isn't any of those ?

If instead, it is sharp, clear, concise, exactly as it should be with no edge or glare or harshness then that's a different story. I'm interested then

Point taken with respects to the word "searing", but you weren't sitting in my listening room or heard the effects of the Lenco mismatch caper. The effects were markedly lessened when used in the 1210 system where treble sounded a lot more like how you describe it.

firey maybe

Who? Me? Never....

I think Andy is saying that the mat highlighted a problem that already existed with his Lenco set up. Not that the mat creates 'searing treble' where there was none before.

At least that is how I read it.

Yes and yes, sorry to confuse the situation. Yes the Lenco had an issue, now hopefully tamed with the Crystal mat. The mat can create high treble energy, hence it's ability to highlight the shortfalls of the Lenco system. Previously I had a trio of mats doing which worked well but highlighted an over damping effect on treble energy. The SSS mat showed the M55E/EAR 834 clone combo had far too much gain. I firmly believe that the SSS mat will work extremely well within a properly matched cart/phonostage gain combo.

[karma67]

what confused me was he stated in the op that 'IT' produces searing treble which we all thought naturally is awful. in a later post he changed it to 'IT' 'reproduces' searing treble. im glad its all been cleared up.......i'll stick with my tenuto mat thanks

[Wakefield Turntables]

what confused me was he stated in the op that 'IT' produces searing treble which we all thought naturally is awful. in a later post he changed it to 'IT' 'reproduces' searing treble. im glad its all been cleared up.......i'll stick with my tenuto mat thanks

The review was written in situ listening to the music. My thoughts being transcribed as the music flowed. I must admit to not really giving two hoots with regards the semantics.

[karma67]

ah i see,that explains it then.