Quote Originally Posted by dale kid View Post
There are also contradictions concerning the raised lip on a certain turntable model platter. One the one hand we are told that this is bad and that only a certain platter mat wonder product will fit, work or whatever and allow the record to lay flat. Then we are told that a newly marketed platter disc is the next best thing to have on this platter.

Bear with me here as this contradiction gets interesting.

The cross section of an LP is designed to lay with a certain degree of curveature for correct playback. The designers of the platter in question knew all this and incorporated the miniscule raised lip to provide the correct presentation for the LP. The platter disc mentioned above has, guess what? Curvature of 1 degree to provide the correct presentation for the LP. So where does this leave us regarding the certain platter mat wonder product? Flat support or curved support?

I wish someone would explain all these contradictions to me.

There is no need for all this shameful behaviour as it lessens the enjoyment of those who are genuinely interested in maximising their listening experience. I suppose this happens when greed rears its ugly head.

May your days be long and PEACEFUL, Dale
Dale, you are CERTAINLY not senile in any shape or form, even if you may feel that way sometimes

The mat fitted to the SL150 I owned and recently sold to AlexUK had a tiny amount shaved from its thickness on its underside, corresponding to the tiny lip of the 150's platter. I believe though, that the current 12**'s have a slightly more pronounced lip on them.

Having said the above, I should add that the SL-150 mat may well have had differing height in its groups of "grooves" giving this 1 degree of dip (I never checked to be honest, but Alex could). The Herbies/Timestep mat is a two-layer design with a soft but loaded foam type under piece and a thinner rubber upper section. The feel of this mat is like the fluid filled mats Sony used on the PS-8750 IIRC.

My advice still is to look out for a good SP10 II. I love this deck and if I wasn't such a fan of NAS silcon-rubber driven units, I'd love to have had an SP10 instead - a beautiful thing IMO.