It's now time to ditch your Sound Hi-Fi/Herbie's mats...

[chris@panteg]

Good stuff Marco '

My 1st impressions with the Achromat 1200 , are very good indeed

played Hendrix ' Valleys of neptune twice today and its so vivid sounding , Redding's bass sounding tighter with better definition ! likewise Mitchell's cymbal work having greater clarity.

Its a leaner tighter presentation compared to the Soundhifi/herbies ' i'm liking it so far

[colinB]

Im curios about the Oyaide. The chinese like to copy there stuff and sell them as replicas on e bay, which is pretty weired because most of it is mains plugs.

[MartinT]

First of all, the Achromat slips about big time on top of the metal copper mat, which is a total no-no, and bonding it with a little grease isn't much better, with the resulting sound not good at all.... If you want to ruin the Techie's infectious musicality, then this is how to do it!

Interesting, this is a combination I never tried but the copper mat with Herbies worked well.

I should have an Oyaide to try on Monday.

Is this a mat like the copper or a fully fledged platter?

[Marco]

Hi Martin,

It's an MJ-12, same as is shown on Mr Cawley's website:

http://www.soundhifi.com/oyaide.html

The Herbie's is likely to work fine with the copper mat because it's soft and 'rubbery', and so will not slide about on top, whereas the Achromat, as you know, is hard and smooth, and so it skates about like it's on an ice rink, with disastrous sonic consequences....

The Oyaide should be interesting, but TBH, it'll have to go some to beat the Achromat bonded firmly onto the stock Techie platter, which is simply stunning! The copper mat on its own is superb, too.

Have you used the double-sided tape and bonded your Achromat now to the platter?

Marco.

[Labarum]

If it's the cream Monarch with dual concentric start/speed knobs bottom right, it's a UA6.

if it has two knobs, one on each front corner, but the steady-arm top left, it's a UA8.

Cream, dual concentric at bottom right, steady arm top left. UA8?

In another place JC says the cartridge should be replaced with a stereo compatible one, and he gave a Maplins part number.

Mind you, I only have about a dozen ancient 78s!

[Marco]

Hi Chris,

Good stuff Marco '

My 1st impressions with the Achromat 1200 , are very good indeed

played Hendrix ' Valleys of neptune twice today and its so vivid sounding , Redding's bass sounding tighter with better definition ! likewise Mitchell's cymbal work having greater clarity.

Its a leaner tighter presentation compared to the Soundhifi/herbies ' i'm liking it so far

Nice one, mate. It does give a leaner and tighter presentation, and also increases clarity, but that's only as a result of letting you hear more of what's actually on recordings, without the 'flab' and 'bloom' imbued on the sound by mats that colour things more.

If it's accuracy you're after, and therefore ultimately what's faithful to the music (count me in!), IMO, using an Achromat is a no-brainer

Marco.

[DSJR]

Cream, dual concentric at bottom right, steady arm top left. UA8?

In another place JC says the cartridge should be replaced with a stereo compatible one, and he gave a Maplins part number.

Mind you, I only have about a dozen ancient 78s!

Perhaps we should continue this privately, as I doubt many here would know what a "Black Box" is in a record playing context, let alone the idea of fitting an Achromat to one

[Marco]

Lol... Yes, please do! I'll move the off-topic stuff to a separate thread later.

Marco.

[chris@panteg]

Some more thought's

There is so much more energy and dynamic inflection as i understand it is far better than the herbie's mat which to me sounds a little laidback and perhaps a little dull by comparison , bass is very different being more defined and punchy with better slam.

Very happy with this ' can't wait to get a better cartridge now.

Well done Arthur ' i'm not looking at mats anymore , sorted

[Tarzan]

Hi Chris, when you say, leaner, tighter sound this is not at the expense of loosing musicality, or a drying out of the sound?