Mike New platter, Oyaide MJ-12 mat & STB-MS stabiliser arrive at Marco Towers...

[Marco]

Hi Martin,

I promised to reveal my mat findings now that I've had a chance to listen properly. I must say this is where the DV arm's on-the-fly height adjustment makes things much easier than it otherwise would have been and kept my memory fresh while listening to each mat.

Recap: I have an earlier Mike New platter with brass inserts in an aluminium disc (correct me if I'm wrong about the materials, Mike). I also have the MN bearing and base plate.

LP on plain platter. Rather surprisingly, this didn't sound half bad. Dynamics were strong and the sound was vivid, if lacking a little detail. The midrange was a touch harsh and it was this that masked some fine detail. Bass was full.

Rega Felt Mat. Not a nice sound, vague with a midrange colouration that masked detail. Not harsh, just dull.

Herbies. Very similar to the raw platter. Very good driving bass and rhythm. Similar slightly shouty quality in the high midrange, some smearing of fine detail and high treble. Very slight colouration in the midrange.

Achromat. Suddenly fine detail is in abundance with a very clear midrange and very fine high treble. Better sense of the acoustic space. Lighter presentation with clean bass but slightly lacking the pounding drive of the Herbies.

Overall, the Achromat wins. However, I could wish for a combination of the Achromat's tonal neutrality, fine detail and fantastic insight with the Herbies' dynamic clout and driving bass.

Forgot to mention: the Achromat displays a useful reduction in surface noise over an already quiet deck.

Excellent stuff, and that information will I'm sure be of use to others. I suspected that the Achromat would win. Let's not forget just how good it is in the grand scheme of things!

However, I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised at the sonic qualities the bonded copper mat makes to Mike's already superb platter

Unfortunately though I won't be able to make it now before Christmas, so that's one for us to do in the New Year. You'll have your SR5 by then, too!

Marco.

[Spectral Morn]

Neil, if it is feasible I will send you one with the other bits I am sending you, will know tomorrow.

Can 1 of you technicianstell me in mm what outside diameter the copper mat needs to be and what size hole in the middle, middle I would have thought needs to be 0.2mm bigger than the spindle diameter

The centre hole needs to be fairly tight I would have thought. If you measure the Oyaide mat centre hole and the bottom diameter of the mat, the bit that sits into the Technics platter (inside of the lip) that would work....at a guess.


Regards D S D L

[MCRU]

Ok I cannot measure it yet as all the mats I had are out on review!

Not a problem though.

[MartinT]

No problem, Marco, it'll keep and be something to look forward to. I really want the PH SR5 to bed in when it arrives and I need to get used to the combined overall sound before hearing your bonded platter. I'm hoping that it all gels together well because I'm not ready to shell out for another platter just yet.

Do you think the Oyaide weight is a no-brainer over the Bruil or is it not clear cut?

[Reid Malenfant]

This mat thing... What you are attempting to do is create a good interface between the vinyl & platter as well as (& probably more importantly) damp the standard platter to prevent the thing ringing like a bell

Looking at it from my way of thinking you'll never get the platter damped by using similar metals, you'll just sucseed in raising the frequency that the ringing will occur at. Now i'm not any kind of expert but the Copper bonded Mike New platter makes perfect sense to me. You have two dis-similar metals with totally different Young's modulus which should definately help cancel out any ringing by the platter due to the different flexibility or hardness of the metals.

The fact that the copper section of the MN platter is annealed makes it softer & thus it'll soak up any resonant behaviour of the aluminium much better. You have some kind of weird sandwich here that gives the best of both worlds

I'm just wondering how a bonded sheet of lead (Pb) would work in this situation. It'd be softer than annealed copper & damping wise it'd be far better. Or maybe just a lead mat might be pretty good, just don't go trying to eat it

Maybe i'm a bit crazy so forgive me, but it's something i'd be willing to try on my deck. It's not a Techie though

[Spectral Morn]

Ok I cannot measure it yet as all the mats I had are out on review!

Not a problem though.

I will dig out my metal straight edge ruler and measure the one I have

Regards D S D L

[MCRU]

Don't really understand it all myself, why should a metal sound better than say cork or felt. If it is an interface between vinyl and steel (presume that is what the stock platter is made from) then a vast array of materials could potentially work as well as copper, a thin sheet of acetal would be worth a punt as that has superb resonance absorption properties, it's no co-incidence that Nordost's Pulsar points (which I sold shit loads of) were made from aluminium. Maybe they should be made from copper!

[Marco]

No problem, Marco, it'll keep and be something to look forward to. I really want the PH SR5 to bed in when it arrives and I need to get used to the combined overall sound before hearing your bonded platter. I'm hoping that it all gels together well because I'm not ready to shell out for another platter just yet.

That's a good plan

Do you think the Oyaide weight is a no-brainer over the Bruil or is it not clear cut?

No, in the final analysis it wasn't clear cut. There were pros and cons of using both, although in the end I felt that the synergy was better with the Bruil, but that more than anything may have been because I'm using the MN platter, and not an Oyaide T/T mat.

My advice would be to hold off with any T/T weight changes until I come down with my version of Mike's platter, prior to which I'm sure David would send you an STB-MS stabiliser to try.

Marco.

[Reid Malenfant]

Don't really understand it all myself, why should a metal sound better than say cork or felt. If it is an interface between vinyl and steel (presume that is what the stock platter is made from) then a vast array of materials could potentially work as well as copper, a thin sheet of acetal would be worth a punt as that has superb resonance absorption properties, it's no co-incidence that Nordost's Pulsar points (which I sold shit loads of) were made from aluminium. Maybe they should be made from copper!

Cork or felt don't have enough mass to damp the platter imo. They are lightweight & as such the platter being heavier alloy will control the overall situation. Copper is heavier than alloy or aluminium per unit volume (higher density) so it stands to reason that a heavier something is needed to control the platter imo

[Marco]

Yup, but there's probably nothing wrong with using the likes of a cork or soft rubber mat to 'cushion' the record and prevent 'chatter', when placed on a metal T/T mat

This is precisely why I'm going to try the Blue Horizon on top of the bonded copper mat of my MN platter.

It's the use of solely a light felt or cork mat that perhaps isn't the ideal solution, although of course much will depend on the design of the T/T concerned and what type of mat was used by the manufacturer to 'voice' its sonic presentation. The LP12, for example, works very well with a felt mat, athough it works even better with an Achromat!

Marco.