Vantage Audio platter upgrade for Technics SL-1210

[chris@panteg]

Some more piccies of the platter



And underneath.

[colinB]

What is the construction exactly ? It looks like laquered copper.

[Marco]

Hi Chris,

Some more piccies of the platter

Nice, but where's the label recess? I can't see one, unless the pic's obscuring it....

Marco.

[chris@panteg]

It is laquered copper !

Beyond that , Richard was very reluctant to tell me ! Top secret lol.

Hi Marco

There is no label recess , but the top is tapered down towards the centre , like the Oyaide mat ! And Richard recommends using a weight or clamp , again like the Oyaide , i can tell you my LP's sit very flat on this platter !

Just a little bit frustrated by the cartridge , you see it now has the top 550ML stylus and it won't come to life for some reason.

[MartinT]

Looking very nice indeed, Chris. I hope your previous slump with the Techie is now over? If all you have to worry about is the cartridge then you are well up the slope from where you were before.

[MCRU]

It is laquered copper !

Beyond that , Richard was very reluctant to tell me ! Top secret lol.

Hi Marco

There is no label recess , but the top is tapered down towards the centre , like the Oyaide mat ! And Richard recommends using a weight or clamp , again like the Oyaide , i can tell you my LP's sit very flat on this platter !

Just a little bit frustrated by the cartridge , you see it now has the top 550ML stylus and it won't come to life for some reason.

That would be extremely difficult to achieve? Is it 1 degree? Not being anal just curious?

[chris@panteg]

That would be extremely difficult to achieve? Is it 1 degree? Not being anal just curious?

Good point David !

All i can say is my records sit very flat , you might want to ask Richard how he achieves it ?

From the look on his face and talking about the platter , it took a lot of hard work ! All done by hand.

[Mike_New]

There is obviously no label recess in the copper mat as indicated by the images currently displayed here; which means that if your records are to be in overall contact with the immediate supporting medium then a soft top mat is required which allows indentation for the label. Or you will require a mat which has a label recess in it such as the Achromat which I have used, but prefer the Ribbed Technics neoprene mat myself.

Otherwise there will be an increasing air gap towards to center of the record. Think of it, there has to be; the label on some older records is nearly 0.3mm above the nominal record surface, and even if the suporting surface is dished, then you will still have the same problem.

It is this air gap which would be accentuated by placing the record onto a hard metalic surface; that does in fact change the character of the replay. Some people it would appear, think this is sonically better.

Any air gap between the record and the ultimate platter surface is going to change the character of the replay. This is why the use of grease such as vaselene works wonders in providing a uniform hydraulic connection between the two surfaces when using a mat such as the Achromat. This holds for any turn table IMO.

On my own design Solid Copper Bonded Alluminium Platter I do not machine a label recess except on specific demand by the customer, as I believe that it is best used with a soft mat which allows the record to bed down, and to be in contact over the whole playable surface of the record.

In the case of Richard's option which bonds the copper mat onto the surface of the OEM platter, He would be using a Water-Cut circular disc cut from un-annealed copper sheet and then polished. Which is then directly bonded to the platter.

Cutting a label recess into the copper mat would require a process on a lathe of suitable size, and fitted with some form of vacuum chuck to hold the thin material, which makes things more time consuming and therefore more expensive.

[chris@panteg]

Very interesting Mike , but all i can say is my LP's sit very flat , and i prefer to use my alchemist weight , though at 280 gm , its not quite heavy enough.

I found the Achromat on top , just added some muddle and distortion ? But the jury is still out on my current cart !

When my 1210 is back on line , i might try a linn style felt mat or a thin neoprene mat and see what happens .

[DSJR]

I like cork, may be worth a try if it's cheap enough.. if a standard cheapie is fine, then you can spend more on a "proper" one.