School me on slip mats please

Drummerboy75 said:

The oil is from me turning it over to inspect, clean and lube the innards of the unit. I've since relube the shift.

Honestly, there's really nothing wrong with it, I never said that.

Thus thread was simply to educate myself, and anyone one such as myself, who's knew to all of this.

Thanks everyone, everything is clear now, we can all move on.

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I would not let these guys guilt trip you over the stock mat. Technics probably did not spend more than 2 bits on it. You are not alone if you don't like it. Worst case scenario you spend $50-$60 on an aftermarket mat, find out it's no better and sell it for a $20 loss.

Maybe if this was a $300 bearing or a $1k panzerholz plinth I could see why people would get their panties in a bunch, but a TT mat is just ridiculous imo.

Drummerboy75 said:

The oil is from me turning it over to inspect, clean and lube the innards of the unit. I've since relube the shift.

Honestly, there's really nothing wrong with it, I never said that.

Thus thread was simply to educate myself, and anyone one such as myself, who's knew to all of this.

Thanks everyone, everything is clear now, we can all move on.

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Sorry for misunderstanding you. But your original post said you were in need of a mat. I think that's why we were giving you suggestions.

Sounds like a bit of degreaser is in order and you're good to go.

Most mats are felt, rubber, or cork. The rubber mat that came with the table is good enough. But if your an audiophile, like I consider myself, on an endless pursuit to improve sound even if its all in your head, Then I would go with cork. It has better grip, is anti static and will offer better isolation. I like its natural color personally. Just be sure the mat thickness is close to yours. They come in different sizes and if your mat differs in thickness just 1mm it can change the VTA.

Turntable mats can make quite a bit of difference in what you hear from a record. Just like any replaceable component in the playback chain, "the best" will emerge from experimenting, close listening, and personal priorities. And I'd recommend a good set of headphones for exploring these potential differences.

A cork mat is about the cheapest-yet-sorta-audiophile mat.

If you go with cork, there is one that is fused with rubber. This would be better than all cork.

Slip Mat

Whaddup said:

Well I don't know about all the technics models, but the sl-1200 and sp25 mats are god awful and imo. the first accessory that needs to be replaced.

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If you think the Technics SL-1200 and SP-25 mats are God awful please send all of them my way and I'll gladly pay the postage. Technics wasn't cutting any corners or penny pinching and the mats were well designed to function with each model table Technics mfg. Yes I'v seen some well worn mats that were used 24/7/365 on broadcast turntables but any decently cared for Technics turntable the mat should be in excellent shape even after 30+ years. As noted by another poster aftermarket mats were sometimes used in conjunction with the original mat to adjust the VTA height of a non adjustable VTA tonearm. All the aftermarket mats I'v tried have not made any significant SQ improvement. Unless your into it for eye candy save your money for something like a stylus/cartridge upgrade, record cleaning machine etc. I'v read numerous threads/posts on AK Turntables but missed this one re spreading wood glue on the platter and then spraying the platter with Scrubbing Bubbles before playing a record. I'd love to hear the explanation as to what this accomplishes.

What's this VTA everyone is speaking of?

majick47, that was my attempt at some humor after all the post on cleaning records with wood glue and the latest one on cleaning them with scrubbing bubbles. Figured one could combine all of that into a platter mat that cleaned records.

BillWojo

project makes a cork mat for around 25 bucks...

BillWojo thanks for adding some much needed humor to this thread.

majick47 said:

If you think the Technics SL-1200 and SP-25 mats are God awful please send all of them my way and I'll gladly pay the postage. Technics wasn't cutting any corners or penny pinching and the mats were well designed to function with each model table Technics mfg. Yes I'v seen some well worn mats that were used 24/7/365 on broadcast turntables but any decently cared for Technics turntable the mat should be in excellent shape even after 30+ years. As noted by another poster aftermarket mats were sometimes used in conjunction with the original mat to adjust the VTA height of a non adjustable VTA tonearm. All the aftermarket mats I'v tried have not made any significant SQ improvement. Unless your into it for eye candy save your money for something like a stylus/cartridge upgrade, record cleaning machine etc. I'v read numerous threads/posts on AK Turntables but missed this one re spreading wood glue on the platter and then spraying the platter with Scrubbing Bubbles before playing a record. I'd love to hear the explanation as to what this accomplishes.

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I have been around sl-1200's for well over a decade and have seen my friends do surgery on every part of it. Over that time I have come to the conclusion that technics skimped on the platter. Technics def. cut some corners or the table would be $100k not $500. Looking at the table it has a very nice motor and controls ($125), a nice plinth with decent feet ($125), a decent sounding easy to use tone arm ($100), nice bearing ($35), and nice accessories and packaging ($100). On a $500 table that does not leave much for the platter, only $15 and I don't think technics spent much more than that. The platter is unbalanced, rings like a bell, super light, and when compare to other TT makers like micro, jvc, denon, pioneer etc. pretty much across the board have nicer platters.

If you think that micro, jvc, denon, pioneer, etc. did not skimp either you would be wrong. Most of their plinths looked nice but that is about it. Even the gigantic and tremendous gt2000 has a so-so plinth.

The technics mat is just a cheap piece of rubber. You can diy one for a few bucks. The h.a.l., b.h., f.f. mats I mentioned earlier are not that. Mats are also more than just an s.q. improvement, it helps with micro slippage that the technics mat suffers from. Did you know a kab fluid damper does nothing to improve the s.q.? All it does is act as the ultimate record de-warper. Still lots of record weights, clamps, and suction mats that cost more and do not do as an effective job as the kab so it's worth the $149 and kevin can not keep them in stock...no s.q. improvement.

In the end this is a firkin, at least on the used side, a $50 upgrade and a potential loss of only $20. The only upgrade that might be cheaper is the headshell which technics actually put some time and effort into imo. You know how much money I have spent in restocking fees and selling used for a loss trying out different audio gears? More like $2k not $20.

Drummerboy75 said:

What's this VTA everyone is speaking of?

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VTA stands for vertical tracking angle. This is the angle at which the tonearm approaches the record. Some turntables offer adjustable VTA by allowing you to raise or lower the tonearm at its mount. Raising the the arm would make the makes it reach down to the LP, and lowering it would make it reach up (and of course neutral, totally horizontal and parallel to the record surface, is in between).

When you use a mat that is thicker, it raises the surface of the LP a bit and has the same affect as lowering the back of the arm (lowers the VTA). A thinner mat does the opposite, it's like raising the VTA. Other ways people change the VTA is by putting shims under the cartridge itself where it mounts to the headshell).

So, dropping the VTA (lowering the arm at the rear (or raising the record with a thicker mat)) is generally understood to tame high frequencies, and raising the tail, or lowering the LP surface, accentuates highs.

What this is really doing is changing the angle at which the groove is making initial contact with the diamond stylus. Raising the VTA causes a more aggressive angle, lower would be smoother. Think of rubbing a stick across rough pavement. a steep angle is going to vibrate the stick more than a slight angle . (After all, what playing a record is is simply dragging a tiny rock on the end of a tiny stick through a tiny, rough plastic tough; causing a couple of tiny magnets to wave around in close proximity to a tiny coil generating tiny amounts of electricity...but I digress)

VTA is one more way you can tune your turntable's performance. But if you're like me, it may not make enough of a discernible difference to really fuss over.

speaking of mats i was in Lowes today and looked at the cork mats "squares" they have and notices that they were about 1/8" thick and i thought to myself-
"Self, you'd better as the AK guys about this first"

now i know i don't need or want an additional mat other than the perfectly good one on my TD 318.
there's always lots of great insight here on the Karma.