When I see carbon fiber, I think (and hereby, in this specific post.. belabor)....
Carbon fiber is not specifically or uniformly.....an ideal material for a turntable mat. It’s just common and impresses via this standardization, is all.
Nothing specifically wrong with it in application, no, not that, but it is frighteningly common in use. But that has nothing to do with it being ideal, as it is not.
It gives the impression that it is best via this commonality of constant application. But that in no way says that it is. It is just an impression. Brain in analysis mode is still required. As it is in anything.
If they’ve done well with it, then.. good for them.
Fuzz, that record mat you cited would make me cross-eyed, if I watched it spinning on my turntable. However, it is very good value for money compared to the subject of this thread.
Bad mat right out of the box. There is no clearance for the label area. Synergistic Research is a sham company. They make some of the silliest stuff I have ever seen.
with their fuses, cables, other paraphenalia, if there is 80-90% margin you can take a decent return rate and still come out well ahead... lots of folks won’t be hassled to return and chase for refund once they have it in hand... they are often onto the next ocd thing...
and when stuff comes back do a quick repackage and out it goes to the next unsuspecting fool, er, buyer
Yes, the PHT. My fave, too. But some persons whom I respect do swear by them. It, first of all, hinges on whether crystals can effect a reverse piezo-electric effect, by absorbing RFI and turning it into heat. The second question is why would there be a particular concentration of RFI anywhere near to the cartridge proper. The third question is can the necessarily very tiny crystal inside a PHT do this in sufficient magnitude to be heard. The fourth is why should color of the crystal change the sonic signature of the end effect.
I can understand and even respect people who say they have tried something and don't think its worth it, or they prefer something else, or even if they say its pure crap, because that's their prerogative and they have every right to tell us all about their experience. But people who throw insults around based it seems on nothing more than a selfish desire to show off, these I have no respect for. None whatsoever. Just so you know.
"Unless you have tried something or heard it in someone else’s rig how can you legitimately comment on it?" HEY: that makes SENSE! This is AudiogoN. HOW DARE YOU?
I have the HRS record weight and saw the new SR weight at kind of a silly price ($895) but read the reviews for a while as well as emailed a few guys who upgraded from the HRS to the SR and felt the improvement in sound quality would be worth the investment. My wonderful wife ordered it for me and its under the tree - along with the mat which was free in a current promotional. I have a JR Transrotor Rodino table and currently use no mat. I will let everyone know what I think of he mat when I have it for a little bit. Merry Christmas!
If it's "all around us", then putting a tiny crystal on top of a cartridge is like pissing in the wind, if you will pardon my colorful language. The question is, as I stated already, can a tiny crystal reverse the piezo-electric effect, which as you probably know is the property of a crystal when placed under pressure to emit an electrical field akin to RFI. I have done a literature search, and there is not much evidence to support the notion that a crystal can also absorb RFI and turn it into heat, or whatever SR would have us believe it does with the RFI, but I am not in a position to say categorically that such a transduction of energy is not possible. Despite my theoretical and I hope scientific questions about the PHT, I don't deny that some folks like them, and I am not about to say that such persons are delusional. No one in my personal experience who has tried them was converted to PHT-ism.
Absorption of RFI/EMI has nothing to do with piezo-electrics. Were one to actually read the references I posted; the posed questions would be addressed. Of course; comprehension is key!
I am guilty of not reading your citation. I did goof in a way by saying that the piezoelectric effect in a crystal results in release of RFI; it is the release of electric charge by a crystal under pressure, or applied mechanical stress. I apologize for that error. But it's only a small boo-boo because the electrical energy released by a piezo material can be of very high frequency, e.g., up to 1 MHz. That's RFI territory. I wrote not one word about EMI, by the way.
The tech does open the door for a wide range of possibilities, when it comes to electrodynamics. Given radio frequencies are part of the EM spectrum; I tend to lump them together. Perhaps: not that good an idea, when it comes to clarity. Happy holidays and listening!
Why would you put a goofy Crystal on top of a cartridge when you can buy actual verifiable RF absorbing material inexpensively. You know something that would actually work and do something. Whether it improves the sound or not I have no idea probably not but at least it would do what it claims.
Similar to how it would only take perhaps pennies maybe a dime or two to create enough conductivity in the turntable mat to eliminate any static electricity. I can go and buy plastic bags that are impregnated and anti-static for literally pennies. This isn't rocket science. And that uef treatment applied to a turntable mat? Really how gullible are you.
I've never taken cyanide but I know it will kill me. I've never jumped off a building but I know it will hurt and again probably kill me. There are lots of things I've never done but I'm 100% confident in the result if I do it. Physics doesn't magically change for audiophile products.
Oh, and as someone pointed out above, the mat does not even appear to have an indent where the label goes on the record. That means your record is not going to sit nice and flat. Talk about your major design fails. People figure that one out in the 70s and the '80s.
Michael Fremer did a review of SR's PHT (Transducer? Not by definition.) and said was great...and seems to have never mentioned it again in a turntable review or any other review or list of components he uses, or in his tour of his system.
I’ll weigh in on this topic. I recently purchased the Combak Harmonix weight and mat. EXPENSIVE! Sorry. I’ve heard so many mats and weights on my table in combination or separately it is nuts. None of them made me use them ongoing. I purchased and sold most of them. They altered frequency energy every time and in varying degrees. My local audio shop owner kept encouraging me to try the Combak Harmonix which I did not because of my experience and the cost. Well I finally did and without doubt it is extraordinary. It somehow leaves the signal in tact with no frequency degradation. There may be other mat weight combos as good but I have been doing high end audio for a long long time and haven’t heard them. A good friend also tried and bought it based on my recommendation.
I think of record mats as akin to seasoning on food. Not everyone will have the same preference, and so price of the mat need not have a linear relationship to performance, since performance is both a personal opinion and also dependent upon the other elements in the closed system where the mat does its work (platter, cartridge, tonearm). Or have I already said this somewhere above?
Yes you did @lewm, but people seem more interested in items of greater retail cost....and on top of that even benefit from an additional expenses, ( a clamp/weight).
Makes no sense to me.
Someone earlier saw a big problem, no recess for lp labels.
I am liking the Synergisitic mat. Still listening but there is more information being extracted form those grooves, or so it seems. Still listening... I have only been using it with their weight (replacing my HR Heavy) and there is an improvement.
It wasn't an improvement after all. After completing my hours listening (tonearm was adjusted for height of mat) it took some tone out of the woodwinds on classical passages. Not as quiet as my table without mat and current weight. Its going back (with the weight - breaks my heart but what I have just sounds better).
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