Replacement Linn LP12 mat

hifijones,

LP12 owner since Oct 1988. Have tried 5 or 6 different mats thur the years. Stay with a Linn Felt Mat. That is what the LP12 was designed to be used with. Yes, you can get what seems to be better SQ with different mats at first but for the longterm, use a Linn felt mat.

Call Tom O'keefe at Ovature Audio in Ann Arbor, MI. (734-662-1812) Tom is a longtime Linn tech and the best in the country, IMO. He will get a new mat out to you. He also stocks any other parts you may need for your LP12.

hifijones;
i had a linn valhalla with stock felt mat for a long time.
the felt mat gave way to an oracle mat, which to paraphrase the late dave wilson, was good enough to see off potential oracle and sota turntable upgrades.
better was yet to come with the record interface mat.acrylic on top of a lead barium layer.
of currently available mats i’d try a funk acromat ot herbies way excellent mat. both are good value products.

why are you adverse to adjusting your arm height ?

Also a previous LP12 owner and as stated above the Linn mat will yield the best performance. I was told that Linn has a wall of mats and belts that they have experimented with thru the years and have determined the current products are the best. I had tried a couple and always returned to the Linn. Also I changed my belt and mat every year as they do wear with time. Maybe a bit anal but I just may be a bit anal;)

OK guys thanks for your replies and input.

And to answer the question from audio_d: the reason that I don’t want to adjust the tonearm height is because I’m an Old Fart and I’ve always had 2 left thumbs. And now those thumbs are old too! There are no Linn dealers here in Albuquerque and none in NM as well. And I haven’t found any service centers here in the city that I’d trust with my LP12 for even 1 minute so I’m trying to keep it simple. So thanks again for the recommendations but I think I’ll take the path of least resistance (as usual) and source a replacement Linn mat.

Hi Jones,
The felt mat is a regular PITA on the LP12.

Major disadvantage is static. It invariably charges your LPs like the very Devil then it attaches itself to LP like a limpet so when you pick it up the felt mat comes too. Annoyingly it sometimes detaches itself halfway through lift-off and skews off in the direction of the cartridge, alarmingly, almost shearing the cantilever off in the process. :(

Having severely charged the LP up, the LP will become contaminated by airborne pollutants faster.

There are lots of threads on this subject. One example attached :

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/turntable-mats-for-the-lp12-what-do-you-use.65117/

I personally prefer the Ringmat, not just on LP12s but other turntables too. One user describes slippage and mentions double-sided tape.
This is unnecessary because it slips less than the felt mat when used alone and to compound matters they are not even using it as intended. One should buy the 1mm latex base mat to act as an underlay. This further improves adhesion and enhances the Ringmat’s SQ.
The major plus is that there is no accumulated static because there is less surface contact than with most other mats - either platter-to-mat or LP-to-mat.

Hope this helps.

I tried the ringmat, cork mat, speed mat, Herbies mat and always went back to the felt.  

The Linn felt mat sucks. I also have tried many of the available mats made for the LP12. While it is true that most offer no sonic advantage other than sparing one from the annoying static issue plus the unsightlyness, the Plattamat 2 from  Analogue Innovation is a sonic improvement.  The Plattamat 2 is a rubber cork blend tailored for the LP12. It looks better also. 

http://www.analogueinnovation.com/page6.htm

Thank you mem2112 for the recommendation. As I discovered via the link the Plattamat 2 is no longer available because Analogue Innovation can no longer source that particular type of cork to continue production. But they do have some B-Stock mats available so I’m going to buy one of those. They assured me that the mat is the same thickness as the original felt mat because the Plattamat 2 was designed for the LP12. There are definitely static issues with the original felt mat especially here in the dry desert. So I have nothing to lose.

Thanks everybody for your input!