SPEC+ Analog Disc Sheet AP-UD1 TT mat anyone else have this?


I had a Funk Firm Achromat on my TT for a few years and was very happy with it. But a couple of weeks ago
I Goggled TT mats and can across some reviews for the AP-UD1.

They were all very positive but the funny thing is that they were all from Australia, Japan, Singapore etc,
none from the US, Canada. Upon further research I saw that these were not available from any retail location in
North America only Japan where these are made.

As stated the reviews were all glowing with some saying that it improved the music by 20%. One other thing to mention is that all the reviewers had a tt/cart/arm combo that was approaching/over the five figure mark.

They are constructed of a thin aluminum disc coated with a thin black resin coating, The whole thing is
1.6mm thick

These are not cheap with some sites I saw selling them for upwards of $500. I found one on Ebay in Japan
for $265 with free FedEx shipping so I said what the heck, I hadn't spent money on my system in a while.

WOW is all that I can say...

It adds more "air" to the music a more lively sound, with tighter bass and somehow less surface noise from the vinyl itself.

I would say that the improvement is significant very happy with it (-;
tlittlefield

I just recently used double sided tape to secure it to the platter..

 

If you haven't done this do it right away...

 

If you think it sounds good now this really improved the sound for me (-;

I tried the latest Herbie's mat and immediately sent it back. Sucked the life out of my Acoustic Signature Hurricane TT with Kuzma 4Point9 arm! Then I tried the SPEC and wow, this is the one! Made everything sound more like real music. The stock AS mat isn't bad, but the SPEC brings everything to a new level. It's also damn quiet! The reviews are spot on.

Yes!  I have one now on my SL 1200GAE.  Big upgrade over the stock mat or bare platter.  I hear a more lively sound as well, but not in an exaggerated or forced way.  There is more space or as you said air in between things, more like you are hearing live music.  I bought it on eBay Japan for ~$250 IIRC, kind of on a whim when I was buying headshell from the same seller.  No regrets.

At some point I'd like to compare it to Herbie's and the Boston mat, but haven't been in too much of a rush.  LPs sound very good as is...

I used it with my Technics SP10 MK2 table with excellent results as well.  I bought mine from pitchperfectaudio.com for $350 back in September 2020.