TT mats

Saec SS-300 is great mat, very well designed, not only for "12 inch records, but also for "7 inch records. It's a lightweight mat which i'm happy to use on Luxman pd-444. 

Micro CU-500 is heavy gunmetal mat that i use only on Technics SP-10mkII 

Micro Seiki CU-500 is hard to beat.
SAEC SS-300 has the best price on the used market.
Took those pictures long time ago, but still use the mats and don;t want to change them for anything else. 

@invictus005

@invictus005 Both of those mats are metal placed on a metal platter. That’s like placing a record directly on the brass top plate on the new 1200G.



There’s not much dampening going on there.

Can you describe the sound difference between what you use and a mat made out of elastomer type of material?

Saec SS-300 alloy mat (870g) , as you can find online, eliminates the distortion-producing resonance in the 200-400Hz range, which is common to most all conventional rubber mats. This results in a 10~20dB net reduction in overall resonance, to further reduce distortion at its source. Some cartridges are sensivite to the rotor under the platter, felt mats can't solve the problem. 

For direct drive is a must have! I like SAEC for two reasons, one of them is the affordable price under $350 (used), second reason is the concave for 7inch records. I don't use SAEC without my Disc Stabilizers on top (Micro ST-10 or Noritake Ceramic Stabilizer). 

SAEC is also eye candy, i really like the design of that alloy mat. The most important is the size which is exactly like my Luxman PD-444 platter, so it's a good match. I'm happy, some other mats are different size and does not fit the platter well. 

SAEC is a top quality mat! I will not describe the effect on the sound quality, but it's an upgrade over the rubber mat for sure. I don't like rubber mats at all. 

Micro Seiki CU-500 is super heavy (2.7kg) pure copper mat, very rare and very expensive (over $1200), better than SAEC SS-300, but not for every turntable. I use it on SP-10mkII and they are looks like they are made for each other. I remember when i replaced stock rubber mat, the effect was huge! It was the biggest upgrade for my SP-10mkII. CU-500 and thinner, lighter and cheaper CU-180 does not fits the Luxman PD-444 well, so it is always important to measure the platter and mat before buying any of them. 

I'm fine to put the records on the metal mat, i think the engineers of Micro Seiki knows well what they are doing. The platters of Micro turntables are copper. I don't have the ST-20 clamp, it's extremely rare, but i use ST-10 instead. I think the ST-20 was made for CU-500 mat. 

 

 

That's why i like Micro Seiki CU-500 and CU-180 gunmetal (copper) masts on Technics SP-10mkII 

@enginerd1960 Those mats desidned to be placed directly on the platter, why do you need your rubber mat in between? Micro Seiki CU-180 and CU-500 fits the platter of SP-10 series like it was designed for Technics, here is a picture of my CU-500 on SP-10mkII.   

@enginerd1960 i think the spindle is too short to place a mat on top of the rubber mat on most of the turntables, but it is possible on SP-10mkII