IMO the weight of a platter is a very important consideration. What do each of these weigh? On acrylic and vinyl, you may be better off without a mat. It's worth trying.
Thoughts on the various platter materials used in Pro-Ject's midrange turntables?
I've been looking at Pro-Ject's mid-priced turntables and it has got me thinking: which ones have better platters for sonic performance? Specifically, the models, all which have different platter materials are:
X2 - Acrylic ($1,699);
The Classic Evo - Aluminum (Precision balanced TPE-damped) ($1,999);
6 PerspeX SB - Vinyl/MDF sandwiched platter ($2,799).
Doing some general searches online, there seems to be high praise for acrylic. A lot of bashing of aluminum and not great comments regarding MDF. Is it possible that the cheapest turntable (X2) has the best platter? Obviously, this discussion does not take into consideration the other differences with the turntables, including cartridge differences. But just thought I'd get some insight specifically on the platter issue.
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@melm Unfortunately, the only weight info I could find is on the acrylic platter on the X2: its 2kg and 30mm thick. The description given on the Classic Evo aluminum platter is: "The heavy aluminium main platter construction utilises advanced thermo plastic elastomers (TPE*) for optimising resonance behaviour. A drawback for most of the old designs was the platter. Casted platters all have been heavy (which is good for speed constancy and low wow and flutter) but suffered very much from ringing effects which again caused colouration of the sound. The platter of The Classic EVO is precisely machined out of a special aluminium alloy again damped with TPE*, which offers special damping abilities."
And here's what they say about the 6 PerspeX SB - Vinyl/MDF sandwiched platter: "The resonance-optimised platter is a sandwich construction utilising a fine-balanced medium density fibre platter and a 4mm thick flat-ground layer of vinyl and a screw-down metal record clamp. It runs on an inverted bearing with stainless-steel axle carrying a ceramic ball/plate bearing." |
It's shameful that audio manufacturers often don't fully describe what you are getting. [I'm involved in some discussions about DACs and finding out what's actually inside some of these is detective work.] IMO platter weight is perhaps the most important turntable spec. If you're serious about buying you might write to Pro-ject and ask. They are correct about ringing aluminum platters if they are not thick and heavy (like VPI for ex.). Best then to use a substantial mat for dampening. |
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