VPI felt mat vs aftermarket


I’ve been contemplating getting a mat for my VPI Classic. Mainly to avoid slippage when used without center weight and to avoid static in winter.
 

VPI now offers a very basic felt mat with their logo. It is cheap and looks nice. Has anyone had experience with that mat on their VPI classic platter? Another option I’m considering is going straight to Auditorium 23 Turntable Mat. 

dmk_hifi

To mat or not to mat.  After a lot of experimenting I settled on the Origin Live on both my VPI HW-40 and my SL1200GAE although on the latter it is a two layer affair with a plastic disc first and then the Origin on top.  That is because of a limitation of the arm adjustment on the Technics and I need some extra height. An old record would work just as well, but the plastic disc is cheap and readily available from places like Amazon.  On my old VPI HW-19 MkIII, though I still use nothing, as in no mat at all.  For record clamps I use the VPI weight on the Technics, a Stillpoint on the HW-40, and the old screw down clamp on the HW-19.  Truth be told nothing works better than my old KAB clamp with a rubber washer, but I foolishly gave it away. 

Thanks everyone for your feedback, I'm going to try VPI felt mat to start. Worst case, I'll use it as a dust cover :)

@tablejockey , I tried using VPIs stainless steel screw down clamp with rubber gasket, but I don't find it performing any better than HRX weight with warped records.

Most of my warped records are warped around the outer perimeter, and clamp does nothing to flatten the outer edge. For other records, HRX is just as good in keeping center section flat to the platter, without the extra effort. However, I'm also not ready to pay $1k for a perimeter ring, and for 45rpm it's not worth the effort.

If any reflex clamp or weight system is going to be implemented, it’s also worth noting that a proper VPI platter should allow the groove surface of a record to make intimate contact with the platter surface.

This is accomplished by machining a proper “relief” for the record label at the inner platter area adjacent to the spindle as well as at the outer platter perimeter for a record’s potential “edge guard”.

A felt mat would be beneficial in cases where the platter surface is incorrect.

What do you mean by a proper VPI platter?

My VPI has the standard Classic platter with the indent for the record label area around the spindle. Only indent is much deeper than thickness of a typical paper label, but more shallow than the rubber ring VPI supplies for their clamp. So I'm not exactly sure what it supposed to accomplish.