Project Acryl-it Platter


I have a Debut 3 with Speedbox 2 and Ortofon OM 20 stylus upgrade. Really hate the felt mat that sits on top of the Steel Platter. Considering getting the Acryl-it Platter or possibly a Herbie's Way Excellent Mat or something comparable.

Not sure which way to go and was wondering if any other Project owners could share their experiences with upgrading their Platter and or mat. Would like to keep the cost within the price ranges of the above options.
128x128ppomerantz
Does the Herbie's Mat cut down on static? The OEM felt mat is stuck to the bottom of the LP after playing and I have to peel it off and reattach to platter.
Well I live in Colorado and the humidity is so low i did have some sticking problems but used double stick tape under the herbies mat to hold it down.
I thought the Acryl-it platter was a fantastic upgrade to my Debut III. Better sound, better looking. One thing to think about if you plan to upgrade your cartridge at all - the acrylic platter allows you to use a moving coil cart, while you cannot do so with the metal platter. At least, I have personal knowledge that you can't use a Denon DL-160. Not sure if Herbie's mat would be enough of a shield between the metal platter and the cart to allow for a moving coil, doubt it.
They are kind of expensive but getting Zerostat would be good especially if you use vacuum machine to clean.I used 16.5 and that built up static and Zerostat did good job (I do double clean cycle with one pre-clean tube and second round then use LAST LP preservative every 50 plays.But tow clean on new Lp definitely build up static on that first clean and even once through machine or simple brush did it as well).No matter what you use to clean LP's even brush static will build up even removal from paper sleeves (and a bit with rice paper VRP's).Yeah Felt is definitely something to dump sound and hassle wise.Acrylic,cork,vinyl all are better.
Chazz
I had the Herbie's mat and now have an Acryl-It on my 1Xpression. The Acryl-It was a good bit better in my system. Definitely worth the few extra dollars than the Herbie's mat.

The Herbie's mat was no slouch though. The Acryl-It just does everything the Herbie's mat did a touch better. The Herbie's mat and Acryl-It platter together didn't go very well. Everything was over damped.

I'd get rid of the cartridge when possible. The OM series carts are outdated. They were designed for older tonearms, and today's tonearms either have more or less mass (can't remember which). The new Ortofons will be a worthy upgrade, as will other carts.