Turntable Mats

Many people like the Ringmat, but I personally have found it to sound awful on the LP12. It sounds exactly what you would expect from cork rings stuck to a piece of paper: sharpens detail a tad but changes the tonal character of the music, emphasising higher frequencies (and thus appearing to increase detail), and reducing the midrange, adding a yellowish tinge to the music. I have tried a couple of other mats with the LP12, and my advice is to stick with the felt mat, which on balance is the best mat for the LP12.

Ross

These have had consistantly good reviews in the various hi-fi rags, but think there was a post on the old Forum to the effect that a Statmat made no difference to the sound of a Naim CDP (a CD3 I think). AFAICR the same post said it did good things for something like an Arcam.

Timo

Ross,

??yellow??

Martin

Martin,

Yes, when I listen to music I hear "colours" which are strongly correlated to visual colours (a mild form of synaesthesia). This is why the ability to reproduce tonal colour is so important to me in hi fi gear, because it does appear to me literally as "colour".

Ross

Are these ringmat things the same thickness as the std felt mat?

If they are of different thickness, do the ringmat users re-adjust the attack angle of the arm/stylus to compensate?

I would be tempted to try one, but only if it is a simple swap.

but I bought one of those Statmats and a water pistol at the Manchester Hi-Fi Show.

Anyone want it?

no mat i have tried on an lp12 sounds better than the stardard. there was a phase in the world of hifi when swapping mats was all the rage, i have tried a few, ring mats, suede and sticky plasticy ones etc. the standard one works. the rest just mess up the sound, i agree with the others the initial change seems to work but long term it doesnt. i found the same the a siesmic sink etc. i havent bothered at all on my phonosphy.
ashley

... if yellow is undesirable, what colour should music be?

cheers

Nigel

Mostly blue and red, but with some gold and silver at the edges. I know this sounds weird, but that is how I "see" music, and how I know if something is not right (and no, I'm not on ecstasy).

Ross

Ross,

is that synasthesia?

cheers, Martin

Yes, it is.

Ross

Ross

RE: Synasthesia

I hear colours as well. Not just colours - but also texture. In fact, it was only a few years ago that I realised that not all people do.

Synasthesia sounds like a nasty thing you might need either penicillin or an analyst for - should I be worried?

(I found out when trying to explain that the blues is not always blue and got a lot of blank looks!)

Jonathan

Jonathon,

Welcome to the club!

No, you should not be worried. In fact, I think synaesthesia is a good thing, not a bad thing (as long as music doesn't make you smell cheese or experience physical pain, as happens with some people). I believe quite a lot of professional musicians have the same ability to hear sounds as colours, and I recall reading how one orchestral musician could always tell the key of any piece of music he was playing by its colour.

I think the ability to "hear" colours enhances the enjoyment of music, even though it might make you more fussy about the way it's reproduced. Just as I enjoy the colours of a Matisse painting, I can similarly enjoy the bright colours of a Prokofiev piano concerto, in a way not immediately accessible to others. In other words, vive la difference!

Ross

I've just looked at some Synaesthesia sites on the web and found out what is going on.

I guess I have just also figured out why I find things easy to remember - It's like a built in mneomic function.

Jonathan

Didn't Scriabin also hear colours and plan a symphony with colours projected simultaneously to convey what he "heard" naturally from the music alone. I'm not sure if he ever completed or performed such a work.

Paul

If anyone's interested, there is a good website explaining synaesthesia at http://www.macalstr.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/synesthesia/main.html.

They list composers (including Scriabin) and other artists who experienced this phenomenon.

Ross

and all this from a bit of paper with cork rings .

Malcolm

You guys are abviously crazy. Everybody knows that music is...oh, forget about it. This may have been about the Ringmat, but I really appreciate your sharing your experience.

My experience with the Ringmat, 2nd version, was immediate 'improvement' - much mpore detail, quieter surfaces, higher volume and better dynamics without varying the volume knob. That was followed by the impression that music sounded more electronic and 'hifi', and the felt mat went back into use.

Regards.

Phil

Heard the same Ringmat as Phil, and I think Ross had an excellent description, and I suspect Phil's description is a less analytic version of same--the increased treble makes it sound more detailed and hi-fi. The bass sounded more reverberant to me (in fact, the impression I got was everything sounded more reverberent and echoey), so with emphasized bass and treble, midrange lost out.

--Eric