TigerScent Posted February 6, 2023 Posted February 6, 2023 I replaced my glass platter on my Rega Planar 3 turntable some years ago...I thought it sounded better, with a cork mat - however recently I put the glass one back on and actually prefer it...with the cork matt even more... The glass ones are more expensive when I last looked ... so why would Rega and SystemDek prefer to sell their turntables with more expensive glass instead of acrylic if acrylic is sonically superior? I purchased a Rega 'woody' Planar 2 (which is exactly the same thickness plinth as a Rega Planar 3) just for the R200 tonearm. Oddly enough it just came with a 10mm glass platter and not a 12mm one as the Rega Planar 3 did. I am going to use it on a TT I am designing, and decided to either bond the 10mm glass platter with a 2 mm copper top sheet with some adhesive like silicone, or just leave it loose ... or use a sheet of polycarbonate on top 2mm...It would be an interesting experiment...Polycarbonate absorbs impact a lot more than acrylic - theoretically it should be superior to acrylic I believe because of that...Im also going to have some polycarbonate platters cut up...did you know its bulletproof? Anyone ever experimented with platters made of different kinds of materials??
GregWormald Posted February 6, 2023 Posted February 6, 2023 2 hours ago, TigerScent said: Anyone ever experimented with platters made of different kinds of materials?? Nope, but I have tried a wide variety of platter mat materials and thicknesses, and got many differences and some improvements.
Warren Jones Posted February 6, 2023 Posted February 6, 2023 11 hours ago, TigerScent said: I replaced my glass platter on my Rega Planar 3 turntable some years ago...I thought it sounded better, with a cork mat - however recently I put the glass one back on and actually prefer it...with the cork matt even more... The glass ones are more expensive when I last looked ... so why would Rega and SystemDek prefer to sell their turntables with more expensive glass instead of acrylic if acrylic is sonically superior? I purchased a Rega 'woody' Planar 2 (which is exactly the same thickness plinth as a Rega Planar 3) just for the R200 tonearm. Oddly enough it just came with a 10mm glass platter and not a 12mm one as the Rega Planar 3 did. I am going to use it on a TT I am designing, and decided to either bond the 10mm glass platter with a 2 mm copper top sheet with some adhesive like silicone, or just leave it loose ... or use a sheet of polycarbonate on top 2mm...It would be an interesting experiment...Polycarbonate absorbs impact a lot more than acrylic - theoretically it should be superior to acrylic I believe because of that...Im also going to have some polycarbonate platters cut up...did you know its bulletproof? Anyone ever experimented with platters made of different kinds of materials?? I have experimented with platters for the Technics SP10. We commenced with a stainless steel, then SS with 16mm of POMC (Acetal) bolted to the SS. Gunmetal and GM with POMC. The later platters with 20mm POMC also incorporate a decoupled LP spindle that does not touch the bearing spindle. I have also modified the stock platter by bolting 20mm POMC to it with a decoupled LP spindle. The thing that is immediately noticeably with the 20mm POMC platters is the drop in noise floor. Platters make a big difference in sound quality. The platters job is to manage the energy being generated by the stylus in the groove. POMC has similar acoustic impedance to the LP, meaning that coupling the LP to the POMC allows over 90% of the vibration energy to enter the platter where the POMC has better damping properties than aluminium. 2
John0001 Posted February 6, 2023 Posted February 6, 2023 My experiences rated best first, this is non scientific: 1. Glass w/ achromat 2. Aluminium w/ rubber mat 3. Acrylic w/ carbon fibre mat 1
TigerScent Posted February 6, 2023 Author Posted February 6, 2023 39 minutes ago, John0001 said: My experiences rated best first, this is non scientific: 1. Glass w/ achromat 2. Aluminium w/ rubber mat 3. Acrylic w/ carbon fibre mat I prefer the glass platter, albeit with cork mat...the achromat sounds interesting, a bit pricey....
Warren Jones Posted February 7, 2023 Posted February 7, 2023 14 hours ago, TigerScent said: I replaced my glass platter on my Rega Planar 3 turntable some years ago...I thought it sounded better, with a cork mat - however recently I put the glass one back on and actually prefer it...with the cork matt even more... The glass ones are more expensive when I last looked ... so why would Rega and SystemDek prefer to sell their turntables with more expensive glass instead of acrylic if acrylic is sonically superior? I purchased a Rega 'woody' Planar 2 (which is exactly the same thickness plinth as a Rega Planar 3) just for the R200 tonearm. Oddly enough it just came with a 10mm glass platter and not a 12mm one as the Rega Planar 3 did. I am going to use it on a TT I am designing, and decided to either bond the 10mm glass platter with a 2 mm copper top sheet with some adhesive like silicone, or just leave it loose ... or use a sheet of polycarbonate on top 2mm...It would be an interesting experiment...Polycarbonate absorbs impact a lot more than acrylic - theoretically it should be superior to acrylic I believe because of that...Im also going to have some polycarbonate platters cut up...did you know its bulletproof? Anyone ever experimented with platters made of different kinds of materials?? I read this a little more thoroughly. I would not use copper as a mat, look up Lenz Law. Place a magnet on a bit of copper and tilt the copper the Lenz effect will prevent the magnet slipping off the copper. This MUST affect the generator in the cartridge. If you have a platter made I would use Acetal (POM). Delrin is 3M's proprietary Acetal and is POMH. POM would be a far better option than Polycarbonate. I would also use an aluminium base.
TigerScent Posted February 8, 2023 Author Posted February 8, 2023 On 07/02/2023 at 11:21 AM, Warren Jones said: I read this a little more thoroughly. I would not use copper as a mat, look up Lenz Law. Place a magnet on a bit of copper and tilt the copper the Lenz effect will prevent the magnet slipping off the copper. This MUST affect the generator in the cartridge. If you have a platter made I would use Acetal (POM). Delrin is 3M's proprietary Acetal and is POMH. POM would be a far better option than Polycarbonate. I would also use an aluminium base. Copper mats have had some good reviews. Have you tried polycarbonate?
TemaadAudio Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 Hi, Just a heads up, you can buy a cooper mat from Ali Express {no recess) for about $100. Cheers 1
TigerScent Posted February 25, 2023 Author Posted February 25, 2023 On 21/02/2023 at 3:02 PM, TemaadAudio said: Hi, Just a heads up, you can buy a cooper mat from Ali Express {no recess) for about $100. Cheers thanks for that...
Recommended Posts