Lets see pictures of your Deck

[frenchmon]

The dots are the little blurred dashes. This photo was taken in low light, so they moved pretty far during the photo, thus making long streaks. The extra grip they provide seems to translate into a bit of grip on the sound. I think it sort of cleans up lower frequencies a tiny bit. But it also adds a touch of bass, something on which I had mixed emotions.

I did some comparisons both ways, thinking I could leave dots ready to use by simply flipping the platter. But it wasn't that easy in the end. I had to add a 3rd shim with the dots to get the tracking angle the same as it was with the felt mat and 2 shims and thus make for a meaningful comparison.

Where you having problems with your mat? I've got that felt mat which I don't like. I thought about making a mat out of an old suede coat I have but I think I will purchase a mat. I've tried it without a mat on the acrylic platter but you have to be very careful taking it off the platter or the album can get scratched if one does not like to turn off the table to turn over the album like me. Any way your I deal sounds like a good one...love to hear the end result of your study.

[02audionoob]

Where you having problems with your mat? I've got that felt mat which I don't like. I thought about making a mat out of an old suede coat I have but I think I will purchase a mat. I've tried it without a mat on the acrylic platter but you have to be very careful taking it off the platter or the album can get scratched if one does not like to turn off the table to turn over the album like me. Any way your I deal sounds like a good one...love to hear the end result of your study.

I made a mat out of padded shelf liner and it's currently on my wife's Debut III. It seems to sound a little cleaner than the felt when used on the steel platter. With the glass platter on my P5, I didn't have any problem with it...just experimenting. I wanted to know how the sound would change with the record practically adhered to the platter. It did change, but it's hard to say if it was truly better. And besides, with the record stuck down it was stopping the platter when I removed the record.

I didn't get too deep into the comparison largely because of the tracking angle issue. But what I heard was somewhat similar to the effect of adding tracking force, at least on the low end. But adding tracking force can compromise the highs; and the rubber dots didn't really do that. The only idea I can come up with on the issue is that during the play of low frequencies there might be a tiny bit of slippage that occurs on the felt mat but not on the rubber dots. In that respect, it sounds like the effect of a clamp or weight...and maybe that's approximately the difference I heard.