Needles & Grooves

Lot's of people around here use the Hudson HiFi Acrylic mats. Do a search for them on Amazon. I think they are $20. I've had no complaints so far.

I used a deer leather mat with my Pro-Ject and liked it very much.

Go all-in on an acrylic platter and never worry about a record mat ever again

+1 on the acrylic mats. I even noticed that I had less warps than I thought.

@ThePakoBuelna amen to that. The cork and felt mats ALWAYS hade one little bump that refused to lay flat.

@CAPacelli are you joking or being serious... i have an acrylic platter already on my uturn but i dunno

also yeah i had 2 VMP cork mats and both has a slight warp.. not dangerous.. but not good

The platter and mat are different. The acrylic mat is the same thickness as the cork just made from acrylic. For the uturn, you need a mat to keep the VTA right. I think the projects have an acrylic platter that doesn't need a mat because it's thicker? Someone else want to chime in on this?

Super serious. No mat needed on an acrylic platter.

won't that mess with the stylus angle and stuff? and what about possible dirt or something on the acrylic

Typically no adjustment needed, but check your turntable's manual to be sure. For my Pro-Ject, for instance, the acrylic platter is as thick as the standard platter plus mat as it's a direct swap so no adjustment is needed. As for dust, I usually just brush the top off with my carbon brush before putting a record on. Never had any issues with scratching, etc

@CAPacelli then why did my uturn come with a felt mat

Seems like it's a design issue with the UTurn. They didn't design the acrylic platter to be tall enough without a mat and you can't adjust tonearm height on UTurns so a mat is still required making the benefits of an acrylic platter purely aesthetic

@CAPacelli so did i waste money? or do i just need a new turntable mat