-edible zone-

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*Above photo: Malcolm Coulson's Spotmat on a Thorens TD160C.

 SpotMat uses two concentric polar arrays of round cork pads glued to a heavy textured paper. Malcolm has chosen artists watercolor paper for this task. The cork pads are .75 inches in diameter and .07 inches thick. Twenty of them altogether. The inner circle consists of 8 equally spaced pads on a 5.04 inch diameter circle. The outer circle has 12 equally spaced pads on a 8.04 inch diameter circle. SpotMat puts lots of air under the record. This is very obvious when viewed close up at platter level while the record is playing. The idea is for minimum support contact between mat and record.

SpotMat does not employ any cork pads between the platter surface and the paper mat. Clearly, there is no intent for the paper to act as a conductive medium for resonant energy. At least not in the same way as Ringmat where specific area placement of the over and under cork rings set up tuned drumheads out of the paper substrate for resonant energy to make a path into. Malcolm did say that he tried using cork underneath but preferred the sound of SpotMat in the configuration we see here.

One visual distraction with the SpotMat in this application comes from the cast-in holes of the Thorens outer platter. The SpotMat leaves these three holes partially exposed. This to me seems unattractive.

 Listening evaluation: SpotMat

A Thorens TD160 C with Shure V15VxMR cartridge. (with dynamic stabilizer deployed) is the test mule turntable for this review.

Note also that this particular table has been the recipient of numerous damping mods carried out in other areas of this website. Prior to this test, the table's basic state of tune has been re-evaluated with fine tuning applied to the suspension and tonearm alignment. Methods of tuning can be seen at this link.

The other mats Spotmat is compared to in this test:

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*Above photo: A Thorens standard equipment rubber ridged mat.  A much maligned mat that everyone loves to hate.  Is it really that bad?  No.  I think you can do worse.  I know I have.

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Above photo: my Thorens TD160 C fitted with a cupboard liner platter mat. This material is a rubbery coated foam cupboard liner available in grocery stores, department stores and home improvement stores and is sold by the roll for a few dollars. It comes in different colors, web patterns and thickness. Above photo shows a liner with a thickness of 4mm.

How tough can it be to cut one of these yourself....? Can you use scissors...? Can you use the standard mat as a cut pattern...?

The cool part is that this mat can improve the sound compared to other mats. More about that later. Thickness is the same as the standard Thorens mat. If you've already optimized your VTA for the Thorens mat, you won't need to re-tune.

One negative that becomes apparent, with use, is the surface of this mat leaves a dry somewhat tacky residue to items it comes in contact with. Including your vinyl....! The mat I have here exhibited this tendency at first. Now, after being out in the atmosphere for over one year, it leaves no trace residue that can be seen or felt.

Listening tests proved that this mat is a likely upgrade over the standard Thorens rubber mat. Background noise is quieter, subtle improvements in detail and texture of individual sounds were appreciated. Not a pronounced difference, but perceivable none the less.

Worth the time and effort....and for very little expense.

Test Format: Play the same track using three different mats at the same volume setting and describe what's different.

Paul Simon, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, side 1 track 1, Kodachrome:

What's different...? What's different is the third mat I tried, Spotmat. There is an obvious increase in weight of the lower frequencies. At the same time, bass notes seem tight and well textured. Midrange details are more apparent. Cymbals shimmer and hang in the air where before they seemed less defined, muted. Other stick-on-wood percussion strokes are now more fully described and therefore more noticeable. Background silence is quieter. Less residual noise. Another positive observation in SpotMat's favor is the lack of any static while handling records. Fortunately, static doesn't seem to happen around cork. In this 3 mat comparison, and on this table, SpotMat is the winner.