Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

RAUL disagrees with you, Chak —

"That tiny hole at the inner position in the SS300 is not to fix it to the spindle. SAEC makes a research about and they found out that the LP/records tend to slide through a metal mat surface so its advice is that with a small nail use that hole to fix the LP to the mat and for this you have to make a tiny hole on each LP at exactly the metal mat hole position then and before play you insert the tiny nail in the LP through the metal mat hole. In this way the mat and LP spins at unison/evenly."

Neither seems worth the bother to me, or even the few seconds to think about it. And note it could be done with any other mat regardless of the material, and no one ever bothered.

"SAEC’s SS-300 mat is aluminum, anodised black and then coated with a very thin ( and very strong ) teflon coating

"The success of the mat is in its cut-outs in the physical design as well as the coating which stops ringing and is gentle on records as well as being anti-static and balanced

"Long out-of-production, I’ve tried dozens of mats and the SAEC is a keeper." Rtatts

Good new info, thanks. I was in the dark, never knew.

I’ve been using one for close to 30 years. I never heard of it when I found one in a Thrift shop for $5. I figured it got separated from its TT, and dutifully searched for it to reunite them. If the TT was worthy of the mat, they would be a score at Thrift shop prices and I’d grab them both. If it was a mismatch, they’d be cheap and I’d grab them either way. But there wasn’t a single turntable there, of any description, just the mat alone.

$5 for the SAEC is petty theft, and for all my faults I’m not petty. I even explained to the Cashier it was underpriced and he said "Five bucks or shut up."

I won’t say it’s the best, with 100,000 other mats out there to try... but I don’t need the best: very good is good enough for me.

And that tip about the tiny hole+pin to keep records from moving? Fabulous! There’s NOTHING worse than an LP slipping! Tracking at 1.4g, needle-drag can shift the groove .00000000324mm retrograde before you know it, and ANY good ear can hear the tempo go kablooey, not to mention the pitch.

I start drilling tomorrow. With a CAD-Drillpress and a 5-metre long 1mm bit I can do 5000 LPs at once.

"I will never puncture my precious golden age vinyls or expensive MoFi prints for such bullshit..." Best-groove

Drilling holes in a record label meant it was "remaindered" — it didn’t sell, no one wants it — and it went straight into the $1 bin.

I use the SAEC mat, and have many LPs worth $1000 and up. I won’t make their value plummet to $1.
---------

And Raul adds a gem:

@lewm : "but the notion of drilling an LP ... seems dubious at best."

"Dubious? When you never had on hand the original one and you never experienced it? How dare you to post that so secure statement?

"You are totally wrong because that tiny hole is for what I posted!"

Audiogon offers the most learned and insightful info I can find online, and I do check other sites. The great info here is often surrounded by intense debate, but it’s worth it.

Raul’s shows that "intense" debate can become ferocious.

And if any of you think this comment of mine is even slightly flawed —

                                                  "HOW DARE YOU!!!"

If Raul can do it, so can I.

Raul, I’m sure your memory is very clear, based on your reading at the time, that the hole in the SAEC mat is there to match holes in the LPs. Maybe way back when, it was cool to drill little holes in our records.

I remember a time when I’d remove an LP from the TT, set it safely on its cover lying on the floor before putting it away — and my girlfriend would step on it while coming to kiss me.

No problem, just buy a new copy at Record Hunter for $4.

Nowadays that record might be so rare it’s priceless, and a hole would be unthinkable.

But to reply to a mild word like "dubious" with "How dare you" seems a bit over-sensitive.

When did 55 become "geezer"?

It looks like it has a built in phono amp as the little button next to the RCA outs says mm/mc.
Does this mean it cannot be used through a phono amp as there does not appear to be a bypass to this , just choice of mm or mc.

I think it's only a gain-stage for the MC to boost the low output — there's no RIAA eq. So it can go into your phono preamp.