Technics 1200G - clamp record weight or no record weight?

@nkonor

... Think about things and use Your Ears. Do you really want a metal mat? Even if its copper. Some guys swear by VPI aluminum platters, Some Delrin platters. chakster likes copper mats

Absolutely. This is the only way to find out what is the best for our systems. But don't forget that Technics platter on GAE and SP-10R is made of brass metal. Brass is an alloy of Copper and Zinc.  

Micro Seiki platter mats (CU-180 and CU-500) are made of Gunmetal.

Gunmetal, also known as Red Brass in the United States, is a type of Bronce - and alloy of Copper, Tin, and Zinc. 

Top of the line Micro Seiki platters are made of gunmetal. Same about their Record Weight like the ST-10 and clamps like the ST-20. I think gunmetal is much more expensive than brass. 

I missed the point that OP has "G" model, but "GR" model does not have a brass platter (this is where technics cut the price) and adding a Micro Seiki CU-180 is reasonable. The cheaper alternative is SAEC SS-300 mat. As for the record weight the Micro ST-10 (gunmetal disc stabilizer is perfect for Technics SL1200G). 

Micro Seiki mat is not only a huge upgrade for powerfull direct drives, but it make any DD turntable looks like a luxury unit. I just love it on my PD-444 

I stand corrected; I was experimenting with the VPI weight.

@chakster 

Thank You for the clarification on the Micro Seiki platter mats and record weights. Much appreciated. Will investigate.

Dear @nkonor: Flat records makes a difference for the better that's why MS, Yamaha, Luxman and many other TT manufacturers came/comes with a vaccum record hold down mechanism.

Try to find out the after market the vintage Audio Technica  AT665BX or the AT666, these ones comes with vacuum hold down  mechanism and works really fine. You don't have to spend 2.850K Euros .

In the other side the best mats are not metal ones, normally metal goes against quality levels.
The Acrilic that you are using confirm it and the best to have is the original SOTA Supermat in combination with the reflex Basis Audio clamp that's better than the Sota reflex. Of course that exist other non-metal mats as other gentlemans shared here and even there are Technics owners that prefers no clamp.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Yeah, you can always cut your carpet to put it on the disc as an alternative to beautiful Micro Seiki Gunmetal mats.

This is from Denon engineers:

"Low frequency limit rof the cutting on the disc is approximately 20 Hz, therefore, the signal at lower frequencies than that is not supposed to come out. However, subsonic noise under 4-5 Hz tends to be reproduced larger due to the warpage of the record disc. For the audio instruments which originally deal with the audible range signal, signal close to DC is not a close friend. Such evil effect as modulation distortion is caused on the signal in the audible range due to the undesirable low frequency range signal being sent to the amplifier or the speaker."

Do you want to continue without record weight or clamp ?