Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

Dear @lewm : The Sota mat was started in the market around 1983 as an up-date/grade to its Sota Saphire TT and its material is a blended propietary material.

This comes from a Stereophile review of the Star model that is the one witn vacuum hold mechanism not the Sota but the reviewer owned the original saphire:


""" This problem was eliminated by a change to the new SOTA mat which was introduced last summer. """

Here a picture of what you must look for:

https://www.google.com/search?q=SOTA+Mat&rlz=1C1OKWM_esMX875MX875&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=YYpt9kYM4eSqlM%253A%252CBfV8HD9hUvIVeM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQOG9cznt2amytjKQFeR1pZ-M8kAg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIs9ugxt7nAhVBoZ4KHSPRBxIQ9QEwDHoECAcQCQ#imgrc=YYpt9kYM4eSqlM:


Nothing comes close the Sota mat, it burns/make dust the SS-300 in any TT.


Is a must to have.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

The picture says: Oracle but it's a Sota one or at least a copy of the original Sota unique mat.

I hardly think the SS300 is the second best mat of all time, if the SOTA mat you reference were to be the named best of all time.  But you've made your own opinion clear.  Like I said about my own current preference, the BA Mat2 is generally a smidgeon ahead of the SS300, but I happen to like the SS300 on the TT101, for some reason. Yet there are some who dislike the BA Mats, too.  If energy dissipation is your fetish, then the BA Mats are certainly designed with that in mind.

The Boston Mat 2 is good with a Kenwood outer disk stabilizer it is great 
you get the full effect of the mat 

@lewm  : this is easy. Metal resonates at listen frequency range and the feedback is takes by the cantilever stylus tip and the transducer takes those metal resonances/distortions as groove modulations.

Again, metal mat is the worst place to use in a TT mat that one of its main functions is to dampen.

That's all, I don't care if you like it or not. I like it in my SP10 in the past till I learned. So what, I like means almost nothing.

R.

I hardly think the SS300 is the second best mat of all time, if the SOTA mat you reference were to be the named best of all time. But you’ve made your own opinion clear. Like I said about my own current preference, the BA Mat2 is generally a smidgeon ahead of the SS300, but I happen to like the SS300 on the TT101, for some reason. Yet there are some who dislike the BA Mats, too. If energy dissipation is your fetish, then the BA Mats are certainly designed with that in mind.

@lewm interesting, i have 3rd version of BA mat, anyone who can’t find BA1 or BA2 can buy new The Mat from Sakura Systems, its thinner than BA2, probably the best of them. Just 250 bucks within USA.

"After some hiatus period, Boston Audio has teamed up with SAKURA SYSTEMS and now proudly introduces "The Mat", the culmination of our experiences through developping Mat 1 & 2. By incorporating different carbon graphite material, we successfully achieved the identical performance of Mat 2 with less thickness (4 mm) and the reduced price."

diameter/293mm
thickness/4mm
weight/454grms

P.S. Micro Seiki CU-180 and CU-500 are the mats to dies for if turntable can handle high mass. 
Today i got my Micro ST-20 gunmetal clamp and it's so nice, much lighter/better than ST-10
Now i have gunmetal under and over the record.