TW Acustic Turntable Mat


From Highwater Sounds Facebook page, Jeff Catalano posted a pic of the new TW Acustic turntable mat - sourced from Japan. It looks pretty substantial. I can always email Jeff on info, but hate to bother him about a turntable mat. Anyone else have any info or cost on this new mat?
philb7777
Moonglum, thanks for the description. I saw the picture of TW/Zanden mat and it has a different colour but otherwise I can't tell if there is any other difference. However, the Zanden mat that I tried had only the soft rubbery material single layer so it sounds like it is different from TW/Zanden with dual layer soft/hard side.
Suteetat

The description from the TW site states this

Yamada-san of Zanden Audio, Japan, has developed a 5 mm thick compound mat for us, and it has totally won us over. The mat consists of two different layers of rubber. The harder of the two compounds sits directly on the turntable’s platter. The softer upper surface generates adhesion and thereby creates a perfect connection between record and turntable. The incomparable dynamics that distinguish our turntable from the rest remain fully unnrestricted, but the musical reproduction appears clamer and more composed because there is now no perceptible pickup noise at all. In addition, the mat lends the music an aura of silkiness and exclusive musicality.

So from the above descrition it is a one sided mat, but dual density with the soft layer intended to face up.
Right now I am using my TW with out a mat. I only have experience with the Millenium mat. But I will eventually get the new TW/Zanden mat one of these days.
Hmmm

I own the Raven AC-3 with BN platter. I currently use without any mat as it sounds better.

I have tried Boston audio mat - deadens the sound, so I guess OK if your system is bright.
Millennium mat that came with table - OK but seems slightly diffuse/blur detail in certain frequencies.
Living Voice mat - best of the 3 and pretty close to no mat.

Furutech record weight used depending on recording being played.

Interesting that rubber compound is used for the new Zanden/TW mat. Back to the 70's and DD tables and rubber mats.
I have yet to find a mat that betters the rubber mat that cane with my Pioneer Exclusive P3 as it adds life and drive into the music.
Perhaps I should try my two spare Technics rubber mats - thin and thick on the TW platter?
I have tried an original rubber mat from old Pioneer turntable, but results were unimpressive.

Quite interesting results and easy to check I got when I placed a second winyl record under the played one.
This brings me to idea of trying Clearaudio Harmonicer mat, which is not very expensive and made of winyl.
You're most welcome Suteetat :)

Downunder...if I had a BN platter I probably wouldn't soil it with a mat either :) ;)

Milimetr...Experimenters place a lot of reliance on the mechanical impedance of vinyl/acryl mats being ideal but that doesn't mean the average listener will even like them. :)
FWIW, my personal preference, the Ringmat, effectively addresses your concerns about platter & LP veneer damage) :
The hybrid Ringmat not only offers good adhesion, grip & platter(rather than vinyl) damping i.e. if required on a metal surface, via the heavy, thin, latex Base Mat but virtually eliminates the risk of vinyl damage due to sharp dust or particulates (e.g. statically charged loose core from the spindle hole drilling) which is another benefit of the Ringmat’s decoupled nature.

Ringmats, whether 330XLR or "Gold Spot", seem to be uniformly successful with any platter – glass, metal, or plastic (although non-ringing split platters like the LP12 are quite happy without any underlay but it might help adhesion) and it renders clamps & weights redundant.

Please note, the Ringmat was intended to be used with the Latex underlay, with or without the remainder of the VTA adjustment system. Most Ringmat owners seem to be using the Ringmat on its own (I know I did once…) and are not getting the full benefit. The Latex Base Mat is comparatively cheap but offers more than an incremental performance increase.
Changes like this are so fundamental to the behaviour of your turntable that 20 quid for a Latex Base Mat could turn out to be money well spent while $500 could be the biggest risk ever undertaken, unless the Distributor is offering a free-trial?