CATEGORIES
- SONIC ART CABLE RANGE->
- SONIC ART "ITSaRACKIT" SHELVING
- REGA TONEARMS & UPGRADES->
- TONEARM UPGRADES, PLUGS, WIRING->
- TURNTABLE ACCESORIES->
- ORIGIN LIVE UK->
- ORACLE AUDIO CANADA->
- AUDIO TECHNICA TURNTABLES
- PHONO CARTRIDGES->
- CEC AUDIO JAPAN->
- AUDIOLAB UK->
- PRO-JECT AUDIO->
- SONIC ART POWER SUPPLIES
- SONIC ART FABRICATION SERVICES->
- AUDIOPHILE VINYL & CD's->
- VACUUM TUBES->
- REPLACEMENT REMOTE HANDSETS!
- DIY AUDIO COMPONENTS->
- CLEARANCE, DEMOS, TRADE-INS!
- Specials ...
REVIEWS & TECHNOLOGY
ORIGIN
LIVE “STRATA MULTI LAYER PLATTER MAT”
Please note: Origin Live has decided
to optimise the STRATA diameter at 285mm.
The new Universal “Strata
Mat” from Origin Live is a multi-layer platter mat designed to dramatically
improve the performance of all turntables. You may have a turntable with a good
bearing, motor drive, plinth isolation and so on but the all important
interface with the Vinyl record has never been optimised. The Strata Mat will
solve this issue.
Many mats improve sound
quality but having tried countless examples,, we would suggest that the Strata
Mat is in a different league sonically and technically due to its revolutionary
inter-layer damping technology.
The problem with most
turntable mats is that they only work over a specific frequency range and do
little to help absorb frequencies within other important ranges. It’s obvious
that when you try different mat materials under your records, they contribute
to the characteristics of the sound in very different ways.
Some heighten detail at
the expense of warmth and bass. Some produce a wonderfully impressive
transparent sound but kick deep bass into the long grass. Others are the
opposite, with great bass but a loss of clarity and a murky treble. The only
way to solve this issue is to use multiple materials arranged such that they
improve all aspects of sound quality such as detail retrieval, decay, mid-band
transparency, separation and deep dynamic bass.
Producing a mat that
betters other mats in every respect is not easy and has taken many years of
patient and expensive research. However, the results have proven to be
spectacular so we are now offering a new level of performance for all
turntables which can accept a 4.5mm thick mat. Bear in mind that you will
remove your existing mat; so for many decks with say a 2mm thick felt mat, the increase
in record height is only 2mm.
As a rule, the parts of a
turntable closest to the cartridge have a far more significant influence on
performance than items further away (due to energy dissipation). To dissipate
energy quickly and effectively near the cartridge demands fast energy
transmission and absorption. But here’s the problem. As discussed before, no
single material can effectively dissipate the whole spectrum of vibration
produced by your cartridge.
The multi-layer approach
dissipates energy from the cartridge over a large area, then absorbs the
different frequencies using various sub-layers of different materials
specifically selected to handle particular frequency ranges.
When this is carried out
successfully there is a huge improvement in clarity and timing in your music.
Smearing and artefacts in your replay are significantly reduced, allowing you
to hear deep into the musical mix and hear previously unnoticed aspects of the
music.
The asking price may seem
a lot to invest for a mat, but in the context of the improvement it brings, you
could spend far more on a cartridge and still not achieve anything like the
same level of benefit. Cartridges are also short lived in comparison to a
platter mat!