A brand new affordable platter
mat to radically improve the sound of your records
A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT UPGRADE AT A LAUGHABLY LOW OFFER
The unique Origin Live "upgrade" mat acts as the
critical interface between your vinyl records and turntable.
Experimentation with different mats are simple and quick.
The sound differences are usually obvious , even if your deck
does not have a mat.
Users find that the "upgrade" mat makes a far
greater difference than most mats but more importantly it
is a positive difference to every aspect of the music.
Bringing Music alive: - The new mat will greatly
enhance your level of enjoyment due to the way it brings recordings
alive. Music becomes far better integrated and more natural.
In particular bass is solid and keeps time with the rest of
the music - too often one hears slow bass that lacks attack,
and has an overhang which muddies the rest of the music.
Not only this but the mat produces bass extension of maybe
an extra octave. This new dimension of speed and air is not
limited to the bass regions but extends right through the
frequency range. The key words to summarise the differences
this mat makes are - natural, dynamic and transparent.
Tone from a Mat
The other week, I attended 2 live music performances
given by entirely different groups. It was interesting that
in the first, a violinist added superbly to a non classical
band - the leader remarked afterwards "she has amazing
tone". Later that week an Orchestra
conductor was introducing a lead cornet player doing a solo
and remarked "he has superb tone".
After listening to the first few notes I could understand
what he meant. It was the sort of rendition that was so noticably
pleasurable to the ear that you wanted to keep listening.
Another player, playing the same instrument may be technicaly
brilliant, hit all the right notes but just not be that pleasant
to listen to.
This provoked a lot of thought on the similarities of "tone"
in hi fi equipment. It has to do with that indefinable "something"
that measurements don't really have much hope of capturing.
Some may claim to have the answers, but the truth is usually
far more complex. The point of this story is that every material
in the hi fi replay chain has a tone and some are far superior
to others. The material you use to support the actual playing
surface in vinyl is probably one of the most important.
THE FUNCTION OF A PLATTER MAT
A great platter mat has 3 functions which are very tricky
to reconcile.
To decouple the record from vibration entering
it via the turntable - this includes bearing noise, transmitted
motor noise through the drive system, cartridge feedback "chatter"
transmitted via the tonearm into the deck, groundbourne/ airbourne
audio feedback, underground pumps etc.
To absorb and transmit resonance out of the record
itself. It is hard to imagine the microscopic levels
that a hi fi cartridge functions at. The truth is, that a
stylus vibrating in a record groove sets the vinyl resonating
in a way that will feedback into the stylus if not highly
controlled. This feedback may be momentary to the tiniest
fraction of a second but will nonetheless create blurring
of the signal and overlay other parts so that they will not
be heard. In other words there can be loss of information
and addition of spurious noise to the intended signal. A good
platter mat can do a great deal to eliminate these problems.
To transmit the drive to the record without elasticity
or slip Unlikely as it may seem, the surface that
the record sits on responds very slightly to the amount of
drag on the record. At best, this will be a very slight momentary
elastic movement backwards, but enough to slightly deaden
the impact of a bass note drum strike for example. At worst
it will cause the record to slip backwards - this is only
blatently obvious when you can hear wow occuring, as in the
case of a badly dished record, that only contacts the platter
in the centre.
Why a new mat?
Over a year ago we introduced a semi rigid mat that we called
the "performance mat". Feedback on this mat was
almost universaly positive with users reporting superior performance
over recognised market leaders that they already owned.
Further experimantation led to a new flexible composite material
which sounded even better. Not just a bit better but a lot
better. To be fair the new flexible mat (which we are calling
the "upgrade" mat) does most things that the "performance"
mat does, only it does them better - especially in the bass
area. However the 2 mats can complement each other and the
semi-rigid performance mat does add a touch of additional
transparency to the flexible upgrade mat.
To quote from the first user of the flexible upgrade
mat
"Unbelievable difference, thought the Resolution turntable
sounded good before, much better in every way than my Primare
CD31 cd player, and infinitely better than other turntables
I have owned.
After fitting it with Siver tonearm and a Dynavector 20 cartridge
and now have added your new mat, I cannot stop listening to
Vinyl.
The mat has improved all areas of the sound, most noticeable
are the increase in soundstage, front to back mainly, the
start and decay of instruments being played are also improved,
detail is better, backing vocals that were audible before
are now easier to follow, as are the lyrics of the main vocals.
But the largest improvement is the Bass performance, all
notes are much clearer and the extension better, it has improved
the timing of the music areas also which makes the musical
message much more obvious, these are areas I was already more
than happy with!
Surface noise is also reduced, which has resulted in more
fine detail being heard, without those details being brought
too far forward in the mix.
The Improvements in my system are amazing, I would have been
impressed if this had been an arm upgrade or even a turntable
upgrade, just can not get over all I have done is add a mat
to it, bearing in mind I was using the turntable without one.
The rest of my system comprises of a Whest Audio 2 box phono
stage, Primare I30 amplifier, and Wilson Benesch Actor loudspeakers.
Your brand has totally changed all my cynical thoughts, everything
you have helped me with has exceeded my expectations.
The mat however is possibly the biggest improvement I have
heard from any upgrade so far.
Thanks as always for your advice.
Rod Woods
Will it work on your deck?
Finding a mat that works universaly well on all turntables
is almost like the quest for the Holy Grail. In over 22 years
we have experimented with countless platter mats varying from
felt, fiberglass, air gap, various foams, cork, graphite,
carbon fiber, acrylic, PVC, MDF, aluminium, rubber, silicon
and steel laminates etc. This is to name but a few. Many of
these mats yield significant improvements to some areas but
have drawbacks in others.
A mat that works well on acrylic platters is almost unheard
of but this one really does the trick! It also interfaces
well with metal, glass and composite platters.
The Origin Live upgrade mat is only 1 mm thick, and so is
well within the ability of most tonearm height adjusters.
The material mix from which it is manufactured must remain
confidential.
No risk money back gaurantee
Remember the mat comes with a money back guarantee if ordered
directly from Origin Live. Should you be in any way dissatisfied,
just return the mat for a full refund (excluding carriage).
Origin Live dealers may also offer a guarantee but this is
at their discretion.
Upgraded platter mat (flexible)
UK Retail : £39.00 Non EEC Retail
: £33.91 
 owner
comments for various turntables |
