Herbie's Donut Mat

Essential upgrade for matless platters

Platters should grip records! If you like designs with matless platters (topped with a hard surface like vinyl or acrylic--I'm looking at you, Pro-Ject RPM series), you need this to prevent all but your perfectly flat records from sliding around / being turned mainly by the spindle. And even the flat ones will sound better because you've added a layer of damping.

Donut Record Mat

I guess I wasn’t aware that there is just a space about the size of a record label in the middle of the mat. So somehow it needs to be centered for proper contact with a record. Maybe I’m missing something. It looks like a suitable pad but isn’t very user friendly.

The Donut Mat was perfect for my needs

The Donut Mat was perfect for my use which is to find reasonably priced upgrades for an old consumer-grade Pioneer table. The 1.5mm thickness filled the surface of the cheapo aluminum platter (sound-deadening added underneath) which has a lip around the upper rim. Now the Herbies 2mm platter mat lays flat on top of that. It really improves the sound, noticeably reducing noise and creating a sonically black background. A concern is that the table has a P-mount cartridge and no VTA adjustment, so I had to create a mat setup that pretty closely matched the thickness of the original rubber mat. So far, the little, inexpensive upgrades have helped make an old table usable until I can get something better. Thumbs-up Herbie's!