Disc Stabilizers - Yay or Nay?
cai
spacecho 362 Posts
These things...
I've never used one.. do they have a significant effect on sound quality?
I can imagine they might increase traction when playing a warped dynoflex LP but other than that.. I'm sceptical of the need for them.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why I should cop?
I've never used one.. do they have a significant effect on sound quality?
I can imagine they might increase traction when playing a warped dynoflex LP but other than that.. I'm sceptical of the need for them.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why I should cop?
Comments
I always assumed, beyond helping with dished records, that this was one of them.
Since that I've only ever really seen Japanese cats like Mitsu the Beats use them in actual DJ sets.
From what I've read if you have a audiophile type belt drive table you don't want a weight, you need a clamp that threads on or otherwise attaches itself to the spindle to apply pressure. The motors and suspensions on those kinds of tables don't like the extra weight.
He says that Technics SL1210s absorb a lot of vibration which means less information is passed to the stylus. Putting an upturned glass over the spindle to weigh down the record onto the platter results in a much improved bass sound. He demonstrates it and it's easy to hear.
I imagine if you played a gig that got a bit tasty they would double as excellent projectiles.
If you look at the pic I posted above I also have small rubber o-rings placed along the tonearm of my table, the hollow aluminum tonearm on the 1200/1210 is prone to the same kind of vibration and the rings do a good job of deadening these vibrations. Some people have used rubber shrink tubing to do the same thing but I was nervous that I would melt the wires inside the arm trying to shrink the wrap so I went with the rings. They made an immediate difference, more noticeable than the weight did. And they also have the benefit of being cheap (I think a pack of 10 rings was $2.50 at Home Depot) and immediately reversible if you don't like the sound. Combined with the weight I personally really like the difference they make.
Those look nice but 40 quid each for these is bonkers IMO.
Don't say it, I know: :poor:
Before I became a teacher I had money spare for these kind of things. Now all of my spare cash goes on rum and rioja.
Never tried stabilizers though. Seen a lot of people on Instagram flaunt them. The physics/theory behind it makes some sense.
No I don't
This thread has convinced me. Not that I am going out to buy hockey pucks.
HOWEVER the significant difference came when I moved to a Funk Achromat instead of standard slipmat. A LOT of surface noise disappeared & the sound has tightened up on the bottom, the top end is more pronounced and clearer. Add on the stabiliser and the noise is almost digital quality, as in its gone (if that makes sense).
All of my vinyl sounds better, but as said, the slipmat was the real difference (and I was a great unbeliever on all this)
It pains me to see so many 1200s out there with the original rubber mat tossed and replaced with a slip mat. The OG rubber mat makes a huge difference in sound quality and the engineers who designed the 1200 apparently spent 100s of hours getting it just right. If you're actually scratching etc then I understand the slip mat, but for home listening it's fairly disastrous sound quality wise.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/98574710/cork-antistatic-turntable-slip-mat
I researched this before changing to slip mats.
The audio forums said it was a taste issue.
I didn't notice a change.
Were you listening through this?
Fair enough.
Those do reflect my tastes.
I agree, unless you are scratching the stock rubber mat really is perfect for the 1200. Especially if used with the flat side up and the ridged side down. I was curious about the Achromat but I read some reviews that said it works much better on belt drive tables than it did on a 1200. And it costs $100.
Thanks for the replies everyone, very interesting.
I have vague memories of throwing them out ??
I've read a fair amount on this subject and have never encountered the 'shipping mat' idea. In fact, iirc, the mat is packed separately from the platter when shipped.
And I don't see anybody saying it's the weight that makes the difference - it's the vibration dampening of the rubber.
When the 1200 was designed there was no though that anyone would want to remove the mat, it was an integral part of the design to limit resonance. Remember it wasn't designed for designed for DJ's, DJ's adopted it and made changes that worked and Technics recognized that and made some of those things standard (like slipmats and getting rid of the dustcover hinges).
Not bad, never thought about trying one but for this cheap why not. Good DIY hack, I can see myself being too lazy to put it on all the time though..
I think it's not so much the platter weight as the surface the record's sitting on. A decent mat should be the first call before loading stabilisers onto a deck. On belt drive machines I'd be wary if adding a ton of weight - the motor is designed to drive a certain mass - but guess direct drive machines are a better bet. Recently switched back to a rubber mat on my deck and definitely noticed the difference with sharper top and mid-range. Irony is that I think a lot of my records sounded better before.