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Anyone tried a Funk Firm APM mat on their Techie?

Phil Bishop

pfm Member
I have a Technics SL1200GR and a fine turntable it is.

However, there is a design flaw for us audiophile types in that it is difficult to get the arm low enough for some cartridges and even with standard cartridges like Audio Technica I find I have my arm at the lowest setting with the standard mat.

I have tried Achromats in the past and never been convinced - in fact, I have never been convicted by any turntable mat ever making any difference to SQ.

However, the new Funk Firm APM mat does appear an interesting design and at 7 mm thick offers a useful 4 mm height gain over the standard Techie mat making arm adjustability better I'd hope.

However, at nearly £150 it's pretty expensive.

Anyone any advice or experience?
 
Not seen the Funk APM will look it up though. I have a 1200GR and have tried a few mats, the Funk Achromat came top as it was the least static prone. Among the mats I bought is an original Technics 6mm, they changed a good while ago to a 3mm one you’ll have. You could add a second mat on top, I tried a cork one for a while but preferred the Achromat.

I paid £50 on eBay for the Techy 6mm, seen cheaper at £12.95 but is sold out. Part number is Technics RGS0010A

https://sparedparts.com/products/technics-turntable-mat-sfad122-01a-rgs0010a-rgs0008
 
APM is Funk’s Achromat with a glass substrate bonded to it to create a constrained layer damper for the platter. Glass is inherently very RIGID but has totally different properties to the metal platter. Supporting each other, their different resonances work against each other and the vibrations die very quickly indeed. The platter is now much more stable
 
Yes, the design sounds interesting but does it work? Technics supply a rubber mat for their deck. It strikes me thick rubber would provide better damping than rigid glass, if, indeed, damping is actually required?

It's the thickness that attracts me as it should allow more arm height adjustment flexibility, but £150 is an expensive way of doing that when there's a 6 mm Technics rubber mat out there.

I did try a couple of standard Technics Achromats in the past. Both were warped and thus returned and I lost faith. First rule about a mat, it should lie flat ;)
 
Yes, the design sounds interesting but does it work? Technics supply a rubber mat for their deck. It strikes me thick rubber would provide better damping than rigid glass, if, indeed, damping is actually required?

It's the thickness that attracts me as it should allow more arm height adjustment flexibility, but £150 is an expensive way of doing that when there's a 6 mm Technics rubber mat out there.

I did try a couple of standard Technics Achromats in the past. Both were warped and thus returned and I lost faith. First rule about a mat, it should lie flat ;)
There appear to be a few 6mm Techys on eBay under £20 at the minute, worth a punt?

My Achromat is dead flat luckily, it does the job and pops up used now and again about half price, you can get new stickies off Funk.
 
Yep, watching one ;)
Think it’s your best bet, there are plenty of alternatives, I got an Oyaide BR12 for a decent price but it’s only 5mm, almost on a par with the Funk. The stock Techys and old 6mm for some reason in this house are a bit more static prone than the Funk/Oyaide.
 
Not seen the Funk APM will look it up though. I have a 1200GR and have tried a few mats, the Funk Achromat came top as it was the least static prone. Among the mats I bought is an original Technics 6mm, they changed a good while ago to a 3mm one you’ll have. You could add a second mat on top, I tried a cork one for a while but preferred the Achromat.

I paid £50 on eBay for the Techy 6mm, seen cheaper at £12.95 but is sold out. Part number is Technics RGS0010A

https://sparedparts.com/products/technics-turntable-mat-sfad122-01a-rgs0010a-rgs0008
Is there any difference between the cheap and expensive ones on eBay?
 
So it doesn’t look like the OP got an answer to their question or anyone that actually has experience with APM model.
 
I've no experience with the new Funk APM, but I've tried many others on my 1200 over the years and the best IME is an old school Nagaoka GL602 Jeweltone. 1kg slab of beautifully finished ground cystal sat on 3 sticky microdots. It sits nicely inside the platter lip of a 1200 and is 6mm deep. Not to be confused with the glass imitations sold by UK dealers, originals are unobtanium, but there's one (not mine) on ebay at the moment.
 
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Interesting, I have a Nagaoka GL601 weight that it would go very nicely with. Flipping pricey tho!!
 
I have been experimenting with a 1210GR, and got the APM Achromat. I do feel that the added mass does help, particularly with a thin layer of Vaseline between the mat and platter to further bond and damp both the platter and the mat. Before doing so, be sure to set the torque setting to the lowest setting (1), as that does indeed improve sound noticeably, and allow added depth that is otherwise squashed at max torque. It's a bit of a PITA to remove the mat again after you've gotten a good seal between the mat and platter. Also recommended is the KAB fluid damper (nothing new there) and a decent phono cable. Even just the Audio Sensibility Impact SX was a dramatic improvement over the OEM cable.

One other thing that I do recommend with this particular mat would be a decent record weight, modded with the gem tweak recommended by Gary Koh. I use a Bren1 weight with this modification, and thankfully it just barely fits inside the cover without a record on the platter, even with the gems. I've used this modified weight previously on a VPI Scout Jr with a 5mm Achromat bonded to the platter. The gem positions, differing substances, and minimal points of contact help drain away added vibrations, while the mass helps the record act as though it's bonded to the mat, making better use of the Achromat's properties.

It took a few mods and tweaks, but I'm actually quite pleased with the results of this deck. For those that can afford it, I definitely recommend it.
 


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