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Collaro audio precision turntable mat.

chartz said:
Anything is better than a thin felt mat that will never support a record correctly. Really.
But £ 100 is rip-off of course.
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Over the years I have bought and tried many different mats including Ringmat, House of Linn, Vertere and Achromat. I have always ended up back with the Linn mat because the music just seems to flow better and be more cohesive. The other mats seem to emphasise certain frequencies at the expense of others and can initially seem to offer more detail but it's an illusion.


I still keep the other mats, except the Achromat which I returned, and occasionally bring them out if I have made a major change such as the Karousel. They are still in the cupboard and the Linn mat remains on the deck.


Not sure what you mean by "a thin felt mat that will never support a record correctly". My experience is the reverse is the case
 
Alium said:
Totally agree. It was far worse than the LINN in my testing and went back
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In the past I've tried various mats, the achromat too. They tend to improve one thing at the expense of another and I've always gone back to what the manufacturer specified. I would quite like a trendy red mat with a cool logo on it but I could spend the money on some records and a bottle of red.
 
I currently use a Rega P9, having tested various well known mats I ended up going back to the Rega OE mat, it was the best allrounder to be honest.
 
I’ve tried many mats over 40 years. Felt was the worst, tried Linn and Rega, especially with slightly warped records.
My favourite mat is the old Thorens carbon one with the protractor on the other side. I also like the thick heavy Technics mat. Much better than felt.
I do not own an LP12 though.
 
Richardtaylor said:
Is this a fad or are they really better than the linn mat? To me £100 could be spent on vinyl...
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I have a linn mat and a collaro red. I’m currently back on the linn, but I’ll try the collaro again. After a while I thought the collaro took away some of the pleasure, although it does seem to improve certain aspects of the sound- a bit cleaner, faster and more extended.
 
I couldn’t live with a red turntable mat. My understanding is that the mat is made by a company that manufactures felt for billiard tables. Black is not a color commonly used for billiard tables but I understand it became a color you could order for a mat color.

Funny thing is that no serious billiard player would want to play on a billiard table with a felt playing surface. Felt is generally provided as a stock material but anyone who plays in a billiard room will be used to playing on tournament cloth which is significantly better to play on. Tournament cloth is not made from felt and more resembles the cloth used to make fine men’s suits.

Here’s a link to what is considered the finest cloth and one used on most pro tournament tables. I have a cloth very similar on my billiard table and it’s great fun to play on compared with felt.

https://www.simoniscloth.com/product/simonis-760/
 
A certain person (I shall not tell) told me there's a good mark up margin in this mat. So essentially good or bad it's over priced.

I too have tried many a mat on the Linn. Funk Achromat, Linn felt, Sound dead steel, Herbies way excellent, Vertere Techno (doesn't fit - it's to wide) & several versions of the Ringmat. Currently settled on the Ringmat 330 MkII XLR which has a very tight punch to the bass & a open airy top end. Trouble is it looks a bit daft on the LP12.
Considering trying the Hexmat now.
 
Possibly Collaro's best turntable effort, the 4 speed manual Model 4T200 Transcription Unit.

collaro_4t200_transcription_turntable.jpg


Hard to imagine how regurgitating the brand for the sake of a bit of overpriced felt (and a record weight, apparently) makes sense, really.
 
John said:
I couldn’t live with a red turntable mat. My understanding is that the mat is made by a company that manufactures felt for billiard tables. Black is not a color commonly used for billiard tables but I understand it became a color you could order for a mat color.

Funny thing is that no serious billiard player would want to play on a billiard table with a felt playing surface. Felt is generally provided as a stock material but anyone who plays in a billiard room will be used to playing on tournament cloth which is significantly better to play on. Tournament cloth is not made from felt and more resembles the cloth used to make fine men’s suits.

Here’s a link to what is considered the finest cloth and one used on most pro tournament tables. I have a cloth very similar on my billiard table and it’s great fun to play on compared with felt.

https://www.simoniscloth.com/product/simonis-760/
Click to expand...
But this for a turntable not a billiard table...
 
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