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Collaro LP12 mat

M

Mr Pig

^'- -'^
So I bought one of these last week. The black one, £120! Bit of a nut-flick but it's the in thing for LP12 sheeps so I wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Had my own thoughts on it but out if interest I got an audiophile friend over and did a blind test. Actually put a blindfold on him to see which mat he preferred and the winner was...

A Rega RP10 mat! :0. Don't shoot me, that's what he thought sounded the best and to be fair, he has a point. The Linn mat came last, no great shame it costs twenty quid. The Collaro mat is more tuneful and cleaner sounding than the Linn mat but..

The Rega mat is more dynamic and punchy than either of them. Weird as it looks very similar to the Linn one. Maybe slightly thinner and not quite as dense but pretty similar but they sound quite different.

Which do I prefer? Honestly, I don't know. Depends on the record and what mood I'm in I guess. Probably, if I had to keep only one the Collaro but the Rega mat is good too, just different. And it costs £20.

I was expecting a clear winner. I was expecting the Collaro to blow me away given the hype but if I'd tried it before spending the money I'm not sure I would have bought it. It's a nice improvement on the Linn mat but so is the Rega and it is a sixth of the price.

Mmmm.
 
Interesting. Not tried one myself. You should probably live with it for a while, then go back, and see what your impressions are.

How people can put that red one on their deck I have no idea.
 
Charlie_1 said:
You should probably live with it for a while, then go back, and see what your impressions are.
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Yes, I'm swapping between the Rega and Collaro one, easy to do obviously. My general preference is for the Collaro one.

I don't like the burgundy either which is why I sprung for the black. Still feel like a dope for spending £120 on a small circle of snooker table baize but there you go.

That's why the mats are burgundy by the way. The baize only comes in a few colours and if they'd used green it would be too obvious what the mat was made of.
 
You forget to say that if you don’t like the Collaro, or find no improvement, you can return within seven days for a full refund so you’ve lost nothing. The Rega mat costs you £20 whatever you decide.

The Rega mat is thick felt, so may well insulate a very noisy bearing better than the Collaro cloth whose USP is that it’s of a uniform thickness and density rather than random felt fibres. There is a thicker mat designed to reduce rumble from heavy idler drive decks which may be better on a noisier example of an LP12.
 
Hamstall said:
You forget to say that if you don’t like the Collaro, or find no improvement, you can return within seven days for a full refund so you’ve lost nothing.
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I didn't know that. Seven days is a bit tight, I may be out of time.

The Collaro mat is not noisy, the opposite in fact. It is quieter and softer sounding than the Linn or Rega mats. Technically, it is better but when listening at low volume, which is most of the time, the Extra dynamics of the Rega mat helps. The Collaro can sound a bit dull.
 
wd40addict said:
I always thought it was to match the mat colour scheme used by the original Collaro company back in the 50s, but maybe not?
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Maybe they used baize back then? ;0) They could have been using this cloth since the beginning and maybe black wasn't available back then.

It seems very unlikely that a small Company like Collaro are going to get loads of custom samples of cloth specially made so they can look for the best sounding one. More likely they are going to try some of the huge number of cloths already available? And pick one that is likely to be consistent and stay in production.
 
I really don’t understand why Mr Pig seems intent on fitting anything to his deck in order to save money on the stock linn items, and then spends 600% more on a mat.

I can only conclude that he had heard the collaro was quite a bit worse than the stock mat and seeing an opportunity to make his deck even flatter, just couldn’t pass it up.
 
The original 50s Collaro mats are made from some sort of rubber.

This new company is just recycling the name, it has no connection to the original AFAIK.

Collaro decks faded rapidly from the UK scene after the takeover by Magnavox. Presumably all production was heading to the US. They had one more crack at the UK Hi-Fi market in the mid 70s under their old name, then disappeared once more.
 
I had a 5mm achromat on my LP12 which I preferred to the Linn felt one.

I now have a Thorens TD550 and the achromat doesn't really do it. The supplied felt mat is better. However, I am now using a Lenco rubber mat from a GL75 and it is quieter and better in every way including no static.
 
I find the collaro mat gives a leaner and cleaner sound, the Linn mat gives a “ tubbier” bass. I switch between them from time to time. Currently I’m thinking the Linn mat allows more fun. Probably will change my mind sometime.
 
I prefer the collaro mat on my LP12 - I was an early adopter, so got the discount (it was still £80 though) I was skeptical of course, but there was so much positive noise from people I'd come to respect on the Linn Groups that I took the punt. It's by far the best mat I've tried. Leather, Cork, Linn felt, Rega felt... the collaro mat made the music 'sing' more than anything else. I tried swapping it out a few weeks back for the MCRU 'spots' (I forget that they're actually called) and as much as I liked what the 'spots' gave me, ultimately I returned to the collaro. And...I really like the burgundy ;)
 
Mr Pig said:
...smoother and fatter.
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Doesn't sound like a quality that I'd want on my deck tbh. Also, when you've spent £120 on it, it is all too easy to persuade yourself that it's better. Up to this point, I've not heard anything better than the felt mat on an LP12.
 
I just found it a mess rhythmically, timing got blurred and instead of hearing musicians playing together it got disjointed and disconnected.

If you’ve already screwed up your deck by fitting a Rega arm I can see how it might go unnoticed.
 
wylton said:
Also, when you've spent £120 on it, it is all too easy to persuade yourself that it's better.
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That was one of the reasons I did the blind test. It doesn't matter how you cut it, I don't think the mat is worth the money. It just doesn't make that big a difference. I'm swapping between the three mats and easily forgetting which one is in use.

The friend who came over uses a rubber mat in preference to a felt mat on his Ariston.
 
Mr Pig said:
It doesn't matter how you cut it, I don't think the mat is worth the money.
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I'm genuinely sorry that you wasted your money, I hope that you can recoup some of it in a re-sale. It's so easy to be tempted when you read some of the reviews.
 
wylton said:
I'm genuinely sorry that you wasted your money, I hope that you can recoup some of it in a re-sale. It's so easy to be tempted when you read some of the reviews.
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I didn't read any reviews. The mat just seems to be on every LP12 I see so I figured it must be good.
 
wylton said:
I'm genuinely sorry that you wasted your money, I hope that you can recoup some of it in a re-sale. It's so easy to be tempted when you read some of the reviews.
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There’s a full refund available on them. All he needs do is send it back. No drama, no fuss.
 
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