Thomas from California, USA was the first Rega RP6 TT owner from North America to enquire on a dual pulley. Making the wrong assumption that his RP6 came with a 60Hz pulley like P5 (aren't RP6 a replacement for P5??), a 60Hz dual pulley was sent to him... 

I was terribly wrong! And because of this, I had made Thomas and a few other RP6 owners waited longer than necessary for their dual pulleys. My sincere apologies here to them all.

So actually there is only one version of RP6 ; both North America and Europe are using the same 50Hz pulley and TTPSU like P7.

Thomas had finally settled his problem and here's his comments in vinylengine :

" I've had my RP6 for a little while now and I really love it, one thing that I had noticed over time was a little wow, most noticeable in long sustained notes. Not experience-ruining by any means, but I had read about the dual pulley upgrade and thought that might be a good way to shape it up. Contacted Michael, who said he had not seen this done on an RP6 yet. He said that the 60hz (N. American version) shorter pulley should work, so I ordered that + 2 of his silicon belts, and an acrylic mat just for fun, and off I went.

Received the parts from Michael about 1.5 wks after ordering (I'm in California). Michael provided good instructions for performing the surgery, which I more or less followed. I ordered a pulley puller from him, which worked well - just put down some strips of tissue to protect the plinth, twist away on the pulley puller, and hope that cracking sound you hear is the pulley glue and not the plinth.  

Once the stock pulley is off, putting the dual on is a breeze - slide onto the spindle, find a good height, and tighten up the set screw. This is where I hit a minor snag in that the 60hz pulley was unfortunately not the right size. I had a moment of concern when I quickly compared the stock and 60hz, but chalked it up to difference in styling and pressed on. Upon trying to play a record and hearing it in slow motion... nope. The 60hz pulley is too small for my RP6.

Michael was very responsive and helpful, asking me to confirm the diameter of the stock pulley (3/4") and then sending a replacement 50hz pulley right away. Received it this morning (took about twice as long to get here due to the holidays) and the first glance tells me everything is going to be alright.

Set screw vs glue makes adjusting the pulley, or in this case replacing it, a breeze. Popped on the larger pulley - looking good (this shot may actually be the 50hz pulley, I took lots of pictures and now they're all mixed up - but you get the idea).

First Impressions:
When I received the first shipment from Michael, I put one of his silicon belts onto the stock pulley to see how it sounded over the stock Rega belt. Immediately noticed an improvement, I would assume similar to what people have experienced with the white belts - everything focused up a bit, tighter bass.

I also tried replacing the stock felt mat with the acrylic one before fiddling with the pulley - dramatic change, bass much tighter and everything more airy. It kind of shifted the mix, if that makes sense - a more balanced presentation with more low and mid than the felt mat was putting forth.

Now that I've got the dual pulley added as well, I am overall very happy with everything I ordered from Michael. Starting and stopping is now faster (duh). Noise floor seems to be lower than it was in the previous configuration, not sure how much the pulley + belts can really impact this but I am hearing it - maybe I am just subconsciously choosing my most noise-free records (or they're the ones I like best because they sound good  ). The wow issue seems to be addressed as well, and this very well could have been taken care of in the first belt swap - timing seems rock solid. And on that note, I am pleased to report that the quickness that is a huge part of what makes this table so fun is still present and accounted for. 

A+ would buy again. "

Thanks Thomas!

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It's my world of MATS!

Record mat is the best record mate - it cushions the record from the platter; it provides record good grip and support. Some (depending on the materials) can even offer dampening/isolating bearing rumble and vibrations from the platter and record ....

"Delicious donuts"

More importantly, many find record mats of different materials or designs do make a difference to their turntables. We might not be able to understand fully the science part of it, but we can tell from what we hear. It's not necessary to apply "exact science" theory here, so long as we like it! Simple.

Music - listen with heart is more enjoying than listen with mind.

There are various record mats in the market. Common ones are made of rubber, felt, wool, cork, leather, acrylic, rubber/cork ....... ; even copper mat is available.

Rubber-cork mat (2mm) : USD 22.00
Acrylic mat (2mm) :  USD 20.00

What is the best for your TT? The answer is : Let your EARS decide. It's not surprising that you get different opinions from different people(often quite subjective). So you would have to try out for yourself to find out what is the best for your system (to your liking). Also different TT excels with different mat, e.g. I find rubber/cork mat atop a 2mm acrylic mat (crazy?), works best for my heavy-platter Lenco L75 turntable.

Leather mat/ spot mat

Have you heard of "oiled"-acrylic mat produces good results on Lenco L75 TT too? (remember to oil only the side facing the platter if you are adventurous to try!)

Rega's thin stock felt mat though looks very colorful and match well with their multi-colour plinths, it's just not my taste. So from felt mat, I move on to wool mat; then leather mat... then acrylic... then cork ... then rubber/cork ....

I've tried and experimented various combo (retiree, plenty of time!):

Wool mat + glass platter

Acrylic mat + glass platter

Cork mat + acrylic platter

Rubber/cork mat + acrylic platter

................. + ......................

"Wool + glass combo" is a bit too bright for me. Cork mat seems better. But music sounds best to me with rubber/cork mat on acrylic platter for my modded Rega TT's. So most of time rubber/cork mat stays on my TT. And I always recommend to my friends to try "rubber/cork mat + acrylic platter combo" especially for those who feel that the high frequency part seems to be a bit too bright.

Rubber/cork mat + acrylic platter combo

However, it also boils down to individual preference.

The good thing is - you can change them back and forth as your mood swings. No hard and fast rules actually.

Another important point not to be overlooked is correct VTA for the thickness of mat added. Small adjustments can be done easily by using stainless steel VTA spacers.

May I welcome you to join this quest in the "mat-mad" world!

Roger Clarke's comments on rubber/cork mat:

Hi Michael,  Here are my impressions of the rubber/cork mat. At first, I had preferred the sound of the felt mat because it had a punchier mid-bass which made male voices sound slightly richer and sweeter but on further observation the rubber/cork mat didn't effect the male voices in a negative way. What it did was to clean the mid-bass region which allowed images to more focused and clearer. The lower bass seemed to dig a bit deeper with even better control. I told you earlier how the sound of the Planar 3 TT was clearer with the addition of the thrust bearing, metal pulley, silicone belt and ruby bearing, well it got even better with the rubber/cork mat added to the equation. More precise and natural with good control of sibilance and that is with an inexpensive(cheap) cartridge. I've listened to an album that I had for years and I can't remember it sounding this good. I'm almost 50 yrs old and grew up with TTs but never gave much thought to how critical and crucial things like VTA and cartridge alignment effected the sound until reading and researching such helpful sites as yours and Vinyl Engine. I just want to thank you for your impeccable knowledge and help and for also bringing the fun back into audio that was stolen from us all when the industry gave us "Perfect Sound Forever" when truth be told we already had it with vinyl, reel-to-reel and cassette. I'll have to budget and get the sub-platter next, then the isolation base and then the counter weight.  Once again Michael, I thank you so very much!!  Best regards,  Roger

Note : 2mm Rubber Cork Mat price is reduced from USD25.00 to USD22.00 wef 16/3/2015

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