First I was very satisfied ( almost 4 years) with the result but after changing
the interlink cable ( Transparent phono) the sound is to mechanical with some software.
So I play with the original felt mat

Equipment:

Rega Planar 3 modified, Rega Exact / Audio Technica OC9
Linn Intek / Powertek
Translator Stylus one
Symo speaker cable
Transparent interlink
Shakti online
Ennacom filters

Musical taste : Jazz, Rock , Pop ,clasical

Ease of installation

None

OK, I must retract my statements below. I have finally broken in my Blue Point Special, which needs a good 75 hours to really come alive. During that time it is apparently common for the cartridge to sound wonderful one hour and pathetic another. Now that it sounds great all the time, I have gone back and tried the Ringmat against the Linn felt mat, and darn it if that Ringmat doesn't improve the playback of all of my vinyl. Tighter bass response, quieter background, and a more black background overall. The Ringmat is a little shorter than my felt mat, so it is important to adjust VTA properly. This mat really makes my LP12 sing!!! Ringmat is coming out with an LP Statmat, as well as rings that adjust VTA without having to adjust the tonearm. I am very happy with this product, and intend on looking into other items from Ringmat.

Similar Products Used:

Linn felt mat

Ease of installation!!!

None

I got the Ringmat about two years ago. When I first replaced the Linn felt mat with the Ringmat, I heard a difference, and I assumed the difference was that something sounded better. I recently purchased a Blue Point Special cartridge to mount on my Linn LP12/Vallhala/Naim Aro table, and during the winter months of breaking in the cartridge we had lots of static and I had to peal the Ringmat off of my records, which I would then zap with the Zerostat. But all of the pealing of the Ringmat pulled one of the cork rings right off the mat. While pondering what to do, I put the Linn felt mat back on the table, and there again things sounded different. After gluing the cork ring back on the Ringmat, I have switched back and forth between both mats, and I have to say that the felt mat actually sounds better to me. Things are more analogue warm, and I think other reviewers are right when they say there is a CD sound to the Ringmat. I'm staying with the felt for now, and will experiment back to the Ringmat in a few months. My overall feeling is that there are better ways to tweak a high end turntable; proper VTA, azimuth, and vibration isolation.

My system:
LP12 described above
Magnum Dynalab FT101A Tuner
YBA Integre amp/preamp
Rotel 965bx CD
Totem Model 1 Signatures on Target stands

Similar Products Used:

Linn felt mat

More musical sound..Warm, full bass. Good balance across
the board from Treble to Bass.

None

I just replaced the rubber mat on my old Thorens TD 145 MkII
turntable with the older 250 Ringmat. GREAT improvement in sound on every record I have played so far. The sound is now more realistic, more musical..You forget about the equipment and get into the music. This is an upgrade I would recommend for any LP lover.

Similar Products Used:

None

I use the QR/DNM Design Ringmat 330 Mk II on my Rega Planar 2 and it certainly cleans up the sound. More space, tighter bass, less "grunge", better imaging... Make sure you replace your felt or rubber mat with the right type (they sell different thicknesses).
This is definitely an upgrade you should test with your Rega Planar 2,3 or 9 or anything else with a felt mat.

A chance listen to a Ringmat at a Hi-Fi show suggested promise. A friend bought one and tried it on his Linn LP12, Ittok etc. It was amazing! The whole sound was cleaned up, less muddy, more detail, more music. With the felt mat back on the Linn, the sound was slurred, change back to the Ringmat and the slurring goes. I now use a Ringmat and so does everyone else I know that owns a Linn. I can't understand why Linn still persist with the felt mat, this beats it in every area. If you own a Linn and do not have a Ringmat, you are not getting the best from it. You owe it to yourself to try one, you will not go back to the felt mat.

It surprises me, looking down the list, that no-one seems yetto have put in a good word for the QR/DNM Design Ringmat; let
me do so myself. An unimpressive paper disc with a few rings
of cork glued on, it doesn't look like an $80.00 value -- but
put on a turntable platter it sounds like far more.

I own, use, and love a Roksan Xerxes, and I imagined that designer
Touraj Moghaddin had thought of everything, until I swapped the
original felt mat for a Ringmat. Suddenly: clearness, definition,
depth, detail beyond anything I had heard from my system before.
Audible evidence that vinyl lives!

Now that the Xerxes has been reincarnated, if I were Touraj, I'd
do a deal and make the Ringmat standard equipment. It is also
said to be especially Linn-friendly. I suppose that it would
work well with any of the usual turntable platters. A rating of
5 seems mandatory.

The Ringmat is easily available in Britain and Canada (I got mine
here in Canada from Andrew Marshall's Audio Ideas Guide). I have
no idea about availability in the States, Europe, or beyond, but
it would surely be worth hunting for.

apparent cleaning of the sound

tilts up and coarsens the sound

I own ann original Xerxes + RB300 with Heavyweight c/w + Ortofon MC15 Super. I bought the Ringmat thinking it would be a good upgrade. Unfortunately, now I wish I had not done it. When you first install it, you get the impression of "cleaner sound", more coherent. That´s what I thought, and let it there for several days. But the more records I heard, the more I realised something was not going as well as it should: the system sounded more clinical, more mechanical, more "digital" we could say. One night I decided to make a complete analysis session, including very subtle changes to VTA. These were my results: with the Ringmat the highs are artificially tilted up and you lose weight in the bottom, and worst of all: you lose precious harmonics in the middle. The Human voice (Joni Mitchell, Teresa Berganza) proved decisive: it sounded far more natural with the felt matt. The same happened with early digital recordings: with the Ringmat, the highs sound noticeably more artificial, even "detached".

And that´s not all: the Ringmat imparted a certain mechanical or arficial "tension/coarsening" to the sound that made records less enjoyable, less "flowing".

Honestly, I think the Ringmat detracts precious information from reaching you. And it changes the sound tilting up the highs in a way that I understand some people used to CDs may like.

apparent cleaning of the sound

tilts up and coarsens the sound

I own ann original Xerxes + RB300 with Heavyweight c/w + Ortofon MC15 Super. I bought the Ringmat thinking it would be a good upgrade. Unfortunately, now I wish I had not done it. When you first install it, you get the impression of "cleaner sound", more coherent. That´s what I thought, and let it there for several days. But the more records I heard, the more I realised something was not going as well as it should: the system sounded more clinical, more mechanical, more "digital" we could say. One night I decided to make a complete analysis session, including very subtle changes to VTA. These were my results: with the Ringmat the highs are artificially tilted up and you lose weight in the bottom, and worst of all: you lose precious harmonics in the middle. The Human voice (Joni Mitchell, Teresa Berganza) proved decisive: it sounded far more natural with the felt matt. The same happened with early digital recordings: with the Ringmat, the highs sound noticeably more artificial, even "detached".

And that´s not all: the Ringmat imparted a certain mechanical or arficial "tension/coarsening" to the sound that made records less enjoyable, less "flowing".

Honestly, I think the Ringmat detracts precious information from reaching you. And it changes the sound tilting up the highs in a way that I understand some people used to CDs may like.