ELUSIVE AUDIO ACRYSS MAT: Acrylic & Steel, DOUBLE THE FUN

Adding a platter mat can improve the sound quality from your turntable. Paul Rigby reviews the Elusive Audio AcrySS

The Elusive Audio AcrySS (EAA) offers a split medium design. The larger, outer section is constructed from acrylic while the centre portion is produced from stainless steel to aid precision and wear in and around the spindle hole.

SOUND TESTING

I began sound testing with Nat “King” Cole’s When My Sugar Walks Down The Street from the 1974 album, Love is Here to Stay with an orchestral backing consisting of a lively brass section, organ solo and plenty of low-key instruments in the rear of the mix and Origin Live’s neutral sounding platter mat as a reference.

The Elusive mat is available in two thicknesses. My reference Wilson Benesch Circle turntable preferred the 3mm option but there is a 5mm version mat available too. If you use the wrong thickness, then the VTA of your cartridge will be affected and sound quality will suffer. Of course, if your turntable, like my Circle reference, provides the easy alteration of VTA then this is less of a problem.

During play, I was impressed by the open and spacious nature of the presentation. Cole’s vocal delivery was light, airy, full of bounce and vitality but texture and nuance too. There was a period, mid-song, when his voice experienced a rare strain as he put extra emphasis into a word: the EAA picked this up easily. Brass was smooth yet detailed, subtle guitar strums were highlighted and bass was strong without being overwhelming.

Playing the post rock of Pipdream’s 1998 Twilight Runner, the EAA tracked the deep reverb of the slow yet closely mic’d drums yet managed to maintain attention on the fragile cymbal splashes and never allowed the synth distortion to bloom unnecessarily.

CONCLUSION

The Elusive Audio AcrySS offers an expansive and airy presentation, allowing music to breath.

ELUSIVE AUDIO ACRYSS MAT

Price: £24.99 (3MM) / £29.99 (5MM)

Web: Elusive Audio

RATING: 8

REFERENCE SYSTEM

Wilson Benesch Circle Turntable

Benz Glider cartridge

Icon Audio Stereo 20 amplifier

Spendor S3/5R2 speakers

Tellurium Q cables