Reliable inversion of elastic properties of materials from ultrasonic wave propagation data is an attractive non-destructive characterisation method requiring good quality ultrasonic transmission data. This paper discusses the goniometry-based through transmission experiments on plate samples of various thicknesses using a wide-aperture PVDF receiver that provides good quality transmission data over a wide range of angles. This was verified with metal and composite samples. The dispersive characteristics, evaluated from the measured transmission data, were verified by comparing with the theoretical dispersion curves for the samples. A good correlation was found between the theoretical predictions and experimental results on using a wide-aperture receiver.