A $300-$400 turntable tweak


This is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
Buy yourself a turntable outer rim-weight.........brand doesn't matter.
These are the metal ring-type weights intended to keep the vinyl flat at the edges just as a centre clamp or weight is intended to keep the record flat at the centre.
Now use it religiously on every record for 3 weeks.
After that time, throw it away and listen to all your records again.
The transparency, space and depth will all have now returned and you will once again remember why you love vinyl.
128x128halcro
I have only one record warped badly enough to cause mistracking on the leading few stanzas of Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto (DGG).
This would now be the only valid reason for me retrieving the rim- weight from the depths of my cupboards :-)
YMMV,IMHO,Only tested on 2 turntables, Personal Opinion, Warning:may be totally wrong.
Suteetat/Halcro, Popper learned from Tarski about 'the
truth'(aka 'satisfaction approach'). Then he used this
approch to illustrate his 'theory of refutation'. A 'theory' in the sense of 'all swans are white'. Thanks to his stay in Australia he was able to demonstrate at some philosophical meeting in England how easy it is to refute an theory. He repeted the universal quantification:
'All swans are white' and then pulled just one black swan
from his hat (?) which he brought from Australia for the
purpose. The colleaques were astonished but the most of then wanted to check if this swan was not painted black.

Regards,
Elizabeth: "we are all aware of the little flaws we can see in others, (and how hard it is to see our own!)". EXCELLENT! (standing ovation)
Not to beat a dead horse but, For me this hobby is about voicing a system to your taste. We've all heard systems that measure great but arent satisfying to listen to. I prefer some systems to others depending on the type of music (classical, jazz, etc) or source. I think the OP's statement reflects his system. There are times when my unclamped ES1 sings prettier than my Cosmos IV but in general I prefer the Sota.
Here is one more vote for NOT using the ring. I, too, found that my Clearaudio periphery ring was making the music more digital like than analog. Since I had bought it i kept using it in the beginning wondering what is going on- never occurred to me that the ring might be the culprit. Since 'common sense' will tell you that a flatter record should perform better. after trying many tweaks. adjustments, one day i just omitted the ring and Valla! Glorious Analog sound.

I still have the ring and use it with few warped records- reluctantly.