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TO BE OR NOT TO BE the user of a record clamp

I'm going to open a new can of worms that will make you sure, I just can't hear.  Please give me good reasons to use a record clamp.  I have seen them advertised for thousands of dollars.  The best reason I've heard so far is that a certain type will drain any electo-static energy from your LP.
My records are not warped, except for an occasional waver on some when looking at record level at the outer most portion of the it, and those are far and few between.  Even then, the clamp has no affect,on flattening out the record.  I can see where they may be very useful, when playing a warped LP, but other than that, I see no reason for it's use.  I can see where it makes a good solid connection to the platter.  I don't have any slip, when the record is playing.  Maybe I have it, but just can't see it.  Are they like seat belts on a car?  Better to use them than not?  Are they like a properly mounted speaker.  It needs to be very solid?  I can understand that.  The record more or less becomes part of the platter.  They become as one.  Be sure to read this last part, because as I'm writing this, I can see where it can actually makes the platter solidly attached to the record.  I think I just answered my own question.  But thousands of dollars for a clamp?  I have talked to several people, trying to explain how tweeks, not matter how small, add them all together an wow.
handymann
slaw's avatar
slaw
22,223 posts
 
I own a VPI Classic 3 Sig SE and a Townshend Rock 7. Two completely different designs. I use two platter mats, one is a Funk firm 5mm the other is a 1 mm flexible vinyl mat. I use these two together on each tt. I do not use a weight or a clamp. I own a Stillpoint LP1, two VPI SS center weights, two Townshend clamps, BDR clamp. and so on.

Sounds better without!
rcprince
3,077 posts
 
Some manufacturers do not want you using a clamp (Linn, for example).  You did answer your question with the theory of making the record and the platter be one unit (Basis adheres to that, and has a clamp that will tighten around the spindle), but some manufacturers do not agree with that theory and design their turntables accordingly.  Personally, when I tried the then-merely expensive (as opposed to now hideously expensive) Shun Mook clamp for one side of a record years ago (it was so wide that the cartridge would bump into it before the end of the lead-out groove), I could not hear any appreciable difference from my Basis clamp, but it was just one record and I'm generally not that attuned to the differences others hear in these things.
donvito101
278 posts
 
A record clamp and a record weight are two different animals!
https://www.gcaudio.com/tips-tricks/record-clamps-and-weights/
kennythekey
593 posts
 
Like they say, it depends on the table. I have an old Sota Star Saphire that came with a clamp and a platter vacuum system. So, this table was designed for those. I tried the Sota clamp on my TW-Acustic Raven and no, it did not help. The soundstage collapsed inwards. However, that $$$$ Shun Mook clamp on Raven tables is getting praise by some who have used the combination.
Kenny
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
When I had Rega tables, I always used a record weight of about 1 lb.  When I upgraded to Well Tempered Labs 'table, it sounded better without the weight. Go figure.
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