Perimeter Ring Clamps: Yay?, Nay?, Sources??

If you have a VPI and the periphery ring you should definitely use it.  Watch your woofers when you first set the stylus in the groove and see if they are wobbling and if that is reduced when you use the ring.  Also watch a few of your "flat" records closely and see if the tonearm is moving up and down as the record is spinning around.  You might be surprised.  If you're not, maybe you don't need the ring. 

I think you would have to try really hard to damage your stylus with the VPI ring.  The ring should fit over the edge of the record (there are some records that are pressed a little bit smaller than the diameter of the ring) so there's no valley for the stylus to fall into. 

If you somehow manage to drop the stylus on the ring, I'm not sure how the diamond would fare on the smooth stainless steel, but I doubt it would cause much if any damage before you realized what you did and lifted it up.  Do you currently drop the stylus outside the record?

When I sold my VPI I immediately missed the periphery ring.  The VPI center clamp is well designed and works well on most records, but the periphery ring is better.

I've had a TTW V2 ring for years. You can see it on a pic in my system. I use it for every record, flat or not. It is incredibly simple to use once you get into the habit of doing it. I have never had an issue with it interfering with either the VPI  Zephyr, Lyra Kleos or Sumiko Spalding carts. However I would imagine big cubic block carts may have a problem touching the ring at the very beginning of records even so it is ultra thin. Also I never inadvertently lowered the stylus on the ring with the use of the VPI drop lever. With the right cart an outer ring is an absolute necessity IMO, much better than vacuum systems that won't work with all warps. Would never live without it again. 

Many years ago when I came to understand the benefits of a peripheral ring, I was also worried about making a small mistake in placing the stylus on the record.  So I modified my set-up slightly and the stylus goes down perfectly each time.  I can do it blindfolded.

Though it is set for a VPI arm and you can see it here, I'm sure it can be adapted to any arm that uses an arm rest to lower the stylus.  As I say in the post, I would use this even if I had no peripheral ring.

I’ve used the Clearaudio ring almost 10 years now. It’s matched to the Clearaudio table via a lexan interface ring (which stays on the delrin platter), so it goes on easy and centered. If you have to center the ring as a separate step, that’s going to suck and you’ll probably give up on using it.

I’m so used to the ring it doesn’t inconvenience me. You have to be mindful of cueing stylus to lead-in groove. Sometimes I simply sacrifice the first couple music grooves to ensure safety. I’ve used a number of multi-K cartridges like Koetsu and no incidents. Actually the body of my Blue Lace rides fairly low and will kiss/scrape against the ring for the first few/several grooves! No problems other than freaking me out the 1st time :) 

Never used one but Merrill Audio has one made from bronze about half the weight of the VPI, FYI.