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

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.

I have a VPI Classic 4 that came with a periphery ring, which I promptly sold. It is big, heavy, and an accident waiting to happen. Maybe I’m a little clumsy. My first bad encounter happened with one more than 10 years ago when I bought one for my Classic. When I set my Benz Ruby 3 down, the ring promptly grabbed the cartridge and forcibly drew it over. Amazingly, the stylus was not bent. So, VPI sent me a higher quality SS ring with no ferrous content and that problem was solved, but I still didn’t like the overall risk of dropping it on my arm or table, plus the fact that it was hard to center. So I sold that one too. Fast forward to now: I use a VPI screw down clamp that I modified myself to accommodate the 1/4 inch thickness of my Funk Firm Achromat. It works very well. Very few records aren’t completely flattened by it. Take SME for example. They have thought about pretty much everything regarding proper LP playback - to their high standards, IMO. They don’t offer a ring clamp, but an excellent screw down clamp. That, I think, speaks volumes. As far as improving speed stability, the platter is already very heavy! The big improvement I made was to upgrade the motor to the SOTA Eclipse motor, plus I got the Condor and RoadRunner. And I run one excellent Origin Live Belt. That has made a tremendous measured and audible difference.

I have a VPI Classic 4 that came with a periphery ring, which I promptly sold. It is big, heavy, and an accident waiting to happen. Maybe I'm a little clumsy. My first bad encounter happened with one more than 10 years ago when I bought one for my Classic. When I set my Benz Ruby 3 down, the ring promptly grabbed the cartridge and forcibly drew it over. Amazingly, the stylus was not bent. So, VPI sent me a higher quality SS ring with no ferrous content and that problem was solved, but I still didn't like the overall risk of dropping it on my arm or table.

The Benz Ruby, Gullwing, and LP / LPS models have vastly stronger magnets than any other cartridge (excessively large neodymium). They can do this because the ruby coil plates aren't magnetic at all. But their magnets are insane. You're gonna have a bad time if you happen to try using ferrous hardware to mount them, or if your ring clamp is ferrous at all. I did not encounter such issues with my Clearaudio ring. But I almost trashed my LPS not thinking and using a ferrous flathead screwdriver to start mounting it lol. Fortunately it didn't slap against any delicate bits.