Thoughts On Turntable Clamps And Weights

@lewm 1++ 

For turntables that are not supplied with a reflex clamp the Sota is the best. It must be used with a firm mat and a thin rubber washer over the spindle. It the mat is too soft the edges of the record will curl up. 
 

The issue here is keeping the record flat and dampened. Even small variations in pitch will ruin the effect of feeling you are at a live performance. As record elevation changes the pitch changes. Very few records are perfectly flat.

We know, but weights and clamps typically contact only the label. What they otherwise do is push the LP into closer contact with the platter or the mat, and that’s where ideally you want delrin or graphite.

True, but under the label is vinyl. That too is important, or so I suspect.

The flywheel effect attained by a weighty clamp might be worth the price of admission by further stabilizing rotational speed.

The coolest record clamp I ever saw on Youtube was vacuum with a flexible seal on the perimeter which pulled the record completely flat without the use of weights.

Bergman Galder Vacuum Clamp

This leaves out a crucial part of what happens when one placing a floppy disc of vinyl on a surface. There will be a cavity below that shift from center to front of the disc when adding a clamp.

Tap the disc with your nail and you clearly hear the hollow space below. Thinking any cartridge will not "hear" and reproduce this cavity is denying the acoustics of that environment.

Me thinks, a vacuum is the only way to couple disc and platter into one acoustic unit. Tap that sandwich and you will only hear the sound of your nail striking the record, nothing more.

I would not consider any turntable, in any price range without a proper vacuum hold.

It is as basic an issue as firm speed stability and lack of bearing noise.