Benefits of a record ring

I think an outer ring pressing down the record more firmly with a larger portion of its surface to the platter has a lot of benefit.
The possible drawback of too much additional load on the bearing - well, if a TT's bearing can't take the additional 2-5 lbs, it is hardly of any quality.
Furthermore the inertia of the platter is increased and the platter is kind of dampened. All these side-effects should and will - in a carefully set-up thread or belt driven TT - increase the overall performance. It is however important to add a good record clamp to the periphery ring.
On DD or idler drive TT's the increased inertia is counter-productive and it certainly needs some careful tests before going for this option.
Same is true for some 9" tonearms with conical armwands (SME V) - it often interferes with the increased diameter of the platter surface.
If your table and arm allows , I would always go for a periphery ring w/clamp.

Another tonearm that doesn't work with most rings is the TriPlanar, for similar reasons to an SME IV or V. The TP's sub-arm hits the ring. I had to sell my ring when I got the arm. :-(

After the stated concern/issue with conical armwands, I borrowed the 600g ring from a friend to see if it will be a problem. I have a Michell Orbe SE + SME V. The armwand was set up at the height stated in the instruction manual (I believe something like 10mm from the platter to the parallel lines on the side.) I tried it with a 200g and a regular LP, and there is enough clearance underneath the armwand. The only thing was that I had to move the armrest further away from the platter. But otherwise it looks like it will work.

FrankC

I have the new TTweights Black Onyx table and am using the TriPlanar Vll. When the arm is set at the recommended pivot to spindle length, the arm does come in contact with the ring near the end of the albums, but, there is also room in the Tri's head shell for the ZYX Universe to be moved forward. I simply moved the arm pod 2mm further away, reset overhang etc. and problem solved.

Doug; It wasn't until I had the Black Onyx that I gave your 'post-it' notes idea a thought. My wife now helps me set each albums VTA properly, she has better ears than I. Our kids think we're crazy.

Cousinbillyl, sorry to hear about your recent insanity. Welcome to the ward.

Of course we find this makes it VERY fast to dial in for replays. I started maintaining those notes in 2004. Since then we've changed cartridges, tonearms, TT's, TT bearings and drive systems, and of course each change affected VTA/SRA. Therefore, our postit notes include not just a list of arm height settings, but also the cartridge or TT or whatever associated with each.

By keeping a standalone list of those system changes and what effect each has on arm height, I'm able to calculate a current height number for LP's I haven't played for many years/rig changes - in just seconds.

Visitors think it looks geeky, as do I, but the experienced ones understand what I'm doing. Everyone hears the difference when I dial it in precisely, though only Paul and I notice when it's off without A/Bing, because we know the sound of our system of course.

Steve Marsh, an online reviewer, visited recently to compare his Hovland to our preamp. He wanted to use an LP we'd last played 3 years ago and watched me check the post-it, my list, do some arithmetic and set the arm height. This took about 15 seconds while the platter was spinning up.

After a few bars I jumped up and tweaked the height to get it perfect.
"Moved it down a bit?" he asked.
"Yes" I said, "good ears."
"It does sound tighter, good adjustment. By the way, how far did you have to go from the setting you calculated?"
"1/200th of a turn (0.5 on the numeric dial)."
"#%$&&?!"
:-)

BTW, it also helps to record the LP's weight, as a proxy for thickness. Similar weight LP's on the same label generally have a very similar arm height. Big time saver when playing an LP for the first time.

Still, your kids are right, about all of us.