2. analog
  3. 1304672585

A $300-$400 turntable tweak

This is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
Buy yourself a turntable outer rim-weight.........brand doesn't matter.
These are the metal ring-type weights intended to keep the vinyl flat at the edges just as a centre clamp or weight is intended to keep the record flat at the centre.
Now use it religiously on every record for 3 weeks.
After that time, throw it away and listen to all your records again.
The transparency, space and depth will all have now returned and you will once again remember why you love vinyl.
128x128halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
never occurred to me that the ring might be the culprit.
Same here Nilthepill.
I also left off the outer rim by chance because the inbuilt stylus guard on the Technics EPC-100Mk3 was scraping on it for the first few revolutions at the beginning of a record and voila.............the magic was back!
The difference between 'magic' and 'pedestrian' in analogue is ephemeral.
Without it, there is no reason to persist with the trials and tribulations of the 'record playing ritual'.
With it, all adjustments are a joy.
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
As with Doak up above, I seriously question the use of clamps and weights (never tried an outer ring and don't plan to). I used a VPI clamp on my TNT for years and one day tried one of those silly looking Ringmats without the clamp. I've abandoned the Ringmat but never went back to the clamp except now and then I'll try one just to confirm that I was right :-)

And playing records now is SO much simpler.
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Hmmm.....interesting about centre clamps?
I lived happily without one for 25 years on a Rega Planar 3 but have since tried one on both my turntables (Raven AC-3 and Victor TT-81).
Whilst I cannot detect with any confidence any benefits to the centre clamp on these two decks, I also cannot hear any detriment?
What to do....what to do??
lespier
68 posts
 
What is difficult to know is the clamp changing the sound because of the 'clamping' or is something else going on.
The way I see it, a peripheral clamp is going to very difficult(impossible??) to centre PERFECTLY, even if machined with a particular tt platter in mind. If not centred perfectly you will end up having an eccentric mass around the outside of the platter which would have to have some effect on speed stability.
So is what we're hearing really due to the clamping effect at all?
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
Lespier, the peripheral ring I'm familiar with (a friend uses it) came with a mounting jig that centers the ring perfectly and then is removed before playing.
More to discover