Record clamps: do they really make a difference.

Actually, a heavy weight will make a noisy bearing run quieter.

It may, but it's also a sonic band-aid that's unlikely to be the optimal mechanical approach.

Some TT bearings have inherently sloppy tolerances and need grease. Others have tight tolerances and need a lightweight oil. A bearing designed for grease that's running on oil is likely to chatter. Adding a heavy weight might stabilize it and/or dampen the chatter, but it would be better to use a more appropriate lubricant. The appropriate lubricant for a TT bearing depends on its tolerances and materials.

OTOH, some bearings are noisy because they've worn due to friction. In these cases, adding a heavy weight might temporarily dampen the noise but it will also increase friction, causing the bearing to deteriorate even faster. This would be the worst possible approach, as it masks the problem while simultaneously exacerbating it. The indicated approach would be to repair/replace the bearing.

Noise is a clue that something is amiss. Masking the noise without identifying and addressing the root cause is not the path of progress.

Dear Mosin: As there are no flat LPs or perfect centered LP holes there are not ( at least I don't know it yet ) a perfect TT that can damp perfectly the resonances/vibrations/noises caused by the cartridge stylus and the LP surface grooves and at the same time impede feedback about.

A TT mat is critical down there when the TT platter ( whole TT. ) is not " enough " to that job and even that a clamp is always a good " thing " but depend of which kind of clamp we are using.

In the past I used the Sota Reflex ( that's very good ), Basis, Shumonk, Harmonix and several other till I find out the " right " TT mat where all those clamps made more harm than help.
I was listening ( for some months ) with out any clamp till one day I found out in my closet a light weight wood clamp that an internet friend send me as a gift ( he build it and its shape is the same as the Shumonk one. ) years ago and I mounted and like it what I heard so I made a modification to that clamp and till today I don't find out something better.

What this clamp does is not to help for a better contact between the LP surface and the TT platter or mat but to " damp "/change the resonance/vibrations frequencies generated at stylus/grooves where makes lower or less harm to the cartridge signal, at least is what I hear and I'm not aware yet of any negative side on it.

I thinmk there are no rules on the whole subject and as always in analog audio we are full of imperfections where we have to be really " wise " to choose the right trade-offs.

Those choosed trade-offs are the ones that makes the differences for the better or the worst.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

On the other recent thread covering this topic, I was in the minority in stating that I do not like heavy record weights or heavy peripheral rings. Like Win and someone else that commented above, I find that they usually (but not always) detract from the musical presentation. But there is no doubt at all that they DO "make a difference".
I own a SOTA clamp. Usually I do use it, but I rarely if ever clamp it. I think it's (rather light) weight alone does just about as much dampening as I care to introduce. I also own the record weight and peripheral ring that Kenwood expressly made to use with their L07D. I find that they murder the sound of that great table, but I do use the peripheral ring UNDER the LP (not over the outer lip of the LP), just to add rotational inertia to the platter.

Elagal, Think of it this way: That stylus has to trace a groove with undulations that are as small as a millionth of an inch. Will the stylus have greater success tracking the record groove with additional vibrations or with less vibrations?

"It may, but it's also a sonic band-aid that's unlikely to be the optimal mechanical approach."
"Noise is a clue that something is amiss. Masking the noise without identifying and addressing the root cause is not the path of progress."

Exactly.