Benefits of a record ring

It depends on the motor, belt, idler wheels, etc. If the table's design allows, helping the platter get going with a manual push removes most of the additional stress from those components. Once the platter's at speed a ring won't hurt them. If anything, the greater inertia will actually reduce demands on the drive train.

Another possible area of concern is whether your TT bearing can support the additional weight without wearing prematurely. Again, it depends on the table.

When I used a ring the most important benefit for me was the improved sinking of resonances out of the vinyl and into the platter, as others described. Flattening of warps was nice but most of my LP's aren't that warped. But they all benefit from a lower sound floor.

Can't use it any longer due to my tonearm, but I'd buy another if I could find one that fit.

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. :-(

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.

Maybe nothing to do with arm height per se? Improved power quality at night, fewer appliances running, etc. Most systems sound best late at night...

*** Here's the whole craziness ***

The master list has two columns:
Column 1. the system change that required an arm height change (e.g., name of new cartridge, name of new TT, etc.)

Column 2. the amount of the change as measured by the TriPlanar's dial; example: +150 means the system change in column 1 required adjusting arm height by one and a half turns of the dial.

Some typical entries:
ZYX UNI #3: -220
Etched belt: +3

This means that my 3rd UNIverse required an arm height adjustment of 2.20 turns from the previous system change. Later, when I changed drive belt types, arm height needed to go .03 turns in the opposite direction.

***

The post-it on each LP jacket includes basic info at the top (record weight, cleaning regimen, demagged?). Below that are two columns of arm height history:

Column 1: same as Column 1 on the master list (ie, what system change is this setting for)

Column 2: arm height as an absolute number, expressed in whole turns of the dial. Since the numbers on the TP's dial go UP as the arm goes DOWN, the higher the number the lower the arm. A typical number might be (say) 2544. This means the arm must be positioned 25.44 turns from its highest position. (No, I don't go up to the highest position every time! I have a visual marker for where 2500 is, from there I just rotate the pointer clockwise to .44. Voila! 2544.)

***

Now imagine I pull out an LP and the post-it tells me I last played it using the setting just before I got UNIverse #3. The arm height for that play was (let's say) 2660.

Checking the master list, I see that there've been two adjustments since then. Adding them together (-220 and +3) yields an adjustment of -217. Add that to the previous absolute height (2660 - 217) yields a new absolute height of 2443. That's where I start the arm for this play.

It's unusual to be off by more than 5 or so, even if the previous play was several years and system changes ago. I fine tune while listening and update the post-it while re-sleaving the record.

Of course this is MUCH faster do than to write. :-)

A glance, a nod, a tilt of the head, some mumbling, etc. Sometimes it is just a shoulder shrug. :-)

LOL. You should watch us trying to choose a restaurant. The eyebrow is mightier than the sword. ;-)

Mosin, isn't a "record clamp, but not a weight" the idea behind vacuum hold-down?

Platter coupling for improved resonance management was much more significant on our table than any improvement in speed stability. The ring we used was pretty heavy (~1200g) but I'm not sure we heard ANY affect on speed stability. As Dan said, a 35+ lb platter isn't going to notice the extra moving mass very much.

Frankly, any high end (ie, costly) TT that benefits from additional circumferential mass by maintaining steadier speeds is fundamentally flawed, at least IMO. Maintaining constant speed despite the challenge of variable loads is job one for any TT, and it's the job of the designer to match the rotating mass of the platter to the chosen drive system. Mosin has evidently thought about that and my (too short) experience of the Saskia suggests that he succeeded. If a heavy ring impairs its speed stability that would actually be evidence that he got the mass/drive system balance right. :-)