RECORD CLAMPS HELP

Although I've never tried this, it sounds like it would work well. Take an appropriately shaped piece of leaded crystal (give it some thought - only a few shapes will work) and fill it with melted paraffin wax. Once it fully cools, carefully locate the center point in the wax and drill a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the turntable spindle. A dealer told me about this homemade clamp. He's a dealer for VPI, Wilson/Bensch and Black Diamond and he claims that the crystal/paraffin is clearly superior to any clamp he carries. It sounds fairly easy to make and it should be low cost, say $50. I imagine you would have to regularly "recast" it due to wear and tear at the center hole.

Of course, there's always the Shun Mook clamp for $2000 or so. For fun, I actually borrowed one from a dealer and used it on my Basis when I owned one of the original Transfiguration cartridges. I can't comment too much on the sound, as I only listened to one side of one record (didn't really notice a difference from the Basis clamp on that one side). Due to the shapes of the clamp and the cartridge, when the cartridge reached the end of side one, it slammed into and then scraped against the side of the clamp, sending me flying out of my chair to save my ears and my speakers! Needless to say, it went back to the dealer the next day.

I had very good results some years ago with a SOTA clamp, and then I (unwisely) sold it. More recently, I used a Michell in conjunction with a SOTA vacuum. Both are reflex designs that work on unthreaded spindles. I now use a VPI clamp on an Aries, but of course that is threaded. I strongly share the belief of those others who report that clamping helps to couple the record to the platter.

Thanks to EVERYONE for your kind replies! They have been very helpful!