Ring Clamps. What do you think?

On my main TT (85 lbs, including a 35 lb, lead-weighted cocobola platter), clamping the record makes a big sonic improvement. Center clamp helps. Ring clamp helps more. Both together help most.

The biggest benefit is not warp flattening (though that's significant). The biggest benefit is reducing background sonic mud. This is undoubtedly due to the damping phenomenon described by Redglobe. Clamping to a high mass platter, bearing and plinth engineered to absorb, deaden and dissipate a lot of extraneous energy makes any record play with a very quiet background.

OTOH, my old, cheaper TT rings like a bell. Clamping a record to an echo chamber is a sonic disaster, obviously. If I cared enough I'd experiment with mats, which would probably be better on any such table.

YMMV, depending on your TT.

As to records "breathing like guitars", that's nonsensical as others have said. The only time a record should do anything like a guitar is when it contains a recording of a guitar. In that case, only the modulations in the grooves should emulate a guitar. Aside from groove modulations, the record itself should do, well, nothing.

The Ringmat, like many mats, is designed to ISOLATE the record from the platter. This is why it should be used unweighted.

However, the Ringmat doesn't "channel energy away". It barely has any points of contact, so how could it channel anything? What it does is (1) limit the amount of noise from the TT that gets into the record and (2) limit the amount of intra-vinyl energies that reflect off the platter and back into the record, as Lewm described.

As I just described, isolation works best on tables that are (a) noisy or (b) not particularly engineered or built to dampen/dissipate intra-vinyl energies on their own. Just guessing, but it might work well on your EMT 950, whose relatively lightweight platter may be subject to (b). OTOH, isolation provides no benefit on my main TT, which works best when the record is COUPLED to its high mass, energy absorbing platter.

ISOLATE the record FROM noisy turntables, COUPLE the record TO quiet ones.

As to records "breathing", I've yet to see one inhale or exhale. That's just pseudo-mystical marketing babble.

Ever notice the interlocking joints on the pavement of a long bridge? The bridge needs to have some play or it will surely collapse.

The interlocking joints on bridges protect the bridge from thermal expansion/contraction due to thermal extremes and water/ice infiltration. Turntables are not exposed to such factors. A less relevant example would be difficult to imagine.

Movement certainly has a place in TT design. Nobody's denied that. Specifically, the platter must rotate at the selected speed, preferably with minimal deviations due to external inputs like stylus drag. Additionally, suspended turntables are designed to move under elastic, spring-loaded controls to reduce the amplitude and frequecy of vibrations. (BTW, this is the exact opposite of the expansion joints in a bridge.) Beyond these two specific types of movement, the less a TT moves, the better its sonic performance.

Air, on the other hand, has little practical relevance to TT design (air bearing designs excepted, obviously). Most vinyl rigs would in fact perform better in a vacuum, as that would eliminate airborne vibrations as a source of sonic mud.

This last fact highlights the absurdity of comparing a TT to a guitar or any other musical instrument, as none of them would perform in a vacuum at all.

I would think a heavy metal deadening ring would do just that, deadening the sound.

You might think that, but as you've apparently never actually used one, you're just speculating. Why post a question to people who've actually done the experiment, then argue with their results? Are you seeking validation of your flawed assumptions, or just trolling?

+1 to Lewm

Not only my platter, but my bearing, plinth, armboard and TT supports were all designed and built to dissipate/dampen vibrations. Clamping on this table is beneficial.

My secondary TT is the just opposite, noisy motor and the platter rings like a bell. Clamping a record to that rig is a sonic disaster

My summary was:
Couple TO quiet materials, isolate FROM from noisy ones.

We're in complete agreement.

Lohanimal,

Thanks for your reply. I intended nothing personal and I didn't vilify you.

What I wrote was in response to your (correct) quotations from the Ringmat website, which demonstrate that their marketing doesn't align with their product. They are not the only company whose advertising lacks a basis in reality.

Agree that a "one size fits all" approach would not be effective for clamps or mats, as I said above.