Ring Clamps. What do you think?

There is no doubt that any believable theory would tell us that the LP has to be held flat and firmly in position, for maximal accuracy in tracing the groove. However, I own a peripheral ring and a heavy center record weight, and neither of these devices increases my listening pleasure. Both seem to dull the sound. Used together, they kill the verisimilitude entirely. So I use a minimal center record weight, and I'm happy. One hypothesis to explain my aural finding is that the nature and composition of the platter surface become much more important when the LP is physically clamped to it. Maybe therefore I should be experimenting with platter mats. But life is short.

Redglobe wrote, "When the stylus traces the groove, it induces energy into the LP. Where is that energy going to go? If the LP is clamped tightly to the platter, the mass of the platter will absorb the energy." This is true, if the coefficient of energy transfer from LP to platter is unity or close to unity. For platter surfaces that are very dissimilar from vinyl in energy transmission, there will be some fraction of that energy reflected back up into the vinyl, from the platter/vinyl interface. Seems to me that the better the coupling (tighter the clamping) between LP and platter surface, the more efficiently energy will be reflected back into the LP, when there is a mismatch. One could envision that when the platter surface and the LP are mismatched for energy transmission, it's better not to clamp the LP, in fact. Further, while I do endorse the theory around clamping, I also believe this is a crazy hobby with surprising "truths". Therefore, because I or someone else may prefer not to clamp LPs, it is not necessarily true that my system or his system is "broken".

The opposite side of this dilemma is exemplified by the Resomat, where the LP is as decoupled as possible from the platter surface. Therefore the energy interface is between the LP and room air, on both sides of the LP. I've not tried it, but some whom I do respect do swear by it.

It's really interesting to see how all of us agree "in principle", yet we are in separate camps, in many ways, on "practice". I think I know what TT Doug uses, and I also know that it is made by a guy who probably did an excellent job in providing a platter that does just what Doug says it does, drains energy and dissipates it in the platter. Some other less well designed platters will instead store energy, as well as reflect energy back into the LP, and can possibly be set in some resonance mode by energy entering the platter via the LP, during play. In that case, clamping might not be a good idea. Factors such as this could account for our different opinions of ring and center weights.

And yet, Swampwalker, if two of us were in the same room with the same system, I think there would be a lot of agreement about what sounded good and what did not, on that particular system.

By the way, Albert and Yogi had a contractual agreement. Yogi could get credit for any quote that was embarrassing to Albert. It was actually Albert who said, in regard to a restaurant in NYC, "Nobody goes there any more; it's too crowded."

Albert also said "Physics is 50% luck and 90% genius."