Thoughts On Turntable Clamps And Weights

@mijostyn who's the app publisher? There's more than one fitting your description.

The one I got comes up as "Vibration Meter, seismograph": "Measure all vibrations" by ExaMobile S.A.

It’s impossible to generalize about clamps and weights for turntables. It depends on the turntable. Some are designed to use them. Some will end up with destroyed bearings if you do where the weight is too much. Some motors will struggle with the added weight. Suspended tables might be thrown out of adjustment with them. Some turntables otherwise might work but not necessarily sound better. It depends.

I use a 1 kg weight and a 1.5 kg outer ring, but my TT is specifically designed for that use, and it sounds better that way.

Did I mention?...it depends.

@pindac My 1 kg center clamp is a Monarch Systems Ultra Carbon TC-40 clamp. It's a combination of stainless steel and carbon fiber.

@pindac Since the subject of composite 1 kg clamps interests you.

Previously I used a Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS) ADH clamp. That one is 850 gr., made of stainless steel with a rubber composite base. In contrast to the Ultra Carbon TC-40 I use now, I felt that the HRS SDH deadened the midrange a bit and cast a bit of veil over midrange detail. The TC-40 is a bit more lively and open. The HRS ADH is now discontinued, and I wonder if that has something to do with it no longer being available. Maybe not.

I would like to try the Clearaudio Innovation clamp. It is 740 gr, made of stainless steel with an ebony base, but it is rather expensive (more than twice the Ultra Carbon). On the other hand, I have a Clearaudio Innovation Wood turntable and use the Clearaudio outer ring, so maybe it has some synergy the 3rd party clamps are missing? IDK, just a thought. I might ask the Musical Surroundings rep to bring one along to try when he is in town to visit my dealer.

@pindac As you can well imagine I am familiar with the Panzerholtz material. Both my Innovation Wood, and the Ovation I had before it have Panzerholtz plinths.

Clearaudio's Statement clamp has a Panzerholtz base, but as I recall it is now $1200 U.S. (the Innovation clamp is about $750). That's a lot of money for a record clamp.

I would still like to hear what a clamp with a wood base (be it Ebony or Panzerholtz) sounds like.

I wonder what a Panzerholz isolation base would be like, with the proper feet? I have a isoAcoustics Delos 3" Maple platform I use for the Innovation. Technically I have exceeded the weight limit for it by about 8 lbs, but I don’t have any isolation issues that I can hear.

I’m going to stand pat on my current record clamp, until I can hear what the Clearaudio Innovation and/or Statement clamps sound like, not that I want to spend their kind of money for one.

@mijostyn Thanks for the info.

My turntable is a non-suspended design. At some point I will try a Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS E1X) isolation base for it. Those are tuned for type and weight of component, but it won’t work with my current setup space-wise. I have a isoAcoustics Delos sitting on top of a Naim Fraim rack that works well enough. I am in a smallish room (11’ x 17’) with large floor standers and a pair of REL subs. As it is I am getting excellent performance and don’t have isolation issues that I hear, even if I play bass heavy music at volume (although I mostly listen to classical and jazz at low to moderate volumes).

Next year I plan to move the system to a larger living room. At that time I plan to revisit siting my turntable, possibly on a wall shelf (I have a Solidsteel WS-5 in storage).

Still, I have no obvious isolation issues, so I’m not planning to throw an excessive amount of money at it. I have other priories. :)

At the moment I have my TT on an isolation platform, and that one will just have to do for now. It may not be a perfect solution, but it's good enough. I listen to a lot of large scale orchestral music and hear plenty of inner detail, and the soundstage and imaging are quite stable. I'm happy listening to music on it.

I'm not going to invest in thousands for isolation when I don't even know yet where the system will be sited long term.

@pindac My wall shelf will be mounted to a plaster on brick wall. I will drill into the brick an fasten the appropriate anchors, readily available form the local hardware store. I have done this before. As an extra measure I also glue the anchors into the brick. I could sit on that shelf.

@mijostyn What app do you use (I am on iPhone)

I picked something off the app store, and vibration seems negligible to be. During normal play it says vibrations can only be detected by instruments, and if I bang on the isolation platform with the phone on the platter it says very slight vibrations felt only by some people. 

But like I said, I listen to large-scale orchestral music all the time, with large speakers and subs in a smallish room, and I can pick out plenty of inner detail.

At some point I will borrow a HRS platform from my dealer to see if it makes a difference, but for now I don't have a problem to solve, as far as I'm concerned.

@mijostyn OK. I got that one, for a couple bucks.

If I put my iPhone on the platter and bang on the isolation platform I get tiny little blips (like small bubbles). If I bang on the rack the isolation platform sits on the tiny blips are even tinier. If I walk around there is is nothing.

As an experiment I also wedged the phone between the arm board, and the base of the tonearm, while playing the MMJ45 of Art Blakey and Jazz Messengers Mosaic. That should load the room with enough bass and dynamics. Without doing anything else the measurement is a solid straight line while the record plays: no blips at all. While I'm playing that I bang on the iosaltion platform and get tiny blips, and can kind of hear it in the bass. And banging on the rack the isolation platform sits on results in even tinier blips. No mistracking in any case.

I should try Weather Report Sweetnighter and turn it way up to see what happens.

Bottom line though is that while I'm playing a record it's not recording even the slightest vibrations that I can tell.

What I have will have to do for now. I'm going back to my blissful ignorance where I enjoy music and have nothing to worry about. :)