Some manufacturers do not want you using a clamp (Linn, for example). You did answer your question with the theory of making the record and the platter be one unit (Basis adheres to that, and has a clamp that will tighten around the spindle), but some manufacturers do not agree with that theory and design their turntables accordingly. Personally, when I tried the then-merely expensive (as opposed to now hideously expensive) Shun Mook clamp for one side of a record years ago (it was so wide that the cartridge would bump into it before the end of the lead-out groove), I could not hear any appreciable difference from my Basis clamp, but it was just one record and I'm generally not that attuned to the differences others hear in these things.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE the user of a record clamp
I'm going to open a new can of worms that will make you sure, I just can't hear. Please give me good reasons to use a record clamp. I have seen them advertised for thousands of dollars. The best reason I've heard so far is that a certain type will drain any electo-static energy from your LP.
My records are not warped, except for an occasional waver on some when looking at record level at the outer most portion of the it, and those are far and few between. Even then, the clamp has no affect,on flattening out the record. I can see where they may be very useful, when playing a warped LP, but other than that, I see no reason for it's use. I can see where it makes a good solid connection to the platter. I don't have any slip, when the record is playing. Maybe I have it, but just can't see it. Are they like seat belts on a car? Better to use them than not? Are they like a properly mounted speaker. It needs to be very solid? I can understand that. The record more or less becomes part of the platter. They become as one. Be sure to read this last part, because as I'm writing this, I can see where it can actually makes the platter solidly attached to the record. I think I just answered my own question. But thousands of dollars for a clamp? I have talked to several people, trying to explain how tweeks, not matter how small, add them all together an wow.
My records are not warped, except for an occasional waver on some when looking at record level at the outer most portion of the it, and those are far and few between. Even then, the clamp has no affect,on flattening out the record. I can see where they may be very useful, when playing a warped LP, but other than that, I see no reason for it's use. I can see where it makes a good solid connection to the platter. I don't have any slip, when the record is playing. Maybe I have it, but just can't see it. Are they like seat belts on a car? Better to use them than not? Are they like a properly mounted speaker. It needs to be very solid? I can understand that. The record more or less becomes part of the platter. They become as one. Be sure to read this last part, because as I'm writing this, I can see where it can actually makes the platter solidly attached to the record. I think I just answered my own question. But thousands of dollars for a clamp? I have talked to several people, trying to explain how tweeks, not matter how small, add them all together an wow.