Is this something I should consider? Any users here?
Thanks.
Is this something I should consider? Any users here?
Thanks.
I have a fear of an outer ring. A good friend has one and swears by it. My brother in law just bought one and is eager to demonstrate it to me (we have the same table). The fear: well after a committed promise to lay off the gear buying and just be contented, I fear my wallet is about to take another hit.
P.S. The rings mentioned are TTW's
You see those come up on CAM now and again. Pricey buggers though.
The brother in law mentioned is a retired machinist. He has stated machining outer rings without warping the material is difficult. He feels the price all things considered is resumable.
Is this something I should consider? Any users here?
Thanks.
Peripheral rings should be made of non-magnetic and HEAVY materials such as copper, brass or austenitic stainless steel, to name a few common ones. I want to emphasise the importance of the mass in this application in order to achieve proper results. The idea is to firmly push the record towards the platter and increase the contact surface between them. Without significant mass (weight) only a limited part of the surface of the record will get in touch with the platter or mat. The hardness or compliance of the mat is a determining factor for the overall performance of this implementation and has to be matched.
I am convinced a peripheral ring together with a centre clamp is one of the best invested money on a vinyl replay system and yields guaranteed fidelity improvements if properly executed at a fraction of the cost of a turntable "upgrade" without this feature. Actually, record hold-down is one of the biggest contributors to higher fidelity in a turntable and it is sadly something most manufacturers don't care about and even recommend not to use. It is easily justified from an engineering point of view and obvious when listening to the results. Everybody should be using it lacking the alternative of vacuum hold-down!
/Marc
...However, there are plenty of analog guys who prefer bare metal platters with no weight, clamp or ring. I'm thinking primarily of Technics SP10 and TW Akustics Raven owners. Perhaps also Brinkmann. They tend to use bare copper platters with nothing to hold down the LP...
I'm an SP-10 MKII owner and I can assure you that I don't listen to my records on a bare metal platter.
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