I don't know if this has been covered anywhere else in this forum but yeah...


Do record weights really make a difference to your vinyl sound? Is it a personal sound preference?

If so... What one should I get for my TT. I have a Pioneer PL-71 with original platter mat.



Cheers, Mitch.

I use a SOTA I-Clamp on my Rotel RP-855, and I think it makes a signficant difference for the better, especially in the bass.

Tried lots of them. They do make a difference.

The best clamp out there is the cheapo Pickering Red Button Clamp. Works with suspended TTs as well. It is weightless, and thus, it adds no strain to the motor. Plus its look is superb. You can swap the red button for a black button which is included in the package.

http://img438.imageshack.us/img438/3627/dsc05106dv3.jpg

Tried lots of them. They do make a difference.

The best clamp out there is the cheapo Pickering Red Button Clamp. Works with suspended TTs as well. It is weightless, and thus, it adds no strain to the motor. Plus its look is superb. You can swap the red button for a black button which is included in the package.

Cheapest, yes. But best??? :headscrat I use disk stabilizers too and also believe that do they make a difference. But I was not impressed with the sound out of one of these tripods when I tried one many years ago. To me it actually made the sound worse than it was without it. I returned mine.

My Sota reflex clamp, and my thorens stabilizer, on the other hand, both makes a pretty noticable improvement to the sound. I'm sure that good cheaper alternatives exist. But I personally did not care for the little tripods at all.

Well, sounds better than any other clamp I've used. My clamp gets real tight, too.

I've gone overboard with all the clamps I've purchased over the years. Sure, there is synergy between specific TT and clamp combos... I've found my perfect match. Seemingly zero rumble/wow/flutter. And the tracking is highly increased along with a wider range of lows and highs. BIG difference for sure. The added by-product is being able to play warped LPs that otherwise are, quite literally, toast.

I found one of those disc stabilisers (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320023972055&fromMakeTrack=true ). They are quite expensive and thats the only one I found on eBay. I'm sure it's suitable to other TT's (My Pioneer PL-71). I'd like to get some other opinions of the stablisers aswell.

I also found a SOTA-I Clamp (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SOTA-I-Clamp-record-clamp-low-mass-like-new_W0QQitemZ220025542420QQihZ012QQcategoryZ48648Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem ). It's going for a more realistic price ATM. I also found the other (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SOTA-REFLEX-RECORD-CLAMP-Best-clamp-on-the-market-NEW_W0QQitemZ220023797716QQihZ012QQcategoryZ3283QQ ssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem). It's expensive... is it really good. I don't like the way the seller doesn't include a picture. Is that the kind of price I will need to pay for this?

There's probably a zillion good el cheapo vintage turntables out there, that with a bit of tweaking would sound 10 times better than they were ever intended to sound.

One of my biggest qualms with many vintage turntables, was that they couldn't stand too much in the way of heavy footfalls, or airborne acoustical feedback.

Probably one simple tweak could be two sheets of MDF, with a sheet of Bubble Wrap in between to give some better isolation. Maybe even better yet, would be a DIY Sand Box Turntable Base constructed of MDF (ala Brightstar)

As I'm sure all of you know, one of the things that helps many hi-end turntables is mass, and that's something many vintage turntables lacked, especially those that had direct drive.

The Platters were almost as light as Frisbees, and virtually all had Platter Mats that were as hard as Hockey Pucks.

Perhaps on these types of Tables, yes, maybe the addition of a Weight, in combination with a better Mat might make a substantial difference?

Mats such as the AQ Sorbothane Mat (now about $90), and a Weight might help deaden resonances, and help couple an LP better. Or Wally's Mat? (There's so many out there to choose from)

There's countless tweaks, things like lining the chassis with a sound deadening material, etc.
Turntables are a tweaker's dream! Mark

I've never tried one, unfortunately. I'd like to very much, especially with my size 13's on hardwood floors and untimely sympathetic resonances when I choose to run a subwoofer. I've got my main TT on a shelf, bolted to a brick fireplace that the main floor "floats" around with a poly DJ style Slipmat on top of an aftermarket mat, and still get intrusions...

Not too helpful, but I couldn't walk around with a 666 post count.

I use a Thorens stabilizer on my TD125 mKII, and H/K Rabco ST8, and it makes a noticable difference on both. I feel it makes more difference on the Thorens which is fully suspended, than on the ST8. Which makes me agree that different clamps mat sound different on different tables. I tried the tripod style, and didn't find it as effective as the heavier large clamps I've used IMHO. :scratch2:

And for all the frugal people out there...
Hockey Puck used as a wieght?

I am going the Hockey Puck route "yes I am Canadian" will let you know how it spins.

I actually modded my clamp a bit with more 'rubbery' springs on the inside, and stuffed the chambers with cotton. I also added thicker rubber dots to the feet. The clamp can be put on real tight. Sounds great with my cork mat.

I've got mine machined at a nearby shop for $30.00 using the drawing found on the net
http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=24131
It works great and looks good too.
Kris

Thanks for all your replies. I am not really interested in modifying my TT too much and doing too much work like sandboxing it etc. I'm not sure how the bubble-wrap between 2 pieces of MDF works... probably like the 1/4inch felt unterneath my TT for dampening.

I found these ones aswell

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Keith-Monks-Record-Weight-with-strobe-record-clamp_W0QQitemZ220025538721QQihZ012QQcategoryZ4864 8QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/J-A-Michell-Engineering-Record-Clamp-For-Turntables_W0QQitemZ250025748940QQihZ015QQcategory Z48648QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


I have not heard of these people before. The top one is a stabiliser and the bottom one is a weight/clamp.

Also... The platter is considerably heavy on my Pioneer. The platter mat is made of rubber and is the original from 1973 or so. It has not perished or anything and it's thick in places.

I use a Thorens stabilizer on my TD125 mKII, and H/K Rabco ST8, and it makes a noticable difference on both. I feel it makes more difference on the Thorens which is fully suspended, than on the ST8. Which makes me agree that different clamps mat sound different on different tables. I tried the tripod style, and didn't find it as effective as the heavier large clamps I've used IMHO. :scratch2:

How much suspension re-tuning did you have to do on your Thorens to be able to use the clamp? I'd like to try one, but I don't particulalry want to mess with the suspension on my TD-145.

I just reset the leveling springs after putting on an lp and the stabilizer. rather small adjustments to rest the height and bounce rate, and It was good to go. Big difference in the tightness of the bass. Hope this helps, Enjoy

also there is lots of thorens info at http://www.theanalogdept.com/thorens_dept_.htm

How much suspension re-tuning did you have to do on your Thorens to be able to use the clamp? I'd like to try one, but I don't particulalry want to mess with the suspension on my TD-145.
I have one on a TD-126. I'm not sure that it would be the best choice for a TD-145, as it is quite heavy. Both the 125, and 126 have a very heavy subchassis, and as such really don't require much retuning with the Thornes stabilizer.