I got my Star Sapphire back from my local shop yesterday. It had to be sent back to SOTA for a new lip & matt, bearings and new springs. The used table came with Micro Benz that needed re-tipping, so I decided to buy a new Hana. So after 2 months in a shop I got to finally hear it for the first time since I bought it. I'm pretty impressed indeed! I think it sounds wonderful and definitely worth all the money and time spent to get her up to specs. I also decided to buy a SOTA reflex clamp, because I've read so many wonderful claims about them.
I've never understood why with a vacuum platter, would you need any clamp. Someone (on a thread I can't find now) figured out with 7" of vacuum how much weight ( from the air pressure) is put on the record, and it was an amazingly high number. In the hundreds of pounds IIRC. But I bought the clamp anyway.
So yesterday I played the table (all set up now) for the first time. The turn table is on my audio table right in front of my living room picture window, so there is plenty of light. After I pushed the reflex clamp down and locked it, I turned on the table and the vacuum came on. I got down on my knees to inspect every thing, and I could see day light between the bottom of the reflex clamp and the record label! The vacuum pulled the record down beneath the clamp, so the clamp is not making any contact with the record. Useless!
I started thinking that perhaps there is something wrong with this SOTA reflex clamp, so I tried my old Michell R clamp and the same thing happens. The suction on the table pulls the record down below the surface of these clamps making them useless. Then I tried the "clamp" that came with my used table pictured below. It is just a "cheesy" soft "rubber" type of thing that more resembles a plumbers helper than any kind of clamp. But you can tell it makes a air-tight seal, and when the vacuum is turned on it still remains in contact with the record's surface.
So I'm curious if anybody here with a vacuum platter uses the reflex clamp, and have you ever checked to see if the clamp remains in contact with your record when the vacuum is applied. If you can't get a strong light behind you clamp to see, you can just try to slide a piece of paper between your clamp and the record label.
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