It’s time to talk tweaks, or rather a subtle upgrade with a million approaches (as tends to be the case in our hobby). I consider a record weight to be a ‘tweak’ compared to upgrading your phono preamp, cartridge, speakers, amp, or turntable itself.
A critical listener will more readily hear the improvements a vinyl weight advances, and that same critical listener is more likely to have a more revealing system that can make a tweak seem more profound in hi-fi analog playback.
In short, record clamps are effective in theory and in practice. Varying designs, your existing equipment, your ears as well as your approach to listening all have bearing on the perceivable impact of a record clamp.
What is a Record Weight?
When I say ‘record clamp,’ I refer broadly to all of the products that fall under that canopy including the also-common record weight (or record puck) and any other form of vinyl disc stabilizer. Per the usual, here’s a list of terms that you’ll stumble across that address the notion of coupling a record to the turntable platter and/or platter mat: record or turntable clamp, record or turntable weight, record weight stabilizer, vinyl record weight, and so on…
The list goes on and becomes increasingly redundant, but you get the idea; we’re installing a device that locks the vinyl record down as much as possible, adding an extra measure of stability while the stylus is in the groove.
It should be mentioned here too that clamps & weights are the main approaches but not the only ones.
Tending to dwell in the audiophile high-end, there are things like turntable rings and even vacuums. A turntable ring rests on the outer lip of the record. The only ones I’ve seen are made of stainless steel, the mass of which not only does the coupling but is among the more effective ways to deal with warped records. The aforementioned vacuums further illustrate how far designers take this principle (and the potential importance of it).
There aren’t many out there and they get pretty expensive, but they provide literal suction of the LP record to the platter’s surface yielding uniform pressure across the disc and providing heightened stabilization.
Back to the [more common] topic at hand of clamps & record weights. Their task is to provide clamping and damping of the LP vinyl to allow your stylus, cartridge, and tonearm to do their respective jobs more effectively. Among turntable accessories, it’s one of the easiest ways to achieve better sound. With proper record cleaning and a heavyweight record clamp, you’ll get even closer to your favorite music.
They are fitted over spindles atop the record labels (not to be mistaken for a 45 RPM adapter). As we’ve discussed, sound quality in this hobby is heavily impacted by resonance.
Apart from the usual suspects that have the more immediate and noticeable impact (e.g., footsteps on a springy floor), remember that your speakers create resonance and that your record player itself has its own resonance properties. Resonance is not inherently bad, but controlling/reducing the harmful ones is the goal among vinyl enthusiasts, and a high-quality clamp or weight can help.
Why Do You Need a Record Clamp?
On a micro level, remember that the stylus has a difficult job. It’s tasked with navigating relatively extreme topography at a high relative speed (and at a high relative temperature!) all while holding the record groove. In order to accomplish its job, it has to rapidly vibrate. Doing so causes unwanted resonance within the record itself that can return to the stylus causing the cartridge to transcribe it and send it down the arm to your phono stage.
This is the specific type of resonance with which a clamp or record weight is most helpful. Consider the ultra-light mass-produced records of yore (120-140g) vs. 180g or 200g records. 180g records are made not only with a higher degree of quality in mind but it’s widely agreed that their additional weight makes them less prone to unwanted resonance, thus are capable of better sonics.
A clamp/weight takes this notion to the next level. I like to think of it as an attempt to heighten the effective mass of the record, or to make that effective mass something similar to the platter itself by ‘coupling’ the record to it. Doing so also ascertains that the record is spinning at the precise speed dictated by the drive system (reducing micro speed variations vs. a record that’s unsecured).
Weights/clamps come in many forms. Typically they’re made of something highly rigid and massive (various metals) and/or something resonance absorbing (rubber, carbon fiber, various composites). Pro-Ject makes a few products that nicely illustrate the most common approaches. First, there’s the very popular record weight simply referred to as their heavyweight Record Puck (seen in black or brass).
This one uses the simple principle of mass atop the record to brace the disc on the platter. Being higher in mass, it’s designed for a more robust platter bearing, in this case for their inverted ceramic bearings seen on higher-end machines.
Theoretically, a mass-loaded record weight is not advisable over conventional bearing wells due to the risk of friction therein and possible wear & tear to the bearing over time, which is why they also offer Clamp it. This product works great for any turntable but is the advisable option over a conventional bearing well because it does not rely on mass to accomplish its goal, rather on the twisting force applied by the user. Clamp it grips the record spindle and applies minimal downward pressure to secure the disc have little impact on the platter bearing. Here resonance absorption is also at play via the leather pad on the bottom side (the side that contacts the record), so it’s a multifaceted approach. Also worth noting is the example of 6PerspeX SB.
Here we have a vinyl-coated MDF platter with a record spindle that’s threaded for use with a compatible screw-down clamp. The twisting force of the user plus the downward force created by the threading makes this another neat, effective approach where the platter is meant to mimic the resonance properties of the vinyl itself – a more involved approach to coupling.
Can You Hear the Difference?
With all this clamping, damping, and coupling, you might ask what can be expected in terms of sonics? Well, reducing interfering resonance is a broad goal in analog reproduction, and record weights or clamps target just a portion of it. That said, the difference is audible, which justifies the spread of products on the market made for this express purpose. Reducing resonance brings forth things that are already there but makes them less blurred into the soundstage. Expect improvements in bass depth & texture, high-frequency extension, midrange clarity, and more.
Look at it this way… we want the motion of the stylus in the groove to be the only vibration picked up by the cartridge. A record properly coupled to the platter is less susceptible to external resonance as well as resonance with the record itself, allowing the stylus its max potential when powering through a record groove. If you’re relatively new to vinyl, check out this guide to how vinyl works to understand just how important all of these details are.
As always, happy listening!