Periphery Record Rings


Who uses one of these periphery record rings, like the VPI? Theoretically they make a lot of sense. What is your experience with them?

Has anyone seen this auction over at Audiogon ...

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc.pl?accstwek&1235444247&1234963855

It's a brass ring without the outer downward facing "lip" on the VPI ring, which won't work on all tables due to lack of belt clearance. I would guess brass would be better, since it is denser and purportedly results in better sound than other metals. Anyone seen one of these "ttouter" rings and can vouch for the quality of the workmanship and uniformity of it?

thanks,
Bob
ptmconsulting
Hi Bob, we seem to think along the same lines... I may try their brass mat, based upon my recent positive experiences with brass clamps and bearing housings. At 3.5 lbs. the brass mat should contribute both to flywheel effect and to resonance control. But IMO a periphery ring is a PITA.
The VPI ring hasn't been a PITA for me. Agree w/Dgarretson about the benefits, not to mention that warped LPs will never be a trouble again. Cheers,

Spencer
That's my initial thought Spence. The primary issue with my rig is nasty subsonic effects. I think a periphery ring would help with that more than a heavier platter, as much as it would be a PITA (not the bread).

I'm mostly wondering about the quality of this new brass ring.
- Has anyone seen it yet or is it brand new?
- Is there any slippage on the LP edge to worry about?
- Should that be damped where they come into contact or just leave it as metal to vinyl?
- Is the concentricity (is that a word?) good enough to ensure that there is no out of balance issues that would affect speed stability?

Bob
Here's some thoughts from another source that I have queried on this topic:

"I think the only way to go is with a matched fit with 3 point engagement on the outside diameter of the platter so you don't give up concentricity and minimize resonance transfer. If you locate the ring on the O.D. of the vinyl record, you're depending on the record being pressed dead on concentric and this rarely happens. The ring then rotates about the same eccentric axis as the record and destroys balance."

An interesting thought for sure about a non-concentric record's problems being emphasized by the ring. I like the thought of there being some kind of centering mechanism for the ring, to ensure concentricity, but implementing something that is also user friendly (given that a ring is generally NOT user friendly to begin with) could certainly pose a design challenge.

As for the brass platter plate, my mind is still uncertain on this one. I like the design of my black VPI platter, where the record and the platter are similar and rather effectively coupled via the VPI clamp. I may wait to see how that one fares on your rig Dave :-)

Bob
When all said, the only way to determine if the ttouter will work for you is to try it. All different TT's will react differently. TTouter offers a full refund, with no restocking fee. You are out the in and out bound shipping. It's worth the try so you can be put to rest your doubting and wondering.