A $300-$400 turntable tweak

One more story - FWIW

A few years ago I bought a center weight to try in place of the threaded clamp on my VPI TNT. Did it make a difference – not sure. It did look nicer spinning around especially when the light caught it. It also did make the dishwarp records worse - since it was strictly a weight concentrated on the middle so the lp edges rose more. That is a fact that I didn’t realize till I brought it home. It bothered me that the manufacturer who must have known this didn’t say anything to me about it.

So I saw that another niche was created and ring peripheral weights had come out. Being a crazy audiophile guy I was ready to buy one of those rings too :( but it would not fit on either of my VPI or SP10 platters because my tonearm design was too close for clearance. So never got that far like some of you. Now from what I am reading maybe it was a good thing.

So I have tried a few more various center weights like all of us – and have gotten to the point where I don’t use any of them anymore except the following basic clamps for dish warp records. They are cheap and allow u to exert the force required to flatten the dishwarp record.

The standard vpi rubber washer/ threaded clamp for threaded spindles.

The michell record clamp is a clone or like the VPI one for threadless spindles and I use it on my sp10.

Both of the above clamps cure for me the slightly warped/dish warped lps. Many more modern records 70’s - 80’s and newer are dish warped because they are so thin as we know.

My records are also not that bad. If I had one or two that one of these basic clamps did not cure enough to play I would replace it or not play it.

Hope this helps at least one person.
YMMV

Cheers

On your direct drive you might want to consider the impact of added weights and peripheral clamps as it may be negatively impacting the servos which have been designed for the original mass of the original platter.
On my Final Audio Parthenon it uses a 1.2kg gunmetal weight which has a proud rim around the bottom. The copper mat has an indent for the record label.
A washer sits under the record and the weight goes on top of the record. What I have found useful is that I have made several washers of varying thickness to optimise the flattening of the record. Obviously a peripheral ring might be better.

Ct0507

With a centre weight you get rid of the lifting record edges by optimising the thickness of the washer under the record. When you get the right thickness of the washer you can get the records flat around the perimeter.

Dover -
Yes I agree and that is what my post was about.maybe I wasn't clear.

my post started by implying the manufacturer sold me a weight without a washer. 800 grams worth. It lifted the edges of dish warped records. The other clamps I describe all use have the washers underneath and work great. BTW regarding sp10's torque. People have stood on it in the old days and it spins them.
There is absolutely no concern (my opinion) to what a weight any weight will do to an sp10. It does nothing to the speed rock solid.
My post was strictly about flatttening the records.
No less no more.
Some weights sounded better in my rig then others.
To the others - Experiment and find out.

Thanks Jonathan,
I have a 450gm centre clamp on my belt-drive Raven AC-3 and a 640gm clamp on the DD Victor TT-81.
Both clamps seem to improve the sound but at least never do harm.
Based on your impressions I shall continue to use them :-)
Do you know if your adjustable weight clamp is still available?......and if so, do you have a link?
Cheers
Henry