• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

crazy vinyl clamp

Cadillac89 said:
But what makes the $1000 clamp "better" than the $500 one? The price?
Click to expand...

In a way it does...it makes it a better product to sell for dealers and importers, perceived quality tends to be higher, bragging rights/image is higher. Makes the manufacturer look good, really high-end oriented and focus on the finest in all aspects of the analog project.

Does it clamp better...maybe so, maybe not....probably not. I'll never know. Don''t really care. It wasn't intended for me, the guy who was listening to old Impulse LPs last night with a Rek o Kut T-12H and $50 Shure cartridge. I popped $450 on the Karmadon arm, a luxury item for me. The whole table cost me less than a good German clamp.

Things like this clamp have to be viewed as luxury goods in a market driven by the same factors as fancy watches and $600 hamburgers, i.e. not always practical and bang for the buck considerations. The bang is the bucks to some degree. People who operate in this market understand. Sales, desirability, and suitability to be traded in this market sphere go up as price climbs.

Even though I see this dynamic in successful operation all around the world, I think it is ridiculous and embarrassing, personally, but hey it sucks to be poor!
 
Mister Pig said:
Ah the people who really care about their vinyl experience own a Shun Mook record clamp. Made from mpingo, its costs about $3500 and is very difficult to get. You ain't serious till you got one of these.

SHUN%20MOOK%20LP%20CLAMP.jpg


Regards
Mister Pig
Click to expand...

I was present when a high-value ebony record clamp, not a Mpingo, was found to have been stolen right off the turntable in a room at the Stereophile show in New York. As you can imagine, the exhibitor was very pissed off at this.
 
vinyl1 said:
I was present when a high-value ebony record clamp, not a Mpingo, was found to have been stolen right off the turntable in a room at the Stereophile show in New York. As you can imagine, the exhibitor was very pissed off at this.
Click to expand...

He should have heard the difference right away. :eek: :rolleyes: :p

Presuming that the turn table was in action at the time. :music:
 
kirk57 said:
I

I'd be interested in knowing what $500 clamp you directly compared to your paper clip thing and was found wanting.
Click to expand...
Maybe a wad of duck tap, as that's the only thing on that contraption I haven't seen sourced from ACE Hardware.
 
I don't understand why people feel the need to crap on these things because of their price. It's not like these things are punched out by the thousands on an assembly line. The skilled trades who produce the small numbers of these are entitled to be financially rewarded for the years of experience needed to make them. And remember that the manufacturer only receives a quarter of the retail price for their effort, if that.

If anyone needs something to beef about it should the free market capital system that allows these situations to exist. Maybe if we stifle free enterprise the cost of these baubles will come down to earth, but more likely no one would bother to make them.

For more examples of conspicuous consumption, take a look here:

http://www.element-acoustics.ca/products.php?cid=1&sid=63
 
Whether its expensive high end accessories or a cheap tape deck dumpster find, there are people here who are happy with either. Not cool to crap on any level of equipment unless it poses some sort of hazard.
 
I invested over $400 in my HRS record weight. I love what it does for my system. Having read the "unseen levels of bullshit" reviews and the description of the product, I'd love to have the opportunity to listen to the item in my system. I would like to audition it. I can't afford it, but I'd like to hear first-hand what effect it has.

Stereo replay is a funny thing. If the system is unable to resolve information from the record to the same degree as another person's system, it is likely that the improvement that the person in the second instance is hearing will either not be heard or if heard the full effect that they are hearing might not be conveyed to the person in the first instance. Essentially what one person hears on their system another person listening to another system might hear none of. If both report their honest evaluation it appears that there is a discrepancy between the testimony. Neither are lying or exaggerating. The difference lies in the ability of the systems to resolve. Some well chosen, carefully assembled systems actually do convey more information than other well chosen carefully assembled systems. People need to get their head around that. It is no exaggeration. It is the truth.

Where things get murky is when the testimonies about the ability of a particular audio item are posted on the internet by two different individuals who are using systems comprised of different components and individuals reading those divergent testimonies fail to or refuse to take into account the different resolution abilities of the systems used to arrive at those conclusions. The differing ability of a system to resolve will affect the outcome of any audition and will lead to divergence of testimony. I posted this on another thread and it does apply to stereo reproduction as well:

A person who has driven nothing better than the Beverly Hillbillies truck will be awed by a 1980 Toyota Corolla, whereas someone who has driven a current model Ferrari will be less effusive of the same. Both are correct. The difference in their testimony reflects not biases but the standard against which they are measuring.

It is easy to dismiss the testimony of someone who is using a system the likes of which you have never used. Especially if that system is vastly better than what one is using and one has never heard a system of that level. Until you hear the assessed item on that system(as opposed to one vastly lower in resolution ability) one can never understand the reason for the person arriving at the conclusion they arrived at.
 
Last edited:
I don't understand why you don't understand.

ripblade said:
I don't understand why people feel the need to crap on these things because of their price. It's not like these things are punched out by the thousands on an assembly line. The skilled trades who produce the small numbers of these are entitled to be financially rewarded for the years of experience needed to make them. And remember that the manufacturer only receives a quarter of the retail price for their effort, if that.

If anyone needs something to beef about it should the free market capital system that allows these situations to exist. Maybe if we stifle free enterprise the cost of these baubles will come down to earth, but more likely no one would bother to make them.

For more examples of conspicuous consumption, take a look here:

http://www.element-acoustics.ca/products.php?cid=1&sid=63
Click to expand...
 
Did you notice the wooden tonearm in the link a few posts back? Just imagine what that one costs ....
 
ripblade said:
Have you never worked with Panzerholz? Pretty dense stuff...it makes Baltic Birch seem like Balsa...
Click to expand...
Sure I have. But just as an FYI.........I'm an avid shooter/hunter/HS instructor. I just don't have a very good poker face when somebody says "it's bullet proof", and my curiosity takes over. :bigok:
 
ripblade said:
Have you never worked with Panzerholz? Pretty dense stuff...it makes Baltic Birch seem like Balsa...
Click to expand...
There are quality pucks made with Panzerholz (Wood) out there on a market that cost about ten time less than the one from Clearaduio! :cool:
3.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom