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Periphery Ring thoughts, anyone tried one

litefootdan

litefootdan

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hi friends here at AK,

I've recently made a worthy addition to my vinyl rig and wanted to share my impression. I am a huge fan of decware stuff and started a thread about my impression of the periphery ring I have purchased over in their vinyl forum and I'm just going to basically copy/paste that here.......

Hello Fine Gents and Ladies,

I'm just curious as to whether anyone on the vinyl forum, or anyone here on any of the forums has had any experience with outer periphery rings. I'd always been curious as I seem to run across many warped records and I've always wanted a solution. I have seen options but none of them seemed to suit at the particular time I considered buying...... until this one.

https://www.waynesaudio.com/product-page/turntable-outer-ring-for-vpi-clearaudio....

This thing isn't just a record flattener.

Please don't think of this thread as an advertisement, however much of what I will say does seem to suggest so.

The ring is amazing. Amazing like when I first replaced a capacitor in a vintage crossover. Amazing like when I discovered wide-band drivers. Amazing like when I built my first ZKIT1 and realized what it could do. Amazing like going to a respected moving coil cartridge..... amazing like hearing Steve's listening room. I've only heard stories about his first one.

In my set-up, with my gear, the difference between hearing vinyl playback with the periphery ring present, and not present is absolutely fantastic. I am trying not to get too colorful with my appreciation with this thing but..... I have to. Coherency is amazing (like going to a wide band crossover-less driver). But you loose none of the dynamics. In fact you gain dynamics. It's like every single part of the frequency response just plain improves. Micro-detail is better, honest Bass response is better, just everything in the groove is better. And the ring isn't selective or preferential. It just seems to demand that the stylus put it's very best foot forward and give the phono stage the best signal it can. Let's just put it this way, I'd buy another in a heartbeat, and will if I need two vinyl rigs.

- I'd really like to know how any of you feel here. Please chime in if you have any thoughts or experience with periphery rings. In case any of you are familiar of with or have any interest in decware site, I'm also going to post a link about the thread I've started there. PLEASE PLEASE let me know it this against thread rules and I'll do my best to correct any errors. I am not trying to advertise anyone's product. I just want to share stuff that I think is important in the end game of the best listening for us. Here's a link to the decware thread.

https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1575868262/0#12

Please enjoy and let me know what you think.
 
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Back in the day we played with the Kenwood weight system, center and ring, as well as the VTA OTF. They both made distinct improvements in the sound that were different. Correcting the VTA was like focusing the sound and using the weights, the ring weight being the important one just tightened up the sound. Bass had better attack as did the rest of the music. It was obvious what sonic improvements to expect when you realized what the weight was doing, holding the record firmly in place so all vibrations from the stylus went into the cartridge and were not being damped by the record. I would like to find that Kenwood system for original MSRP.

Amazing differences from to 'extras' to almost every vinyl rig.
 
The George Merrill ring can be placed over the record to flatten it or under it because it is slightly larger than the mat. It rests directly on the acrylic platter. I believe it creates a flywheel effect. It flattens warped records very well but is a bit of a hassle so I often just opt for the ‘under’.
 
I am planning on ordering one of these for a VPI Prime I have. My Sota Cosmos uses a vacuum clamping system which works very well. I hope to achieve similar results with my VPI.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
Mister Pig said:
I am planning on ordering one of these for a VPI Prime I have. My Sota Cosmos uses a vacuum clamping system which works very well. I hope to achieve similar results with my VPI.

Cheers
Mister Pig
Click to expand...
No comments about the sonic differences with the vacuum on vs. off?
 
Like a sheet of black ice.



Pretty sure VPI's P-ring weighs substantially more than either Wayne's ring model.
 
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Vintagear said:
Like a sheet of black ice.



The VPI periphery ring weighs twice as much as the Wayne's ring. Heck, the VPI Signature/HRX center weight weighs almost as much as the Wayne's periphery ring.
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I dunno about that. I just looked it up and its 4.3 pounds but not sure if its shipping weight.


The VPI Stainless Steel Outer Periphery Ring Clamp only extends your platter's diameter 3/4 Inches!

Weight: 4lb 13oz

Special Note: Will NOT fit the Scout 1, Scout 1.1, and Traveler Turntables.

The weight I bought from Waynes Audio is 3.2 pounds.

Now weighing 3.2 lbs, a full pound heavier than our previous model. This turntable outer ring is made from solid alloy with 16 copper resonance-controlling inertia weights bonded to the underside. We decided to increase the weight as we found that a slightly heavier ring provided an even greater listening experience

Mister Pig
 
Mister Pig said:
I dunno about that. I just looked it up and its 4.3 pounds but not sure if its shipping weight.


The VPI Stainless Steel Outer Periphery Ring Clamp only extends your platter's diameter 3/4 Inches!

Weight: 4lb 13oz

Special Note: Will NOT fit the Scout 1, Scout 1.1, and Traveler Turntables.

The weight I bought from Waynes Audio is 3.2 pounds.

Now weighing 3.2 lbs, a full pound heavier than our previous model. This turntable outer ring is made from solid alloy with 16 copper resonance-controlling inertia weights bonded to the underside. We decided to increase the weight as we found that a slightly heavier ring provided an even greater listening experience

Mister Pig
Click to expand...

Yup, the VPI is 50% heavier than the Wayne's ring, in my book that's substantial.

It's 4.8 lbs (4lbs 13oz) not 4.3lbs.
 
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Vintagear said:
Yup, the VPI is 50% heavier than the Wayne's ring, in my book that's substantial.

It's 4.8 lbs (4lbs 13oz) not 4.3lbs.
Click to expand...

True about 4.8 lbs. But that's
not double of 3.2 pounds.

The real question is how much qeight is needed to couple a record ro the llatter and if necessary flatten edge warps.


Cheers
Mister Pig
 
Mister Pig said:
True about 4.8 lbs. But that's
not double of 3.2 pounds.

The real question is how much qeight is needed to couple a record ro the llatter and if necessary flatten edge warps.


Cheers
Mister Pig
Click to expand...

Double is 100% more. I said 50% more.

3.2 x 1.5 = 4.8

If you put the question that way, no weight is needed - just use the screw down clamp VPI provided on it's own. That will do a very good job of coupling the record to the platter.

But as you know, when using a P-ring the extra mass on the outer rotating edge of the platter has it's own benefits. More weight is better as long as the bearing is designed to withstand the load. Otherwise, just use the screw down clamp alone.

Personally, I like the P-ring along with the heavy 1.8lbs (1lb 13oz) HRX/ Signature center weight as opposed to the screw down clamp. I also don't clamp every record with the P-ring but I always leave it on for the added benefits.
 
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Vintagear said:
Double is 100% more. I said 50% more.

3.2 x 1.5 = 4.8
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Fair enough. Now how much force is needed to couple a record and flatten edge warps. A vpi platter is 20 pounds so the ring isnt needed for flywheel effect. Cost is 1/3 of the vpi, so if it does the job then its a decent value.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
Mister Pig said:
Fair enough. Now how much force is needed to couple a record and flatten edge warps. A vpi platter is 20 pounds so the ring isnt needed for flywheel effect. Cost is 1/3 of the vpi, so if it does the job then its a decent value.

Cheers
Mister Pig
Click to expand...

Like I said in my edited post above. "If you put the question that way, no weight is needed - just use the screw down clamp VPI provided on it's own. That will do a very good job of coupling the record to the platter."

I wasn't knocking your choice, I just stating the fact that the VPI is substantially heavier. Not sure what the big deal is.
 
Vintagear said:
Like I said in my edited post above. "If you put the question that way, no weight is needed - just use the screw down clamp VPI provided on it's own. That will do a very good job of coupling the record to the platter."

I wasn't knocking your choice, I just stating the fact that the VPI is substantially heavier. Not sure what the big deal is.
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The screw down clamp does not couple the record all the way across the vinyl...but only the center portion. Edges are not coupled effectively...which appears to be the purpose of the outer ring. And if the record has edge warps a center clamp has no effect on them, at least that has been my experience.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
Mister Pig said:
The screw down clamp does not couple the record all the way across the vinyl...but only the center portion. Edges are not coupled effectively...which appears to be the purpose of the outer ring. And if the record has edge warps a center clamp has no effect on them, at least that has been my experience.

Cheers
Mister Pig
Click to expand...

I'm surprised, when I used my screw down clamp with the washer they provided under the record it practically formed a suction cup effect on the platter. You can literally hear the suction release when removing the record. I found it to work very well. YMMV.
 
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