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Turntable Stabilizer Weight: How Heavy?

Loudpipe

Loudpipe

Active Member
I'm considering buying a turntable stabilizer weight for a Pioneer PL-560 (direct drive). TT is in great shape and most if not all of my records are fine, but I've never used one of these weights and thought I'd give it a shot. Plus, I think they look good. As I understand it, this (like just about everything) is a matter of taste and preference, but...

Question: do you use one? If so, how heavy?

Any concerns with one being too heavy? I've seen some nice looking ones in the 1200+ gram range, which is nearly 3 lbs. I don't have significant concerns about the motors of most direct drive tables - I think they have enough torque to handle it - but that extra weight is definitely adding stress to the shaft bearings in the vertical dimension, if not lateral and shear stresses.
 
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I'v had weights clamps and never could hear any difference/improvement, audio eye candy, save your money for something like a cartridge upgrade that you will hear.
 
majick47 said:
I'v had weights clamps and never could hear any difference/improvement, audio eye candy, save your money for something like a cartridge upgrade that you will hear.
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Weights are almost useless, and can add to wear on bearings. Clamps can weigh almost nothing and still exert more pressure than any weight: I don't know why anybody would buy a weight when a clamp so much better.

BUT, as Majick asserts, both can just be "eye-candy".

BUT, AK member 4-2-7 gave us a long post, with great photos, showing how a Clamp can be made or modified to really and truly flatten a record, and bond it to the platter as if the 2 were 1.

His post was about a year and a half ago — I don't know if it's the link Nashou66 posted, but 4-2-7's dissertation is worth finding.
 
I question the value of weights and clamps. I own a weight. I hear no audible difference with the weight vs without the weight. What purpose do they serve? I have yet to hear a viable answer.

Record weights and Shakti Stones what are they good for? Absolutely nothing.

(War..... Huh.....What is it good for.....absolutely nothing)
 
I think for direct drive tables, a clamp would be a better way to go as explained above.
As for sonic differences and improvements, yes, in the event of a warped record for one. I'm sure we've all heard what a warped record sounds like with the whump whump whump.

I'm sure the Cartridge and Stylus going up and down doesn't do any good for the Stylus, Cantilever Suspension, or the Record either.

I believe there is also a sonic benefit by coupling the record to a platter or a mat. Might depend upon the mat itself.

Some mats (and platters) have provision with a depression for label area of a record, so that the record will properly lie flat. And some don't.
 
markd51 said:
Yes, I'd say that would be a good one. Provided there is enough spindle to latch onto.
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I've used this for over six years now without any issues. There is a felt ring that goes under your vinyl, so make sure that goes on before your vinyl. Make sure you read in the description of the ad. It will tell you everything you need to know.
 
Bubbalouie said:
I've used this for over six years now without any issues. There is a felt ring that goes under your vinyl, so make sure that goes on before your vinyl. Make sure you read in the description of the ad. It will tell you everything you need to know.
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Well proven, 6 years. Thanks for sharing what Has worked for you and isn't your speculation. Will check it out for sure
 
I've used clamps and weights, and do not believe there is any general truth about them and how they affect the sound. It seems to me very system dependent (actually turntable/mat/arm/cartridge dependent). When I had a Kenwood KD 500 with an SME Series three, the little three legged clamp made of white plastic that looks like an oil rig mad a distinct improvement - so noticeable that an organist friend who was not an audiophile, but (obviously) loved music made me sell him mine.
I've used weights on and off with all sorts of turntables and couldn't really give you an honest opinion about whether the sound was improved. I do know that I was using one on the Micro Seiki BL 51 with a different SME Series III and decided to try it without it - I haven't gone back to it. Seemed to deaden the sound a bit.
 
You're going to get a lot of opinions about this thing, but I urge you to read the thread that was suggested earlier.....so much I'll reference it here again:

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...ntable-you-should-have-a-record-clamp.816837/

It's not so much about whether or not to have a weight or a clamp, it's about does the thing actually do what is intended, which is to force the record as flatly as possible against your platter, which is a good thing I think we can all agree upon. For this to happen, the clamp system must be properly constructed and all that is in the afore alluded-to thread by member 4-2-7.

Weights are another matter, and unless you can get one to do exactly what the functional clamp does, they don't seem to provide much value to the equation. I'm not aware of one that does, and typically they do the opposite of what is needed.....heavy weight in the label area tends to force the outer edge up and not down, which is making matters worse.

For the already flat record, not much benefit sonically in my experience.....but how many do you (or I) have that are like that??? For all the rest, you at the very least aren't watching your cartridge dance a jig as it traverses the grooves round and round! I've been quite pleased at how still in the vertical plane my cartridge is since modifying the one I have based on learnings in said thread.

Happy tracking trails.....
 
Many people use the terms "clamp" and "weight" interchangeably, as if they're the same thing — which they are NOT. A clamp grips the spindle, to actively press the LP down, and needs weight very little weigh. A weight is just a weight, and it just sits there; its "flattening" effect is directly proportional to what it weighs: unless it's heavy it has no effect, and if it's heavy it's not good for the bearing long term.

An active clamping system weighing 6 ounces (properly designed) will completely flatter the outer edge of a mildly warped LP, while a passive weight of 2 pounds will have no effect at all.

And I'm not talking about the expensive peripheral clamps, just one in the center as 4-2-7's definitive thread demonstrates.
 
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I haven't heard a big difference with a center weight/clamp but a ring weight makes a very audible difference for the better based on my listening tests. YMMV
 
The only table I've had around here that I heard a "marked" improvement with the use of a weight was a Technics SL1200MKII. The bass was rather wooly so I tried one of my weights, the bass noticeably tightened up. This was very easily repeatable by removing the weight during play, then putting it back on.

Here's the weight.
20171025_182638.jpg
 
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