Record Clamp: a matter of ...

Designed to provide better coupling of the record to the platter, thereby improving the sound, somebody use them also to flatten out warped records. My personal experience comes from a comparative test of some models now available online (ebay as well) or in stores... these are the models proposed i.e. by Audiosilente, Klimo, CM2, Sublima… 

Audiosilente Graphite Clamp

Klimo (steel)

CM2 (Steel+Panzerholtz)

Handcraft made by brass from ebay

Sublima Stone

Handcraft made by Panzerholtz from the net

The strange thing, that immediately jumps to the eyes, is that each producer adopts different fiolosofie to achieve the improvement mentioned above... some focus on weight, others on the materials (panzerholtz, brass, stone, graphite), and so on. 
My tests started with all clamps by listening well known records and trying to find some differences in the COUPLING process and in sound improvements. Immediately I preferred the heavy ones, likely due to the TT currently available in my system (direct drive or pulley turntables); probably the light ones are more suited for floating/beltdrive TT: infact using the light ones on my 930 or SP10 the difference was pretty subtle.

So I have passed directly to heavy ones immediately noticing a greater flatness and a better coupling to the turntable platter: from this point of view the use of the clamp is definitely an improvement, especially in cases of warped Lps.

SONICALLY, the work is more difficult: by listening to several rock records I did not observe any discernible differences. Contrariwise on classical and jazz recordings the sound offered a slightly higher level of details, allowing me hear each layer of the music with a touch more distinction. There seemed to be a little bit more air between the instruments and the soundstage appeared to expand ever so slightly. 

My favourite? honestly I can not find a winner, perhaps the Klimo or the CM2 ones have, in my system and in my opinion, offered the best performance...a good mix of mechanical and sound improvements (preferable also from an aesthetic point of view)... but it was pretty subtle and I found minimal differences between all them (the heavy ones).

One thing is certain ... never without !!!

Stay tuned ;)