I am probably being ripped off again! They were £8 for 4 rings.
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I am probably being ripped off again! They were £8 for 4 rings.
I was going to ask the self same question!
What difference do they make to the sound Oliver?
It's only my opinion but when we first put the phonostage together, the cheap Chinese Transformer buzzed like hell. It was so bad I could actually hear it the back ground. We mounted it on a piece of absorbance board and things massively improved. The noise in the background got a lot better. I then put 3 damper rings on each valve and again, everything just sounded a lot cleaner. Resolution improved. I'm not suggesting that in well designed units, they will have the exact same impact but in my DIY phonostage, they certainly have contributed to a very clean and hi resolution sound.
Thanks Oliver.
I think they stop microphonics in theory and as Oliver has found they result in a cleaner sound.
I agree on suspending a pCB with some sort of suspension mount, on a Valve headlamp I tried, it was vital that this was done due to the gain as you say. The Damper rings are on the valves in my phonostage and that PCB is firmly fixed to the chassis. Think they do make a difference but can see the merits in take other preventative measures before hand.
Never got on with them James to be honest...
A set came with my 300B SET power amp, and felt they dulled the sound down.
After a bit of valve rolling I settled on NOs Tung Sol 5687s as my favourite signal valves, the sillicone rings damped the zing and excitment from the music, taking them off brought it back.