The arrival of a wee brush, and a great tweak for Techy fans...

[The Grand Wazoo]

I have no experience of the record clamp, but it looks to me as if you simply press down & tighten up the knurled nut which locks it to the record deck spindle...
.

Yes, the nut nips up a collet which goes over the spindle. I've used a Michell clamp since about 1986 when I bought one to use on my Acoustic Research turntable. A few years later I got a Gyro. I only sold my original clamp a couple of years ago & got three time the price I paid for it - there was a bidding war between three buyers - idiots could've got new ones for less. Still, not to worry eh? - a bit of unexpected lolly always comes in handy!

[Marco]

Lol... Yes, Mark, that's right. The effect you achieve is primarily a closer coupling of the record to the mat, and in turn, the mat to the platter (the ultimate 'sandwich' effect) - always a good idea for preserving maximum signal integrity, in my experience!

If you remember, applying Vaseline to the underneath of Achromats (to improve coupling to the platter) was discussed recently, and proved very effective, so this is simply a further extension of that principle, albeit this time involving improving the contact integrity between the record and the mat.

A small side-effect is that the closer coupling of the record to the mat also 'irons out' slight warps in records. The Michell clamp will have little effect though on more serious warps. For that you need the Oyaide mat and weight, or even better, the Furutech 'heat-press' thingy....

Marco.

[The Grand Wazoo]

When you buy a Michell clamp from new, it comes with a thick felt washer that goes over the spindle but under the record. This can help smooth out warps on a non-profiled platter or mat.

[MartinT]

Marco spoke to me about his enthusiasm for the Michell clamp a couple of weeks ago and, based on the fact that I used to own one many years ago (on a Syncro) and that it's so cheap I thought I'd take a punt.

Mine is the modern black design, hollow underneath and comes complete with a felt washer to go under the record. There is plenty of spindle available with the Mike New bearing, but some decks will not have enough length available for a good clamping action. Also, for reasons that will become clear, I would not really recommend it for sprung subchassis decks.

The action of the clamp is to flatten the records by dishing them downwards via the annulus of the clamp and the felt washer. I find that it needs a good press downwards together with a twist of the knurled knob. If done properly, the periphery of the LP is pressed against my Achromat mat very effectively.

The sound versus my Bruil weight is interestingly different. There is a greater sense of that dimensionality and space that I so like with MC cartridges, as well as improved structure through a welcome tightening of the bass and even more presence in the all-important vocal midrange. The effect is simply 'more' of everything the Technics brings to the table. For an outlay of about £30 it's an excellent addition to my vinyl replay system and a nice bit of engineering in its own right.

Thanks, Marco and Andr'e.

[Dingdong]

So the one I just bought is not going to sound too good on my Thorens TD160 then?

[Reid Malenfant]

A small side-effect is that the closer coupling of the record to the mat also 'irons out' slight warps in records. The Michell clamp will have little effect though on more serious warps. For that you need the Oyaide mat and weight, or even better, the Furutech 'heat-press' thingy....

Marco.

Hold up a minute buddy... If you can lock this clamp (really does sound like a clamp now ) to the record decks spindle then surely you can apply more "mass" by pressure to the clamp before you lock up the collet (cheers TGW - name escapes me right now - serious apologies ) so i'd have thought this could do a better job of ironing out warps but with less mass than something like an Oyaide or similar that simply rely on mass & no clamping?

Or am i off on a trip to Mars

E2A:- Sorry Chris, i thought that is what your name was but there are a few so i thought i was imagining things

[Marco]

So the one I just bought is not going to sound too good on my Thorens TD160 then?

No, the one you've bought Mark is different to Martin's. His is the new one. It doesn't clamp in the same way - relax you'll be fine!

Marco.

[MartinT]

Mark - yes, you can apply tremendous downward pressure before twisting the clamp, my only worry would be for the bearing. I have no qualms with the MN bearing but other decks may not like the downward pressure and sprung decks could be a real problem.

[Dingdong]

That's sort of what I was thinking Marco. It seems to have markings on for 33 and 45rpm. Do they work with any sort of light?

[Marco]

The strobe markings? Yes they work fine if you know how to read them!

Marco.