Putting your needle on a spinning vinyl record forces it to trace spiralled grooves there. The stylus wiggles to and fro and its vibrations are then converted into electromotive force (emf) within the cartridge and then into voltage at phono stage load.
The moving stylus experiences quite a lot of sudden jerks and stops, accelerates wildly on dynamic musical passages stored in the groove, gets pinched upwards and dragged centrewards, shaken by hard vinyl surface and so on. In this tiny world tremendous forces act upon the needle, forces no less powerful than with a F-1 race car in the automotive world. All this vibrational energy does not go one way inside the cartridge as it also spreads through the record surface and into the air. You can hear it of you put your ear close to the cartridge and turn the audio volume down.
One of the add-ons or audiophile accessories to tame this unwanted energy spread is a record weight, it can have some sort of clamping arrangement to grab the spindle or just sit on it and weight down the record label.
The added mass of a record weight has a positive effect on catching the microvibrations and smoothing the resonances. It also helps to flatten the record which improves tracking on slightly warped vinyl and smooths rotation. Bear in mind though it also it may act as an additional load on the main bearing and has to be chosen very carefully to match the drive system used for rotating the platter. Still in vinyl playback every little detail counts towards the resulting sound quality and many many enthusiasts use record weights in their analogue set-ups.
A smart solution with Lehmannaudio 3S Floatweight 400
Floatweight 400 relies on combination of seven different layers with carefully chosen absorption properties. Main vibration catching and dissipating duties are with two felt discs using 3S system developed by Lehmann for equipment feet and shelf supports (String Suspension Concept, read more about it in this feature article Lehmannaudio 3S Base equipment support). The layered construction faces the record label surface with a cork disk, softer inner layers are cleverly tensioned and also include plastic film pads and this sandwiched system is positioned within a metal enclosure which weights only 385 g.
Unusually, and ingeniously, Lehmannaudio 3S Floatweight 400 also eliminates any spindle contact which could be a point of entry for vibrations in many hastily designed record clamps. Clever centering sleeve is used to adjust the record weight to the spindle dimensions and is to be removed afterwards.
This is sort of auxiliary device which adds pleasure to vinyl playback. While changing the sound in a soft, incremental way, it should work well for different turntables and different people. There is a lot of thought and smart thinking behind the Floatweight, an original design worthy to try if your analogue rig is open to new accessories.
Written by Sergei Taranov
