On both the VPI forum and AudioNirvana, I came across posts from Joe Pittman claiming to have done a tweak on his record weight as prescribed by Gary Koh which he felt outperformed most or all other record weight variations that he'd tried. Joe shared a template that he had prepared based on Gary's recommendations, which can be found here: http://www.kosmic.us/Clamp Tweak Template.pdf
After a VPI forum user graciously contributed a used Bren1 weight for my experiments, and waiting nearly a month for all of the gem bearings to arrive, I gave it a try myself. I'm actually quite pleased with the results.
The following are hi-res digital recordings of the same song with the same gear and record, with the only difference being the clamping method. One is with a Michell Engineering record clamp with a grungebuster spacer as the reflex washer between record and mat, one is with the Bren1 without modification, one is with the Bren1 with 2 dimes between it and the record (an improvement over weight alone), and the last is with the gem mod applied to the Bren1 using Loctite Super Glue for the two ceramic bearings and Loctite Glass Glue for the ruby. Have a listen for yourself, and see what you prefer: https://mega.nz/#F!5hYmgSJD!XFM63bFxNrd6sN78TFI-PQ
After a VPI forum user graciously contributed a used Bren1 weight for my experiments, and waiting nearly a month for all of the gem bearings to arrive, I gave it a try myself. I'm actually quite pleased with the results.
The following are hi-res digital recordings of the same song with the same gear and record, with the only difference being the clamping method. One is with a Michell Engineering record clamp with a grungebuster spacer as the reflex washer between record and mat, one is with the Bren1 without modification, one is with the Bren1 with 2 dimes between it and the record (an improvement over weight alone), and the last is with the gem mod applied to the Bren1 using Loctite Super Glue for the two ceramic bearings and Loctite Glass Glue for the ruby. Have a listen for yourself, and see what you prefer: https://mega.nz/#F!5hYmgSJD!XFM63bFxNrd6sN78TFI-PQ
