Just picked up my SC's yesterday. There was a 14" plastic cutout ring about an inch wide that was on the top of the snare. I put that on the floor tom instead and really like the results.
I've got a Yamaha DTX multi 12 set of pads that I've been using with sticks, and playing the SC's with brushes.
I did some DIY A to E converted acoustic cymbals for the M12, and had some leftover rubber silencing material. I cut some out and have it placed on the toms and placed a small section on the kick batter head too. Sounds pretty good for now with both sticks and brushes, even though I've got some spare heads I'll probably use eventually.
A question for you SC owners. I haven't taken the bass apart yet, but looking at it from the batter side, there appears to be some type of muffling ring installed. I'll probably get around to taking a peek inside shortly, but did you guys have that ring too?
Also, I'm getting a bit of bounce back from the kick pedal and I'm thinking it might be from the non-ported head. Have you guys experienced this? And if so, did installing a ported resonant resolve it?