Planar 3 lid design

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berthej

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Joined 2006
The lid on my Rega Planar 3 is broken, and I thought about replacing it with a homemade/ custom made acrylic lid.

How important is the lid design for the overall acoustics of the Planar 3? My lid will have rounded edges instead of right-angled ones, and probably will be somewhat heavier. Is that OK?

Thanks for any input

berthej
 
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berthej

Member
Joined 2006
…. Well, with the risk of being condemned to public humiliation, I am going to confess that I actually mostly play my records with the lid CLOSED… :eek: :whazzat: :smash:

I know, but I live in a rather dusty environment (yes, we do regularly clean the house), and to spare my records the lid goes down. Rega states in the user manual that the Planar 3 is designed to play with the lid down for best sound? And hence my question on changing design. :confused:
thanks
berthej
 
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berthej

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Joined 2006
ticktock said:
the rega lid does NOT have hinge springs.
so it needs to open wide enough to hold by it's own weight.
Click to expand...

you are right, of course. there are no spring, but the hinges themselves seems rather weak, might break under the additional weight?

sreten said:
Hi,

Making lids is not easy at all - how is the Rega one broken - may be possible to modify.

:)/sreten.
Click to expand...

Don' know, I bought the rega secondhand like this (at an excellent price). The lid is still in one piece, though, but not very beautiful, and estetically I prefer a clear acrylic lid, than the dark, smoked one that rega supplies.

harrygrey382 said:

Out of interest, how do you intend to construct the lid? I need a lid for my GL75 and happen to have a whole lot of thin perspex lying around, but not sure how to form it etc. With heat?
Click to expand...

actually I did not intend to do the work myself. I have before been working with acrylic, bending it with heat, and no, it is not easy, especially if you need to get all four corners in level like in this case. I thought of asking around to various craftsmen for prices and feasibility, comparing to what Rega may ask for a new one. Could be a way to make something nice and different from the standard Rega look :)
 
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berthej

Member
Joined 2006
Initially I was thinking about doing something similar, the main problem being the difficulties in pulishing the cut pieces to restore transparancy of the edges.

The best way to assemble pieces of acrylic (or perspex) is using cyanoacrylate glue (Super glue); it is virtually an unbreakable joint, much stronger than using metal pieces. Alternative the pieces can be fused together by "melting" the joint with trichloromethane :skull:. Done correctly it produces almost invisble joints, but it is nasty stuff to work with. :dead:

Now that you brought this idea up again, I might actually give it a go; flat pieces of acrylic are pretty cheap, so if the end result is less than acceptable, not much is lost.

berthej
 
tubenut

tubenut

Member
Joined 2002
croak.co.za
Rega original lids are not that dear as a spare and are available smoked and clear. They are not the same price though. The Goldring and I think NAD branded Rega made decks use clear lids...

I made a lid for a record cleaning machine once. After the price of the cut to size acrylic (in small qty) and the way my joints lloked vs those on a pro made lid I would be tempted to spend the extra 40% or so and get the real thing.


The lids should cost around GBP50.00 smoked and GBP65.00 for a clear one as a rough estimate from local prices quoted here in SA.

JM2c
 
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