Dustcover Blues

@audioquest4life , you tossed the old hinge hardware? Sota uses some really nice hinges with adjustable friction. I'm sure Donna would sell you a pair. You can mention my name if you like. Having to lift the cover off al the time is a recipe for disaster.

@lewm , Thanks Lew. I'm not sure about "dogged determination." Setting up the jig is the hardest part. It takes a lot of test cutting to get the tolerances right, but once that is done you can knock these out all day long with minimal effort. Now hand cut dovetails is dogged determination. But, this is not a $10,000 coffee table and I'm not exactly getting paid for it. After all, it is just a turntable:)

Having read through this old thread, and as someone who listens infrequently to vinyl, I have the following question:

If I don't get an artifact such as the OP in this thread describes, what are the reasons one typicaly doesn't use a dust cover while playing the record?

  I recently picked up an lp of Julian Bream playing Spanish Guitar Music when I was visiting out of town.  It sounds great but for the first time since buying this turntable a few years ago I experimented with cover on/cover off and could detect no difference.  I'd always just imbibed the dogma that the cover should be off while playing.  I love this pristine and really quiet sounding lp and would like to prevent as much dust as possible and so I will continue to use the cover since I don't hear any difference at all.  Am I doing something that will effect the outcome of the election or contribute to Global Warming or committing some other unforgiveable sin?

@mahler123 Avoiding the dust cover is old audiophile dogma, the fear being that the dust cover resonates and affects sound quality. In some cases this might happen. Most people like yourself can not hear a difference. Dust covers that sit directly on the chassis that the plater and tonearm sit on might cause trouble. If they are not hinged taking them on and off during play can be dangerous. Ideally a dust cover should be hinged to the plinth of a suspended turntable. The dust cover does not have direct contact to the important chassis, it is isolated. A good example are the Heritage and Cosmos Sota tables. Using a dust cover that is hinged and isolated poses no danger and actually improves sound quality by attenuating sound around the cartridge by up to 10 dB at some frequencies. I have actually measured this. 

Dust is the enemy of records and fine mechanical devices. I will never use a turntable without an isolated dust cover in my system. I will never use a turntable that is not properly isolated by a tuned suspension.  

Jeez. That’s only two Commandments from Mijo. Do you suppose a dust cover can be isolated from the TT, if it’s firmly attached with hinges to the TT? Especially a spring suspended TT where induced vibrations of the cover are easily transformed into activation of the suspension? Anyway, if you hear no difference with vs without, then do what floats your boat.

@rauliruegas Glass is a bad material to use for a dust cover as it can ring. Have you ever made a wine glass sing? If it is thick enough to prevent ringing it will be very heavy and difficult to manage even if hinged. 

The dust cover I use now is 1/8" thick Lexan which like wood is self damping, it does not ring. It rests on a thick felt gasket and is sealed all the way around. You can see the felt gasket and the dust cover on my virtual system page. I can drop the dustcover during play and it won't affect play in any way, you can't even hear it even if the volume is maxed out.