Ok guys

mijostyn makes a good argument for using a well-designed dust cover. The key words being well-designed. I've thought about it before and never bothered because of the difficulty of the well-designed part. Its not that I don't know how to do it. Its that I know it will be hard to do! But I'm getting to the point where .... and ditto static. What's that gizmo you use again, Mike?

Have you tried without?

No, I haven’t. Even if taking the dustcover off would somehow result in minor sonic improvements, which I can’t imagine with that particular table, I’d give a higher priority to keeping dust off of the platter (which is made of a material that is not necessarily the easiest to keep clean). And I’d rather not have to take the dustcover off and put it back on before and after listening sessions.

Best regards,
-- Al

Put me in the no dust cover camp, that's +5 and counting. Enjoy the music

A dust cover is a no-brainer to be desired. Nobody wants dust on their records, turntable, tone arm. Nobody wants the acoustic energy in the room vibrating the sensitive cartridge/arm system. The trick is to do it in a way that doesn’t create more problems than it solves.

i guess dust covers are like politics, religion, olives, and Kenny G. All taboo subjects in polite company.

It’s interesting that the pro dust cover guys, so far, are both owners of SOTA turntables. I owned a Star Sapphire Series III with vacuum  for most of the 1990s, and never used the dust cover. Al is correct that the felt platter mat does/did accumulate dust.