Description of platter upgrades.
Posted by Ben Lamb -
Fully machined platter upgrades start life as a block of cast Acrylic. The Acrylic is cast into sheets and the surface is uneven as stock. This means the platter must be time consumingly machined over all of its surfaces. The platter is first cut from the block by a CNC machine and then machined in a lathe around its center. Rega upgrade platters are made with a pocket machined into their undersides to contain the sub-platter, motor pulley and belt. This enables an upgrade that does not effect the VTA of the turntable and compensates for the lack of a mat. Acrylic is quite similar to Vinyl in regard to its resonant properties and ensures neutrality and more detail from your recordings. The platters have their mass concentrated around the outer edge which creates a flywheel effect, increasing the gyroscopic property of the platter. This effect provides improved pitch stability and takes load off the turntables bearing leading to more efficient operation due to a lower center of gravity. For the user wanting the ultimate in performance I offer a 25-26mm Delrin or Acetal platter which offers an even better resonant match for Vinyl and also improved mass per volume. There is now a 15.5mm Delrin/Acetal platter available offering the benefits of Delrin/Acetal at a lower cost. Approximate weights for the Rega platters are 2250g for the 25-26mm Delrin/Acetal platter, 1650-1750g for the 23-24mm Acrylic platter, 1500g for the 18mm machined Acrylic platter and 1500g for the 15.5mm Delrin/Acetal platter.
Please note Delrin is a brand name for Polyoxymethylene (POM) Homopolymer and Acetal is a generic term for Polyoxymethylene (POM) Copolymer. Both materials have the same mass and for turntable use I recommend Acetal as I can offer it at a better price, it also has better chemical resistance, Acetal does not suffer from pronounced centerline porosity. If you look at the image of the black Delrin platter you can see the porous centerline in the material which looks like a grey band. This area is invisible in the white version of the material. Both versions of Polyoxymethylene are available for customers.
