Dryad - My Rega Planar Project

[willbewill]

Well I've been looking at the Planar 8 & 9 for quite a while as well but can't really justify the cost of entry, especially for the P10. So I've been looking at the possibilities on building something similar incorporating some of the components, tweaks and ideas I've tried before on Rega decks and other ideas I've seen.

But what to build it out of? Rega use a material called Tancast 8 foam core for the plinth which doesn't appear to be easy to source? I wondered about acrylics etc but they're difficult to work and don't really have the right properties, plywood was a possibility but in the end I settled on bamboo in the form of an Ikea chopping board:



https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/laempli...oard-00394380/ (this is available in a couple of sizes)

It is 18mm thick laminated in 3 layers with random voids in the middle layer core, it looks aesthetically good, is quite easy to work and has it's own unique properties - rigid, quite light, etc - which I believe will work well.

Now to design the construction of the plinth, taking into account the use of timber (laminated bamboo) while still maintaining the aesthetic and philosophy of the Rega decks. The drawing process went through a number of iterations before finally settling on:

[willbewill]

Time to cut out templates:





and transfer to bamboo board



Didn't expect or plan to be able to cut two pieces out of one board but surprised and elated to be able to do so.

[willbewill]

Now to cut them out



and fill the exposed voids with wood filler

that's enough for day 1 - leaving the filler to set overnight.

[willbewill]

Day 2

You're possibly wondering why I have cut two layers...

The reason being that I intend to use the lower layer to mount the motor and associated pcb etc - the motor is a 24v and will be powered by a Rega Neo PSU, this will also make it possible to remove the need for a power switch on the deck as it will be controlled by the Neo.

Sanded and waxed both layers and also made some modifications to the lower one to be able to get the correct motor height: cut away area below tonearm; drilled hole for spindle bearing to pass through; drilled a recess under motor for protrusion; and drilled a hole for motor wires to pass through board to pcb to be mounted below bottom layer.

[willbewill]

Assembly time

Motor wiring





And fit feet



Motor fitted



Complete wiring



Cover to pcb



Plus sorbothane domes to top layer

[willbewill]

Let's put the layers together and add the Iceni Audio sub-platter

[willbewill]

Now the Iceni Audio platter with my Spotmat addition







I also added an Rega Advanced EBLT belt and all is running good

[willbewill]

So how about an Origin Live Silver Mk III arm

[willbewill]

Play time:

[willbewill]

I'm surprised how much more detail it's pulling out compared latest P3 or even my other modified offerings.