I wouldn't necessarily call it a "Disservice", if anything it's a "Service" for the audio purest. One needs to consider Regas P8/P10 clean sheet design in purposely choosing the Tancast 8 sandwich core material consisting of a very specific -type 8 density out of several other Tancast densities- polyurethane foam matrix placed between an upper and lower layer of a very thin, super-rigid, high-pressure laminate. These are two different materials that Rega ultimately choose to sandwich together, the P8/P10 plinth did not come this way, it's Regas mix of materials and the sides are purposely not finished so the top laminate does not touch the bottom therefor the interplay of materials can work together as they were designed to do, and adding anything to the sides to give it a better, more finished look would ultimately have effected the resulting Tune. - - There is a method to the madness here that comes down to Performance over Appearance, function over form. ...Personally, I don't really care what the deck looks like, and I long ago got past trying to impress my friends, and once the LP is playing and I'm sitting to listen to another full album side -usually with my eyes closed- the looks of my chosen deck hardly matters. I'm after the purest un-colored reproduction of what's on the vinyl as possible on a somewhat limited budget these days, and the P10 is Regas latest crack at it, and the result we see is simply what it wounded up looking like in their attempt to achieve that goal. ...Is it as pretty as an LP12, nope, but I've said that before.
I was under the impression from close up inspection the the RP8 & RP10 's inner "skeletal" plinths were made from Tancast 8 but with a glossy laminate on top and also an outer plinth supplied for the more traditional rectangular appearance. and the outer vertical edge is exposed as per the P8/P10. I've viewed both RP8 & RP10 "in the flesh, but not yet viewed the P8/10 likewise. I accept your preference from listening with closed eyes where the appearance of the TT adds nothing to the performance. But, I also like to sit listening to my TT's doing the business but also sit watching them where I'm amazed at how such an outwardly "simple" device can produce such an exhilarating performance from recorded music on vinyl.
Thankfully we have such a huge selection of quality tt's still available to such a variable bunch of enthusiastic owner-listeners.
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