Air Force One Set Up - tips n' tricks

garylkoh

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Sep 6, 2010
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Very interesting observations Gary...especially #'s 4&5. I will have to give it a try soon.

Do try it and let us know what you hear. The adjustment is quite tiny - an eighth of a turn or a sixteenth of a turn of the front left levelling knob.
 

JackD201

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I'll wait for your visit Gary. I promise to feed you well. :D
 

rockitman

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Do try it and let us know what you hear. The adjustment is quite tiny - an eighth of a turn or a sixteenth of a turn of the front left levelling knob.

I guess I am a bit leary of taking the platter off perfect level. I do measure level on the platter, not the plinth via 4 points...left and right, front and rear. I will focus on the front left knob and give it a bit of tilt while listening...I am very curious now.
 

MatthewC

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Aug 27, 2014
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I guess I am a bit leary of taking the platter off perfect level. I do measure level on the platter, not the plinth via 4 points...left and right, front and rear. I will focus on the front left knob and give it a bit of tilt while listening...I am very curious now.

Christian, how did it work out?
 

ddk

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Christian, how did it work out?

Try it for yourself Matt, its easy! As Gary suggested turn knob in small increments while playing a record and you'll hear the difference in tuning. I suggest turning the knob in both directions and leave it where it sounds best for you.

david
 

harleyguy

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As requested by Gary and seeing as I personally would like to have Bob aka The Phantom churning out more Elites for selfish reasons (I ordered a second one :D ), allow me to kick this off. I hope this helps our new AF1 owners.

The AF1 manual is very comprehensive so just following it to the letter should get you in the ballpark. Here are some things that can still make things easier based on my experience.

Have a buddy around to help you. The platter alone weighs more than a lot of amplifiers and loudspeakers. Even if they have supplied handles, you might want somebody around to spot you. Same goes for the plinth. It's also great to have somebody play nurse to your surgeon. Scalpel, clamp, suture, so on and so forth.

The AF1 comes in two large boxes and comes with a lot of parts as well as all the tools you will need. It's the TechDAS way. Even their carts come with a weight scale along with the screws, leads, hex's, screw drivers and even tweezers. I strongly suggest one get a plain white sheet and lay everything out. Don't be lazy and act like you are living off a suitcase. Unpack! Another peculiarity is TD's looooooooove of scotch tape. At one point I wondered if they were a subsidiary of 3M :D They use a lot of it for the individual packets. Not supplied is a small sharp utility knife or cutter. Have one of these at the ready because you will be using it a lot.

All laid out? Let's go!

At this point you should already have a solid table and that you have already levelled it. With the help of your buddy, set the plinth on it making room for the motor pod. If your rack has its back to the wall, I suggest you make all the air hose connections and controller cable connections prior to putting the plinth on the table. Don't worry. Every hose is labeled. V for Vacuum, F for floating the platter. Drape these gently over the plinth and then let it and the control cable hang freely without crimping. Before you do anything else, put the platter on. Make sure the glass plate is clean using a lens blower preferably and also make sure that the bottom of the platter is clean. even a very small piece of dirt might hamper the platter from spinning. Cleanliness is next to godliness in analog! You will likely see a piece of lead on the inner rim, don't mess with it. It's there for balancing, just like rims on a car or bike. Some people have gotten ahead of themselves and tried to level the table and motor pod before the platter is installed. That won't work. When the platter goes on, the suspension will compress as it should. From this point on just follow the manual in terms of connections to the motor amplifier/pump box and from there to the condenser box. Keep your eye on the labels and use the supplied hose clips.

In the original manual there was some confusion when it came to using the supplied bicycle pump and just how much air is needed. The easiest way to go about all this is to have your buddy manning the pump while you look under with a flashlight. As he pumps and the leg attached to that particular inlet raises the plinth look for the notched ring around the foot pillar. As the plinth rises it will come into view. Let him pump so the plinth is a few MM over the the ring. Do this on all three pillars and then release air from each spout so the ring is in line with the plinth cylinder. You should be at the exact air pressure at this point. For fine levelling adjustments use the caterpillar screw knobs on the top of the plinth and the built in bubble level. Now line up the motor pod and adjust the feet on those so the height and distance is just right. This is easy as pie. Jigs/spacers are supplied. Take the extra time to level the motor pod as well so you get consistent contact and tension with the belt you will soon be extracting from its case with that utility knife and stubborn scotch tape. Put on the belt and follow the instructions for setting up the belt tension and speed calibration. The AF1 uses a belt tensioner system and the belt itself is not of the elastic variety. So, if the platter fails to reach 45rpm you do the opposite of what you would do with stretchy belts. Loosen, do not tighten. A quick loosening and sliding of the tensioner towards the platter should do the trick. Once it reaches 45 and locks on, lock the tensioner. ;)

Now should be arm time. If you are using an arm with a bore through mount and the phono cable goes on the bottom of the pillar, snake that phono cable in and under before hand. Sounds like common sense but when setting up a table that costs as much as a house, excitement can make you do silly things. In any case, if you DO make that mistake the hassle will be so profound that you can be sure you won't be making that mistake again. There's always a silver lining! LOL.

That really is just about it. The table is ready and the rest of the work will be on setting up the arm and cart. With help, set-up and calibration time should be in way less than an hour including clean up.

Please feel free to ask any questions and if you are a fellow AF1 owner please share some of your own tips. Thanks!

the white knobs for leveling are the easy to change mine are gold and I want white are they easy to remove
 

JackD201

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Wow. That is a thing of beauty. I would love to hear this with the SAT arm. Is the rack included? I wonder how the Air Force Zero will differ.

It will differ substantially Peter. I've seen the motor and it dwarfs that of the AF1. There are features I cannot disclose but M-S aficionados will likely have a clue of what the Zero will be closest to in terms of lineage. The motor is a bit of a giveaway. Big motor means more massive platter which in turn necessitates a pump to lift it and a plinth to hold it. Given that a standard AF1 can sound like digital black from the listening position and that vibration damping is already so extreme that you can tap on the record and have nothing come out of your speakers, how much more quiet is the Zero? What I will say is that the Premium is also quieter than the 1. The implication on micro and macro dynamic shadings is most compelling to me.
 

rockitman

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My leveling trick. Before I would use the built in level and a silver dollar size puck spirit level and place it by all three foot points to find level. Never seemed dead on. Today I removed the spindle and placed the puck level dead center. Easy peasy to get dead on level from the center spindle or get a slight tilt as Gary talks about. I can't believe I never thought about removing the spindle during the leveling process. Doh !!!

****I should mention for obvious reasons, the TT must be off or in standby mode (Platter not floating on air) before your can remove the spindle.
 

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PeterA

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That makes sense, Christian. I use the same Ortofon level for my SME but place it just off center next to the spindle on the platter. Do you notice any difference when measuring at the center with spindle removed and slightly off center with spindle in place and the cushion of air under the platter? Does the weight of the Ortofon level off center effect the balance of the platter? Is that why you have to take the reading at the center and remove the spindle? I assume the platter is perfectly level with and without air supporting it and that the stylus contact pressure from VTF is not enough to effect the level of the platter when riding on the cushion of air.
 

XV-1

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May 24, 2010
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My leveling trick. place spirit level over the spindle - pretty simple ;)

They don't sell these type of spirit levels any more?

I have had mine since Mana acoustics used to make them in the 90's.


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Ron Resnick

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How does this Ortofon bubble level compare in accuracy to the Cartridge Man digital level?
 

dan31

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Hi Ron,

On Amazon there is a comment that the ortofon bubble level is not very accurate. Who knows if that is true. I use a machinist level from starrett that has been calibrated. It is very sensitive to the slightest adjustment. The problem is that it is not a bubble level so you have to measure in at least an x and y axis.

Dan

Dan
 

PeterA

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Has one reliably heard differences between a platter that is level and one that is say 1 degree off? I wonder about this. I test my platter for level out of habit because my turntable sits on a Vibraplane, and over time it may need slight adjustment with fluctuations of temperature. The simple act of placing an LP on the platter many times will eventually require me to adjust the level of the Vibraplane. I wonder how much this really matters. I can't say I've heard any difference, but I have not done any rigorous testing to confirm.
 

Ron Resnick

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Dan, I use two Starrett precision levels, too, because I never knew which was the most accurate bubble level to buy.
 

ddk

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Dan, I use two Starrett precison levels, too, because I never knew which was the most accurate bubble level to buy.

That's true Ron, you never know until you use a few different ones, they might even go off over time. Right now I'm using the AT level which I find very accurate compared to the one I was using for years and had gone off over time.

Has one reliably heard differences between a platter that is level and one that is say 1 degree off? I wonder about this. I test my platter for level out of habit because my turntable sits on a Vibraplane, and over time it may need slight adjustment with fluctuations of temperature. The simple act of placing an LP on the platter many times will eventually require me to adjust the level of the Vibraplane. I wonder how much this really matters. I can't say I've heard any difference, but I have not done any rigorous testing to confirm.

Good point Peter, I never tested 100% level vs slightly off either, it's just something we do as part of rigorous setup because it makes sense but I don't know the acceptable margin of error here.

david
 

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