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 
), 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 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!
), 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
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!
