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05-09-2014

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rowuk

Germany
Posts 454
Joined on 07-05-2012

Post #:	161
Post ID:	20804
Reply to:	20801

Historical pitch

Yes, it would be wonderful to be able to separate pitch and speed with no loss or gain of quality........ Still, Vienna playing Bruckner at A=465 is exhilarating to me. Modern American orchestras at A=441 (practically a half step lower) do sound much different and I do think that the pitch issue can confuse listeners into imagining power and breadth is bigger at the lower pitches.
Baroque music around A=415 also presents a much different framework for listening.
I do have recordings where the tuning pitch changes several cents between movements. Normally in a symphony orchestra the oboe does provide a VERY stable tuning pitch. I attribute the difference to the recording chain and would like to be able to deal with it.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

05-09-2014

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dkarmeli
Posts 27
Joined on 01-25-2013

Post #:	162
Post ID:	20806
Reply to:	20803

Rowuk, let's stop the pissing match.

I'm not here for that and I'm sorry for getting caught up in it!
Regardless of price like any product the AF1 has a specific market target, only you know if its for you or not.
The reason I never got into the sound is because that no one on this thread was getting past the msrp, so why bother. If you really are interested in the sound from me, I need to bore you a bit telling you about my listening bias. My only criteria for any piece of audio gear is how now natural it sounds, i.e. does it transport me beyond the wall of mechanical reproduction or not. Without this sense of reality and musicality the rest of the audiophile standards have very little or no value to me. That's the only way I judge a system or any part of it. Of course the system should perform at a veryhigh level but when I'm distracted from the music and impressed by any part of the system's performance, it stops working for me. That's when I get analytical and try to rid myself of what I see as strong coloration.
The AF1 has a choice of 3 platters, Acrylic, Duralumin, Stainless Steel, and will deliver all the superlative audiophile goodies with any of them, but there are differences. In my system and setup, the Acrylic platter gives you the so called vinyl sound, like what you used to get from early Linn Sondek prior to all the power supply upgrades, but at a much higher level. The Duralumin and SS platters are what I feel make the AF1 great. If you haven't heard any of the top Micro Seiki tables, its impossible for me to give you comparatives. There's no "vinyl" sound here, and almost no particular character. If the rest of the setup is up scratch then all you get is the recording and you'll forget about they system. Your body and mind will relax and allow you to have the same emotional connection with the music as you'd have in a live venue and any you'll be able to see into the performance with any average or better recording. I listen classical music most of the time but what I wrote is true for all types of music, specially live recordings. I have no better adjectives than "natural" and no other descriptors to communicate with the tts like the AF1, SX-8000II are about. If you want to use a "natural" scale of 1 to 10, 1= best digital and 10= Live venue, then AF1, in a setup of equal quality, can and will give you a strong 7. Most analog front ends don't even get to 1 for me.
david

05-09-2014

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,184
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	163
Post ID:	20807
Reply to:	20806

Your highly questionable literature.

dkarmeli wrote:
If the rest of the setup is up scratch then all you get is the recording and you'll forget about they system. Your body and mind will relax and allow you to have the same emotional connection with the music as you'd have in a live venue and any you'll be able to see into the performance with any average or better recording.

I am sorry, I do not buy it. I understand that a few days back you called the relationship between music and listening experience and an intellectual masturbation but suddenly you dived directly into pseudo talk about listening experiences and you somehow attributed it to a turntable. My I ask you a question: if you have a hypothetically fine all together installation and experiencing your so called “emotional connection with the music” then what you suggest is that substituting Micro with Linn Sondek you lose all your advanced emotional state? Sorry, this is very faulty viewpoint and I do not subscribe to it.

Since the conversation in this thread is about turntables then from my point of view a better Turntable is enabler to get “different sound” that shaped by the rest of the system. Just an enabler not the source itself. A better TT gives more opportunity to shape sound and offers less marginal restrictions. That is it. Cartridges have own sound, not turntables. Turntables have own limits. You can listening a cartridges with some degree of accuracy can predict what cartridge is playing. You can do it by listening of what cartridge does. When however you are listening a TT you can’t observe any active sonic character but you pay attention where the limits are.

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

05-09-2014

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dkarmeli
Posts 27
Joined on 01-25-2013

Post #:	164
Post ID:	20808
Reply to:	20807

Don't buy it!

Romy the Cat wrote:
dkarmeli wrote:
If the rest of the setup is up scratch then all you get is the recording and you'll forget about they system. Your body and mind will relax and allow you to have the same emotional connection with the music as you'd have in a live venue and any you'll be able to see into the performance with any average or better recording.

I am sorry, I do not buy it. I understand that a few days back you called the relationship between music and listening experience and an intellectual masturbation but suddenly you dived directly into pseudo talk about listening experiences and you somehow attributed it to a turntable.

What I called mental masturbation was the pretense to design of the ultimate turntable, not the musical experience or sound!

Romy the Cat wrote:
My I ask you a question: if you have a hypothetically fine all together installation and experiencing your so called “emotional connection with the music” then what you suggest is that substituting Micro with Linn Sondek you lose all your advanced emotional state? Sorry, this is very faulty viewpoint and I do not subscribe to it.

Do you have a system that gives you that emotional connection? If you do I can send you my Linn and you can see it for yourself when you exchange it for your SX-8000.

Romy the Cat wrote:
Since the conversation in this thread is about turntables then from my point of view a better Turntable is enabler to get “different sound” that shaped by the rest of the system. Just an enabler not the source itself. A better TT gives more opportunity to shape sound and offers less marginal restrictions. That is it. Cartridges have own sound, not turntables. Turntables have own limits. You can listening a cartridges with some degree of accuracy can predict what cartridge is playing. You can do it by listening of what cartridge does. When however you are listening a TT you can’t observe any active sonic character but you pay attention where the limits are.

You can all it enabler or whatever you want, and yes its only a link in a chain. No one's disputing that nor the limitations of reproduced sound, but it doesn't have to be perfect to transport you beyond the mechanical wall, that's what I'm talking about.
david

05-09-2014

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,184
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	165
Post ID:	20809
Reply to:	20808

I did not buy.

dkarmeli wrote:
What I called mental masturbation was the pretense to design of the ultimate turntable, not the musical experience or sound!

Well, neither you, nor me, nor anybody else at this site, nor anybody else who design turntable professionally, including your AF1 maker, have anything to do with designing musical experiences or sound. If you do not see any interest to collaborate with other, or with yourself, what might constitute ultimate turntable then you have no interest, or ability, for collaboration.

dkarmeli wrote:
Do you have a system that gives you that emotional connection? If you do I can send you my Linn and you can see it for yourself when you exchange it for your SX-8000.

I think the whole “ emotional connection” paradigm is a Madison Avenue’s shrinks metaphor. If I do have any “ emotional connection” then I very much assure you that it has nothing to do with my turntable, with turntable topology or with anything else superficial.

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

05-09-2014

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dkarmeli
Posts 27
Joined on 01-25-2013

Post #:	166
Post ID:	20810
Reply to:	20809

???????

Romy the Cat wrote:
dkarmeli wrote:
What I called mental masturbation was the pretense to design of the ultimate turntable, not the musical experience or sound!
Well, neither you, nor me, nor anybody else at this site, nor anybody else who design turntable professionally, including your AF1 maker, have anything to do with designing musical experiences or sound. If you do not see any interest to collaborate with other, or with yourself, what might constitute ultimate turntable then you have no interest, or ability, for collaboration.

I seriously have no idea wtf you're talking about Pussy. I replied to a review on AF1 that was emailed to me from you site, and I wouldn't have replied if I knew that the post had nothing to do with AF1. I'm wondering if you're actually trying to build a functioning turntable or is it just mental masturbation like the theoretical symphonies you used to write in your head. Either way, as you mentioned. I have neither the engineering knowledge nor any interest in it.
As far as Nishikawa san, AF1/Micro Seiki designer or Vladimir with his electronics go neither one claims to be designing musical experience, that's the musician's and composer's job. What they give you is a tool of a certain quality and characteristic to use. How you use it, for what purpose or even iif you use has nothing to with them, the user creates the personal experience.

Romy the Cat wrote:

dkarmeli wrote:
Do you have a system that gives you that emotional connection? If you do I can send you my Linn and you can see it for yourself when you exchange it for your SX-8000.
I think the whole “ emotional connection” paradigm is a Madison Avenue’s shrinks metaphor.

You can't talk for me as I can't for you! We've known each other long enough to recognize that we can both hear the same things but our end game and goals regarding home audio and sound reproduction have always been different. I had my ultimate tt 15 years ago and my ultimate system 12 years ago. I told this back then and nothing has changed since. Yes, I have more gear since then and definitely superior in many ways but none that I really care about. Yes, like all the other gear heads here gear turns me on but sonically my sole aim was always as you put it, the "Madison Avenue's shrink's metaphor". The tools we're talking about helped get me there and keep me there!

Romy the Cat wrote:
If I do have any “ emotional connection” then I very much assure you that it has nothing to do with my turntable, with turntable topology or with anything else superficial.

If that's really what you believe then let me start by swapping out your SX-8000 with a Clearaudio table, complete with arm and cartridge and then your electronics with MBL or Burmeisters!
david

05-10-2014

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rowuk

Germany
Posts 454
Joined on 07-05-2012

Post #:	167
Post ID:	20811
Reply to:	20810

No mystery anymore in the detour in this thread

David,
everything is clear now. What is a "dealer" supposed to say? What does a dealer have to do to "capture" their markets? How does a "dealer" behave on a forum dedicated to applied Sound and not commerce. It should be apparent from ALL of the responses that you received that your reality is simply yours and does leave plenty of room for doubt as to motive and ultimate goal.
http://www.damoka.net

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/he2005/1.html

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/PrintPost.aspx?PostID=1929

My suggestion before posting again is to spend some time looking around at how things work here. You simply got off to a bad start because you didn't test the waters before jumping in. We are not interested in dealer speak. The issue here was NEVER the price tag per say, rather the assumption that a state of the art turntable built in the automotive industry or any other "competitive" environment would be calculated much differently. We understand that you can not publicly undermine the industry price points. Your credibility as a dealer would be comprimised if a 20K turntable offered everything that the AF1 does.

So in your world you do fine with your situation, but have received no applaud here. That perhaps should tell you something. We never had a pissing contest. You simply never answered direct questions, rather defended the price point - important for a dealer but for many of us definitely not so interesting.

I do not question your ability to give your customers some kind of value for their investment. That value may be Sound (the only real issue here), it may be confidence that they did the right thing, it may simply feed a geek drive or the idea that they bought the "ultimate" and at that price no one can question the results. All points (and many more) are valid but not what this site is about.
Good luck

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

05-10-2014

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,184
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	168
Post ID:	20812
Reply to:	20810

You need to pause, David.

David, that is funny that you are stressing my SX8000 or even mention it, if you ever invest the effort to read the site, or at least the thread then you would understand how out of context your manner. The AF1/Micro is kind of irrelevant, this thread mention many different turntables and from a completely different perspective. Why you got defensive about the comment of AF1 value is beyond me. If you understand the subject of the thread then I do think you might feel that you have slightly aberrated perception of what value.

Anyhow, the advice that I would like you to give is to pay attention to word “impartiality”. The impartiality of judgment is what intelligent people use when they are trying to think about general tendencies and when they try to elevate own thinking over their own parochial sentiments. I do know that you are capable for detached thinking, why you suddenly got soft over this irrelevant AF1 is a surprise to me.

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

05-11-2014

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Stitch

Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #:	169
Post ID:	20814
Reply to:	20812

The King Is Dead - Long Live The King

Romy the Cat wrote:
David, that is funny that you are stressing my SX8000 or even mention it, if you ever invest the effort to read the site, or at least the thread then you would understand how out of context your manner. The AF1/Micro is kind of irrelevant, this thread mention many different turntables and from a completely different perspective. Why you got defensive about the comment of AF1 value is beyond me...... is a surprise to me.

It is the simple Marketing mechanism:
1. The most hated Hifi owner in the world (seen from the side of Manufacturers, reviewers ...) wrote a remarkable Article about the foolishness of the analog people (99,5 of the reviewers, manufacturers, owners, Big Spenders, Distributors on this planet hate him deeply for that)

2. That guy uses an old Seiki 8000 and writes, he can live with it because it isn't the usual ultra bullshit which is normally served as "Reference"

3. No one can write anything against it, because that table is simply too rare or / when you want one, it needs time, work, money to get one

After 25 years this is History... now we can :-)

now "we" can tell that guy and his followers with the longest middle finger on this audiophile planet that he is no longer in the position to show his analog middle finger to anyone...when he wants to continue that, he needs that AF-1......

Some of those Seiki people are back and they offer the new Seiki (in reality it is the King's new clothes, but who cares), of course "in modern" Design with the pricing of today to show the world that something serious is now available, the TechDas AF1 (in detail a Seiki 8000 II but a modern motor management)

And now we can write to that owner who believes nothing that this "new" unit deserves all the praises the world can deliver ...blubber..

Ok, why not

From here we are at the same starting point we have with every new unit which is ready to show its real performance

- Goldmund Reference was such one ( missed sonic target by a mile based on its awful T3F Arm)

- Rockports (missed sonic target by a mile based on its awful Arm and awful platter electronics and their Arm make EVERY cartridge sound thin, analytic, dead, lifeless and ultra boring, same call it "detailed :-) )

- Seiki 8000 II (the vacuum destroys the sonic potential which the table can deliver without that option ---> Seiki 8000 is better from sonics)

- Continuum whatever (too complicated and the sound - when they work - is ok, but it is more or less in the area of Basis Debut vacuum which is MUCH cheaper and more reliable ...so what ????...)
- Thorens Reference (looks very impressive but from sonics it is weak)
- or the lastest toys in Europe ---Studio units---sold for a penny and now they are hyped as ultimate machines (All EMT's, Garrards or Technics Sp10 MK whatever...) no one from those guys has any idea about their background at their time and when you tell them, they don't want to hear it....they are like children with their beloved toys...

- and so on and on and on and on and on ... it is like a record with a scratch

I listened to all of them, in private Systems and I can seriously guarantee you one FACT:

None of these owners bought it because they can hear a difference, they are absolutely not interested in that and they have absolutely no idea about it!!

They bought it as a toy and to get a position in an audiophile community as a well respected, "experienced Audiophile".

And when someone shows them why their bellowed unit is weak in some areas, not one of them say "thank you for stretching my horizon", their first reaction is always negative because their "position" is no longer on the top.... they have no problem when you tell them that a better unit is 50k more, they buy it at once.....but they have a serious problem when you show them that a 15k table beats their 100k unit in 5s....
The article from Romy about analog people is still valid.

Kind Regards
Stitch

05-12-2014

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,184
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	170
Post ID:	20817
Reply to:	20814

Owning a expensive Turntable

Stitch wrote:
None of these owners bought it because they can hear a difference, they are absolutely not interested in that and they have absolutely no idea about it!! They bought it as a toy and to get a position in an audiophile community as a well respected, "experienced Audiophile".

Yes, I think from many perspectives you are right: most of owner of high flying TT do not have any idea of sonic identity of own turntables. However, to be honest I need to say that it is incredibly hard to give an objective judgment about a TT sonic capacity. I have seen/herd many different installations with different turntables involved and I need to say that in many instances listening a complete installation I could with more or less high degree of probably to say what let say cartridge, amp, cable or driver is being used. I however never was able to make a guess about TT. Partially it is because I do not have an experience to personally use different turntables. I got my RX-8000 14 years back and since then I did not play home any other TT besides a few experiments with RS-5000. However the largest part of that meaning "Partially" is juts because it is very hard to extrapolate sound of TT out of sound of complete system .

I presume that somebody who all their life deal with setting up and playing turntables might have opportunity to talk about the "sound of turntables" credibly but the problem is that the quality of the people who do it professionally is very low. If you see a dirty homeless person on the street, laying in a pull of own urine then you would not have an interest for this man to read a lecture to your kids about hygiene, would you? The very same with the "pro" people - they are some subordinated to wrong things that it is in a way acts like brain virus. I spoke a few years ago over a phone with a guy who in order to convince that he had upper hand in debate we had informed me that he have already set up in his live 26.000 turntables (it was 26 thousands). I asked him that since he presumably sitting up 8 turntables a day then does he has time in his live to read books, go to theaters or juts to do anything other than BS other about turntables?

So, I generally very much not at ease when people talk about "turntable sound". Yes, bad turntables have own sound but many turntables do not have own sound until you push them. I have a friend right here in Boston. He is mostly jazz listener and has playback based upon small Canadian monitors. He has a custom made Thorens in big wooden box. It is known contraction for all intended purpose it shall not be considered as "Ultimate Turntable" or even "reputed turntable". However, I do very much like his turntable and I feel that it would be criminally stupid for him to change it for anything "better". The performance of that turntable is very much NOT limiting factor of that installation and the whole experience of that listening room is very pleasurable. My rule #1 of audio:

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=432

... I never demoted and I feel that in context of my friend audio demands the performance of his TT is very very good, in fact he would need much different round of playback, music and room complexity to feel that his TT might be underperforming.

Here is we hit a very interesting point that I would like to explain. I naturally see a connection between the quality of feedback about turntables and the overall amount of affords a person spend for own playback setup. I might not know difference between two specific turntables abut I do know, like few others, the efforts a person shall spend with his/her installation in order to accomplish this or that quantifiable result. It has not only to do with amount of purposefully used equipment but most important a depth of subjects understanding. Many thing in audio is unavoidable. You might have money/lack to accidently buy out an unreasonably smart solution for your given playback but it still will take inescapable listening time for the system owner to understand what/how to listen.

So, what it has to do with my assessment of other people comments regarding turntables? Well, it is a very direct relation. When I see an parson with let say Continuum turntable and a set of ported speakers where drivers are made from toilet paper then I have a very un-confused answer about the person relationship between sound, demands and turntables. A better turntable is an enabler in my view and it pushes the owner to explore in his/her playback expression the horizons that would not be available by other turntables. That is how I see the things. I do understand what I person pushes let say one specific aspect of sound reproduction further and further and then release that he is impotent to push it further as his TT act as a limited factor. THAT and ONLY that I would recognize as a sensible feedback about high-flying turntables.

Rgs, Romy the Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

05-18-2014

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Stitch

Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #:	171
Post ID:	20838
Reply to:	20814

TechDas Airforce One & TechDas Airforce Two

Some Pics from Airforce One I made

I think, from the Airforce Two these are the first pics ....

Kind Regards
Stitch

05-19-2014

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Stitch

Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #:	172
Post ID:	20844
Reply to:	20838

Specs TechDas Tables One and Two

Specs for TechDas AirForce One

Air bearing main platter 19 kg of non magnetic SUS316L stainless steel
Upper Platter of choice
A7075: super duraluminum 3.5 kg
SUS316L: 10.0 kg
Acrylic resin: black methalcryalate 1,5 kg
All those upper platters are for vacuum and the customer can also order those for non-vaccuum hold down - resulting in a total of six options
Suspension: full air suspension
Chassis: three-part suspension sandwich, weight 43kg in total + Platter max. 29 kg, Motor 6.6 kg
Motor management active, speed detected by a sensor on the bottom of the main platter
Tonearm right hand side: 9 or 10 inch, left hand side optional extra base for 9.10 or 12 inch Arms

Specs for TechDas AirForce Two

Air bearing platter 10 kg of aluminum (A5056) with vacuum hold down (from AirForce One)
Suspension: oil damping air suspension System
Chassis: Aluminum casting (AC4C), dual layer structure weight 45kg in total + 10 kg Platter
Motor management active, speed detected by a sensor on the bottom of the main platter (I forgot to ask but I think it is comparable to AirForce One)
Tonearm right hand side: 9 or 10 inch, left hand side optional extra base for 9.10 or 12 inch Arms
Price: 50% of AirForce One

I listened to AirForce One with 9” Graham Elite + TechDas TDC01 Cartridge in a Demo with Records I know very well. It was a very impressive analog Demo, I never heard something like this in the past 10 years be it Rockport’s latest, Goldmund Reference, Clearaudios biggest ….
That Table showed from the first second a H-U-G-E soundstage, deep and wide, the speakers didn’t exist, the Tones had a “Gestalt” and rightness of tone which is very, very, rare to hear.

Separation of the musicians was right from size and height and the dynamics are not smeared.
For me - or my kind of Standard - it is a truly great table.

They developed the Seiki 8000 series in a way which made sense and improved it. I saw - and listened - at various High End Shows (or private owner systems) a lot of ultra expensive Turntables which missed the sonic target by a mile and their designers may have an idea about polishing parts but they have none about music reproduction. Here is the main difference to all others. They made it right.

Kind Regards
Stitch

05-19-2014

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,184
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	173
Post ID:	20845
Reply to:	20844

Two things.

Even I do not share the Stitch's pessimism about the new Air Force TT but I do see his point that the new Air Force is kind of light version of or Micro 8000. The platter base of Air Force is 43kg but had 35Kg. The stainless steel platter of the new TT 19kg but the 8000 had platter 28kg. So, it looks like they added mass to the base, primary due to the service surfaces but removed from the platter. I do not say that mass meals anything but they do for sure change the mass balance. Frankly: the only 2 things that I do not like in the new Air Force TT is color (to me white sine finish feel too gay to me) and the fact that they offer an acrylic platter. That is kind of cheesy and stupid. It is like you are a gourmet chief in a fancy French restaurant and you offer to you pantones a sophisticates soufflé and by the wish of your customers you willing to sprinkle it with bowel movement. Ridicules! It shall be some integrity in what people do. It is as ridicules as Lamm making $ his 140K amp and allow user to have manually adjustable global feedback - the summit of idiocy!

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

05-17-2015

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guy sergeant
United Kingdom
Posts 260
Joined on 08-03-2004

Post #:	174
Post ID:	21662
Reply to:	20845

Air Force 3

I see Tech Das launched a new baby TT at Munich. The Air Force 3 looks more like a Micro than the other two. While not built on quite the same scale it still features an air bearing and actually looks prettier, for what that's worth, than the other two models.

It seems that most new turntables now have to be at least 3-4 feet wide and 5 ft tall if possible. There were some quite ridiculous new designs there, perhaps one of the other few interesting ones being the Dohmann which did seem to incorporate a very effective isolation system derived from Minus K.

Dohmann was the guy behind the Continuum. I asked if they were still going & he said, you'll have to ask them!

05-18-2015

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,184
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	175
Post ID:	21663
Reply to:	21662

Who knows...

It looks like the Air Force prodigally follow the rule of the game: to introduce some kind of flashy avantgarde model, make a lot of noise over it and then while the noise up to introduce a less expensive model that collects the publicity of the flashy brand. All audio companies follow the pattern and the Air Force is no exception.

I do not know a lot about the Air Force table. They look fine to me and I do not know what is the difference between the new models they produced. I also do not know what would be the difference between the old Micro TTs and Air Forces. It is very possible that the difference never will be know. It is not to mention that Air Force very much might not make publicity in US, the way as Micro never was know. Until Air Force will not give this table to some kind of big name audio-reviewing whore not US consumer will buy it or express interest. I do not follow the publications recently but I did not hear that Air Forces was advertised in a “big way” in US.

For sure it would be interesting to learn if the new Air Force tables can push envelop of what we know about TT but I very much doubt that neither me and nor the few people I know who used the TT are in position to state it.

Rgs, Romy

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

05-20-2015

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Stitch

Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #:	176
Post ID:	21664
Reply to:	21663

Model III

The Manufacturer told me, the Model 3 has a lot of identical parts from Model 1 (Motor-management, Materials, Vacuum, Air bearing, Glass platter...) and they want to serve more customers, Price is 50% of Airforce Two.
One of my friends owns the Airforce One and will buy the Model 3 because he said, the precision to adjust Arms here is much better than with the fixed Armboards from his Model One (or Model Two), when the pre drill is not absolutely 100% correct, there is no way to change it. I have to agree and I am also no friend from the wood plate in the Armbase, the energy transfer from the Arm to the suspension is inferior compared to the old Seiki solutions (or Model III) The Manufacturer told us, from the Performance quality this Model 3 is only in lower Bass not of par with Model One/Two....anyway, there is so much junk out there which is good for nothing, that Model 3 would be my choice when I would look for something serious. The majority of other Turntables are cheap everywhere or show "features" (multi-motor ....) which do not raise the Performance in reality. Compared to those, these TechDas units are made like (brain, material costs, selection of parts, brain for increasing playback quality...) from outer space.
Years ago Romy wrote a bit about his Seiki and quality and asked, he would be curious how much "these" would be in comparison price today. Now we have the answers. But price Japan and the following Distributor chain worldwide has its own rules :-)
I don't think they surpass the older Seiki 5000 / 8000 from Playback quality when those are a bit tuned (Active suspension, Boston Mat on platter...) ... some are sold in USA, mainly with Graham Arms because he is the Importer but in Asia they sell quite well and most use different Arms with those. I listened quite often to Model One and all I can say, I did not hear something I did not hear before with my unit.. but this can be a compliment, too. The majority of the "modern" Turntables I wouldn't even touch even when I would get paid for....
Based on that, I think, the Model 3 will find a lot of customers.
Pic of Model 3
TechDas 1.jpg

Pic of Model Two cut

AF-2 cut.jpg

Kind Regards
Stitch

05-20-2015

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,184
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	177
Post ID:	21665
Reply to:	21664

That is not so simple.

Stitch wrote:
The Manufacturer told us, from the Performance quality this Model 3 is only in lower Bass not of par with Model One/Two....

This sound very reasonable to me and my compliment to the Manufacturer. However, there is an intricate notion in this. Pretend that we have two TechDas or Micro TTs that we need to “compare” and pretend that we able to setup both of them in order each of TTs do their best. Yes the main difference between the two TT would be in lower bass but it is not so simple. The difference in the bass will be observable but to have with absolute serenity which one is better is not so simple. You can hear the difference “as is” and to say what bass is “better” (this is simple) but it would be true ONLY for your current configuration. How about if you drop your VTF for 0.1g or load your cartridge for 20R lower, or lowering the prissy in suspension platform for 20pci, or does other 290493 things that impact bass …. Suddenly the TT that was questionably the bass winner initially might not be the winner anymore. It is just like going to negative output impedance with your bass amplification – a person feel that he “lost bass” and it sound certainly worse and the person is not understand that he juts canceled out the primary driver resonance (upon which his speaker was build) and not in order to get the same bass it need to be used different methods, witch in fact would yield much better bass then before.

I do not say that change cartridge/TT configuration might compensate something and accidently compliment belter bass performance in “loosing” TT but unfortunately it very much might be a case. It is not to mention that most of the TT users out there do not go to the realm of bass performance what the difference between the TechDas bass is truly matter. For instance I know one AIR Force 1 user and I do respect his judgment. However, I also know that he has an acoustic system that that in my estimation does not do right things under 40-50Hz. Is so, then how shall I perceive his comments about the difference between AF1 bass, 8000’s bass and 927 bass? I have no doubts that the difference is there and he might very accurately name it but how important this difference is. I did not detect that any of TTs active in him a drive to make his playback to have better bass. If so then I perceive the different at the level of juts audio “small talk”.

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

02-21-2017

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xandcg

Rio de Janeiro, BR.
Posts 218
Joined on 09-07-2014

Post #:	178
Post ID:	23012
Reply to:	21665

There is a Premium now.

TechDAS launch the "Air Force One Premium": http://www.techdas.jp/analog_00.html

Think for yourself, do not be sheep.

02-22-2017

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,184
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	179
Post ID:	23020
Reply to:	40

...and the Ultimate turntable has been found….

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

02-22-2017

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ArmAlex
Iran
Posts 106
Joined on 02-15-2009

Post #:	180
Post ID:	23021
Reply to:	23020

TT master

He's sooooo cute!
Armen

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