Munich HIGH END Show Report 2016
High End Society Munich Germany

TechDAS Air Force One $100,000 Turntable

  TechDAS' Air Force One turntable is, well, a legend. So what makes this multi-award winning turntable so very special? Best i do some quotes from their website. It says, "Incredible music is the outcome generated from air vibration, where the hearts of people are moved and immersed in the sound. In the space of analog recording and its playback, they have created a really high-precision system. The waveforms of sounds by air vibrations are imprinted as is into a microgroove followed by picking up the waveforms to be transformed and then reproduced as brilliant vibrations. In that process of the system, the turntable should always be a key to give a cartridge a role of picking up the music waveforms imprinted in the phonograph records and reproducing as air vibrations. Due to its value of micro-vibration, careful approach that any displeasing and unwanted vibrations must be systematically and thoroughly eliminated at all points should be taken."

"The flagship reference, Air Force One analog turntable by TechDAS, ushers in exquisite design concept to exploit positively the aerodynamic force equivalent to sound energy to the full rather than springs or buffer materials. It is the ultimate mechanism based on a vibration damping design due to 'Air Force' and included by only high-precision finishing parts with enough mass, which enables to pick up micro music waveforms imprinted in phonograph records with neither color added nor removed."

Unlike industry standard bearings that make contact, the TechDAS Air Force One uses a system that requires no conventional bearing system as such. How do they do it? Well, the platter is installed on the glass plate with a polished flat surface to be aligned with the center shaft for positioning. At this stage, the platter is absolutely still as it is completely connected to the base, but once the ancillary electric air pump starts forcing air into the turntable, you would see the heavy turntable platter floating instantly to the height of 3mm (30μ) above the base and rotating in deep silence and of absolute smoothness.

Another great feature is that with a single press on the Suction button right after setting a disc on the platter, it then holds down the disc while the platter itself is floating. That's right, floating platter yet air suctions forcing the record flat on the turntable's platter! But we're not done just yet.

The third mechanism by aerodynamic 'Air Force' is an air suspension system. One of the touchiest issues for an analog turntable is how to isolate it from vibrations propagating through floors. There often occurred different vibration problems when a turntable was installed on the floor even when finished with vibro-isolating materials, because vibrations by speakers or people’s movement might propagate through the same floor. To prevent those symptoms in the past, various corrective actions like isolation by springs or buffer materials were applied to many products. In this system again, an air suspension system with the help of aerodynamic force is adopted. Three large-sized feet which support the turntable, internally include air suspensions capable of varying air pressures and enhance the tremendous effect of isolating vibrations. Of course all this comes at a price, and plan to invest over $100 large for a TechDAS Air Force One turntable.

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