I’ve run the Relax program on 40 records now. It’s undoubtedly a significant sonic improvement. It’s not removing ticks/pops but if you have a quiet record to start with it’s now quieter. Everything jumps out of the grooves and is more alive sounding.
LP flattener
- Thread starter joeling
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That’s the tempering process. You can read about it here https://www.afi-record-flattener.com/afi_flat_duo.htm
I see the person who runs the audiocirc blog is also using one and I think he posts here. Would be interesting to get his take too.
Someone here just did me a great favour by flattening two records of mine (I asked him if he would and he agreed, but I never asked permission to give his name here so will leave that to him).
Of the two records, one had two large warps in it that, if played, would actually send my cartridge airborne followed by it bouncing hard on the cantilever, a major risk to my cartridge. The other, a Dynaflex, had one mild warp but enough to affect the sound so also not played.
The Orb owner started out very gently at the lowest settings and times, which helped but not enough. Both needed a second go at least, but the process succeeded.
The worst record is now playable with only a very slight movement up and down of my cartridge at one point on each rotation to show a minor defect, but absolutely no effect on the sound. I have seen that much movement on brand new pressings. The Dynaflex is absolutely flat with no evidence whatsoever that it was ever warped.
Orb's instructions say do not put flexidiscs into the machine (I think those paper thin records found in magazines at times?), but did not mention Dynaflex records (also fairly thin). The results with mine suggest that, with care, there should be no problem with these. The heavily warped record I should have just replaced from Discogs, however it was a from a friend who thought it Kaput so I thought if I could repair it and record it playing back for my friend?
My indirect experience with the Orb tells me it is a marvellous product that does what it says on the tin. Highly recommended.
Of the two records, one had two large warps in it that, if played, would actually send my cartridge airborne followed by it bouncing hard on the cantilever, a major risk to my cartridge. The other, a Dynaflex, had one mild warp but enough to affect the sound so also not played.
The Orb owner started out very gently at the lowest settings and times, which helped but not enough. Both needed a second go at least, but the process succeeded.
The worst record is now playable with only a very slight movement up and down of my cartridge at one point on each rotation to show a minor defect, but absolutely no effect on the sound. I have seen that much movement on brand new pressings. The Dynaflex is absolutely flat with no evidence whatsoever that it was ever warped.
Orb's instructions say do not put flexidiscs into the machine (I think those paper thin records found in magazines at times?), but did not mention Dynaflex records (also fairly thin). The results with mine suggest that, with care, there should be no problem with these. The heavily warped record I should have just replaced from Discogs, however it was a from a friend who thought it Kaput so I thought if I could repair it and record it playing back for my friend?
My indirect experience with the Orb tells me it is a marvellous product that does what it says on the tin. Highly recommended.
Both of these records presented their own challenges, and it was very satisfying to get to good results with them 
The first was really quite warped - more than I anticipated - and I was worried that while it might be possible to flatten it the warping had "stretched" the record such that it would retain physical distortions once flat and remain unplayable, which is something I’ve seen a couple of times before. The trick here is "slow and steady" - low heat, do one side, then flip and do another pass. Each pass, flattening from opposite sides, helps to gently encourage the record back to flatness.
The Dynaflex, well I was just worried I was going to melt it as it was so thin! I did a little research before starting, as I'd never attempted one before, and found some online suggestions to use much shorter heating sessions - you can manually abort the heating at any time and jump to cooling - so I started with the lowest heat setting and aborted at 15 minutes (instead of the normal two hours). The first pass flattened the edges but left some dishing in the middle. So I flipped the record and did a 30 minute pass and this time it came out pan flat. And not melted!
As soon as @Rensselaer's records were finished, my own latest arrivals were queued up for attention. Not a device I can live without these days.
The first was really quite warped - more than I anticipated - and I was worried that while it might be possible to flatten it the warping had "stretched" the record such that it would retain physical distortions once flat and remain unplayable, which is something I’ve seen a couple of times before. The trick here is "slow and steady" - low heat, do one side, then flip and do another pass. Each pass, flattening from opposite sides, helps to gently encourage the record back to flatness.
The Dynaflex, well I was just worried I was going to melt it as it was so thin! I did a little research before starting, as I'd never attempted one before, and found some online suggestions to use much shorter heating sessions - you can manually abort the heating at any time and jump to cooling - so I started with the lowest heat setting and aborted at 15 minutes (instead of the normal two hours). The first pass flattened the edges but left some dishing in the middle. So I flipped the record and did a 30 minute pass and this time it came out pan flat. And not melted!
As soon as @Rensselaer's records were finished, my own latest arrivals were queued up for attention. Not a device I can live without these days.
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I've owned an Orb machine for a few years now and probably have a 99% success rate. The few records that don't, I usually know ahead of time what the result will be.
Indispensable machine!
Indispensable machine!
After much procrastination and spurred on by the number of new records that arrive warped both from bricks and mortar record shops and Amazon ,I purchased an ORB DF-01a+ machine in December 2023.
I must pay tribute to all the forum members who gave their detailed experiences.
First the advice to use only the low setting for coloured vinyl is spot on.
I have not had one single failure on this setting even with ridiculously warped records.
The medium setting for 120-140 g records has also been faultless .
Using the medium setting for 180g records was a bit hit and miss, sometimes requiring a second go through the cycle.
I have found the high cycle to be best for 180-200g vinyl with no casualties and a perfect result 98% of the time.Occasionally I have had to do these twice.
Buy one with confidence.
I must pay tribute to all the forum members who gave their detailed experiences.
First the advice to use only the low setting for coloured vinyl is spot on.
I have not had one single failure on this setting even with ridiculously warped records.
The medium setting for 120-140 g records has also been faultless .
Using the medium setting for 180g records was a bit hit and miss, sometimes requiring a second go through the cycle.
I have found the high cycle to be best for 180-200g vinyl with no casualties and a perfect result 98% of the time.Occasionally I have had to do these twice.
Buy one with confidence.
For those who own the ORB DF-01a (non+), have you tried any picture discs in your machines? I'm curious about potential damage due to their construction. I've flattened hundreds of regular records in my machine but this is the first picture disc.