NORTH AMERICAN PUBLIC DEBUT OF TECHDAS AIR FORCE ZERO AND WILSON AUDIO MASTER CHRONOSONIC/SUBSONIC

Folsom

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I bet the entire membership here would love to hear Fremer's impression of both tables. There will no doubt be differences but I am betting there will be similarities as well.

Not me. Sorry you lost the bet. And I mean that whole heartily. Fremer's interest are so far from my own that I just can't give weight to his opinions. The only thing I appreciate is his devotion to vinyl, and anecdotal stories about playing it.
 
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XV-1

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The only way of doing this fairly is to send Kedar both the AF0 and the AS2000 :oops::D

What is Ked going to do with them - look at them? Don't think Bonzo has a system yet? Ked?? :p
 
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Tango

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I have a very different opinion on AS2000 being unique, very limited and therefore not make an acceptable reviewing tool. Actually I think it is an excellent reviewing tool. Imo when you review an equipment you want to hear and know the full potential of the equipment being tested. Having the better the source component at most upstream of the chain can tell you more and reveal more potential or limitations of the tested equipment. I prefer less bottle neck especially from way upstream. And I prefer a reviewer who has better quality reference gears at very high level than one with lesser quality but much more common in general market purely just because wanting more readers being able to relate to the equipment.

Kind regards,
Tang
 
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Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
all good thoughts Tang but the reality is that the AF0 is every bit as unique as the AS 2000 IMHO and it allows someone with an allegedly good ear and highly skilled in analog and vinyl so not sure I agree with you.

For me I'm not expecting there be one declared winner but rather people gravitating one way or the other and all I would like to hear is what the listener (reviewer) heard in common with both tables and what he found different. Tell us what music he played and what he heard . I think that provides a great data point.

The reality is that this is all in fun as under 50 people worldwide will own either of these tables
 
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Tango

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What is Ked going to do with them - look at them? Don't think Bonzo has a system yet? Ked?? :p
He can compare which one has a bigger spindle.

Tamg :p
 

spiritofmusic

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Tang, it's not how big yr spindle is, it's how you use it.
 

Tango

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Thr AS2000 being American has the biggest spindle of all.. so big Tima suggested me a tool to make hole biggger. The German Emt has the longest second biggest spindle. The Canadian Kronos has a boring no drama spindle. And the big sumo AF1P has a tiny tapered spindle with vacuum hold down skin tight. All record enjoy these spindles very much.

Tang :)
 

microstrip

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Two nice detailed videos about the Air Force Zero - now I could see where money goes in this turntable ...



The end of the second video shows the famous Papst motor (26'30")
 

amadeus

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I guess the combination of very high mass platter and a belt make the micro fluctuations that such a motor will have insignificant. I once talked to the designer of the Continuum Caliburn and they were using a coreless/slotless motor (but not direct drive) with a very sophisticated controller. He told me that it cost them $8K just for that motor/controller! That was a $100K TT and with such an expensive motor system I could then start to understand why it was so expensive. This AF0 at $400K, and with such a cheap drive system, starts to scream to me "audio jewelry" rather than a serious attempt on SOTA performance. However, if such a motor sounds better than what else is currently out there, so be it, but it is a rather surprising outcome to say the least.

At Munich yesterday mr Nishikawa explained that the motor used in AF0 is a Nos Studer motor and they where able to buy 50 of them.
 

CKKeung

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At Munich yesterday mr Nishikawa explained that the motor used in AF0 is a Nos Studer motor and they where able to buy 50 of them.
Hello Amadeus,
What's your comments on the AF Zero demo at the Munich Hi-end 2019?
 

amadeus

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Hello Amadeus,
What's your comments on the AF Zero demo at the Munich Hi-end 2019?

I have been back 3 times to this always full room and i heard many things about this table some said:

Money Trick
To big Bulky
A mistake design....

Well if you can afford it or not is another subject but the AF0 is whit a big margin in any way and every parameter superior to any naughty dream of any analog freak!
 
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amadeus

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The AFO and the Micro Seiki 8000 MKII are effectively the same turntable (from a technology and engineering perspective) made 40 years apart. I personally don't see the AF0 as a state of the art engineering marvel. I see it as an awesome piece of hand built industrial art. I hope to see one some day.

Wait till you hear a AF0 :)))
 

amadeus

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I'd like to hear the table in an A/B environment so i can property evaluate the table. Hopefully one day.

In my Humble opinion the superiority of the AF0 so obvious that this is needless.
Like if you ever hear Vladimir Horowitz playing Chopin you don't need to hear any other pianist to be sure of his Superior almost absolute interpretation...
 

Audiophile Bill

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Mar 23, 2015
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Imo, it could’nt save the room...

Brad - do you mean because the rest of the system sounded poor? What was the rest btw?
 

bonzo75

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Brad - do you mean because the rest of the system sounded poor? What was the rest btw?

CH and vivid. Same room as we have heard before but with the zero. In that room you get sounds from the other room. I have a video of that happening will share later. As nishikawa San was about to play rostropovich an Avengers endgame type sound effect started coming in through the walls
 
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morricab

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Brad - do you mean because the rest of the system sounded poor? What was the rest btw?
Yes, IMO, the CH + Vivid was not helping matters. So, to me it was impossible to tell if the TT was a world killer because I thought the overall sound signature of the system was not good (and it sounded compressed a lot of the time). There were many rooms with CH precision this year and I thought they all had a similar character, which leads me to believe that it was at least in part due to that choice of electronics.

Interestingly, the Goebbel room with the smaller Divin speakers was using tubes this year (Engstrom amps as opposed to CH last year) and sounded about the best I heard at the show from a more or less conventional speaker. I think this Kronos TT system is very good and rooms that had one also had nice analog sound.
 

microstrip

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CH and vivid. Same room as we have heard before but with the zero. In that room you get sounds from the other room. I have a video of that happening will share later. As nishikawa San was about to play rostropovich an Avengers endgame type sound effect started coming in through the walls

Fortunately we have opinions of people who managed to listen when the neighbors were not playing loud!
 

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