TechDAS tonearm Air Force 10
- Thread starter TLi
- Start date
Graham have titanium arrmwand too, but its really expensive.
Graham Engineering Phantom Elite Tonarmrohr kaufen
Phantom Elite: Reference Tonarm Armwand in den Längen 9", 10" und 12" von Graham Engineering
www.hifi-studio.at
Graham Elite is a good arm but in direct comparison with TW 10.5 you notice a few impurities in the bass and treble frequencies with the same pickup. These are probably due to the stability in the bearing. My opinion.
P.S
oh if you adjust VTA always tighten the screw afterwards.
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Today I listened Techdas AF10 tonearm together with new Techdas DIA cartridge. It was a pretty impressive sound, open, detailed, never being harsh or edgy. It was in line with what we heard in Tokyo last year. I spent around 3 hours in local distributor’s show room listening this setup with Kharma Veyron 2D speakers. Volume was very high without distortion and fatigue, I enjoyed a lot. Both the speakers and tonearm/cartridge combo were fabulous. Simply out of this world. My only reservation is the bass. It was great but could have been better to be amazing.
Good morning from Hong Kong! Wow - many thanks for the info and report and that's sounds very impressive. What a set up - incl a great front end. Did you have the time to listen = compare the AF10 with the Thales Statement arm?
I shall be back to Munich and Tokyo this year. We can have a gathering and some good time together.If you are going back to the Tokyo show this year, let's meet up
In my system, TechDAS Dia cartridge sounds better with 12" wand. I have both 10" and 12" wands. The armboard can be used to mount both lengths, just turn it over, it is a very clever design. TechDAS Dia is too sharp with 10" wand and 12" is just right. Vinyl playback requires matching of all parameters, it may sound better with 10" in your system.
Attachments
No, a mono ZYX cartridge was installed on the Thales arm. The real star of the setup was the Kharma Veyron 2D speakers. I listened to those speakers with:
• Full CH electronics, including double M1.1 amplifiers
• Full Kondo electronics and cables, with Gakuoh II amplifiers
• Full Luxman electronics, 10 series
• Epsilon preamp and mono amplifiers
Each session was one week apart, and I listened for longer than two hours each time, playing whatever I wanted. Unfortunately, the source was digital except for the last session.
In my opinion, there’s no question that those Kharma speakers are the best I’ve ever heard—they’re simply too darn good. The downside is the price; they’re ridiculously expensive. Simply put, it’s oligarch audio.
I don’t think I can visit Japan this year, it’s too far, but I hope we can meet in the future.If you are going back to the Tokyo show this year, let's meet up
There can be many variables in play but if I limit my opinion for this specific room and situation I enjoyed them with Epsilon amplification most.
I use the same TechDas AF3 with the DIA cartridge but on the Graham Elite tonearm. With GoldNote PH1000 phonostage. The rest is TAD reference line equipment and speakers. Very happy with it.
I installed two different AF10 tonearms for my friends—one with the latest TechDAS DIA cartridge (diamond cantilever) and the other with a Kondo cartridge. I’ll provide pictures later.
IMHO/IME, the overall sound of the AF10 is extremely detailed, silky smooth, and distortion-free. Simply put, it’s an amazing tonearm. But there’s one caveat: impact. The bass kick and overall impact feel a bit laid-back. This was exactly what we heard in Tokyo last year, but the solution is very simple—the power supply/compressor unit MUST sit on the floor on its own feet. Do not place it on a rack. Additionally, the power cord used to connect the unit is EXTREMELY important. I cannot stress enough how critical these two factors are. Once you provide the unit with a high-quality power cord, like the Kondo Avocado, and place it on the floor, the bass becomes incredibly detailed with proper weight. The impact becomes noticeable. Human voices, piano, and strings sound incredibly organic—I haven’t heard any tonearm come close.
My previous reference, the Axiom, cannot compete with the AF10 in terms of distortion-free reproduction and the organic character of instruments. The SAT CF1or Kuzma Safir cannot compete with the Axiom in this regard.
What I Didn’t Like
The anti-skating and VTF adjustments could be better. Both are set by shifting the top plate, which also shifts the balance of the tonearm as it is lifted by air. As far as I understand they’re set by air and there is no conventional VTF or anti-skating mechanisms. Kudos to TechDas engineers for that but they can be easier. For example there’s no fixing mechanism for VTF, meaning it can easily change with a simple touch. Since it’s a dynamically balanced tonearm, you can always set the VTF lever to zero and align VTF statically using the rear weight. I chose not to align VTF statically because either way the top plate has to shift due to anti-skating. Anti-skating is also tricky—it doesn’t seem to have any effect up to a certain point, and more importantly, it affects VTF significantly—by as much as 1 or 2g.
The Bottom Line
You must set it up precisely, just like any high-end tonearm. In my experience, it’s the hardest tonearm to adjust after the Axiom, but if you enjoy fine-tuning as much as I do, it’s the most fun. It’s by far the best I heard by a large margin.
IMHO/IME, the overall sound of the AF10 is extremely detailed, silky smooth, and distortion-free. Simply put, it’s an amazing tonearm. But there’s one caveat: impact. The bass kick and overall impact feel a bit laid-back. This was exactly what we heard in Tokyo last year, but the solution is very simple—the power supply/compressor unit MUST sit on the floor on its own feet. Do not place it on a rack. Additionally, the power cord used to connect the unit is EXTREMELY important. I cannot stress enough how critical these two factors are. Once you provide the unit with a high-quality power cord, like the Kondo Avocado, and place it on the floor, the bass becomes incredibly detailed with proper weight. The impact becomes noticeable. Human voices, piano, and strings sound incredibly organic—I haven’t heard any tonearm come close.
My previous reference, the Axiom, cannot compete with the AF10 in terms of distortion-free reproduction and the organic character of instruments. The SAT CF1or Kuzma Safir cannot compete with the Axiom in this regard.
What I Didn’t Like
The anti-skating and VTF adjustments could be better. Both are set by shifting the top plate, which also shifts the balance of the tonearm as it is lifted by air. As far as I understand they’re set by air and there is no conventional VTF or anti-skating mechanisms. Kudos to TechDas engineers for that but they can be easier. For example there’s no fixing mechanism for VTF, meaning it can easily change with a simple touch. Since it’s a dynamically balanced tonearm, you can always set the VTF lever to zero and align VTF statically using the rear weight. I chose not to align VTF statically because either way the top plate has to shift due to anti-skating. Anti-skating is also tricky—it doesn’t seem to have any effect up to a certain point, and more importantly, it affects VTF significantly—by as much as 1 or 2g.
The Bottom Line
You must set it up precisely, just like any high-end tonearm. In my experience, it’s the hardest tonearm to adjust after the Axiom, but if you enjoy fine-tuning as much as I do, it’s the most fun. It’s by far the best I heard by a large margin.
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What wand lengths have you installed? I find 10" wand is very detailed and 12" wand is more relaxed. The difference is quite obvious.
I also found the pump is very sensitive to footers, ie vibration. I can hear the difference with different footers place under it. Now I settled with an active isolation platform (Seismion) under the pump. It enhanced the performance, particularly in the bass.
The dynamic balance tracking force is very tricky to adjust and is also very VTA depended. One has to make sure the tracking force is measured with the correct VTA. Since most record scales tend to rise the cartridge a little more than actual record play, the tracking work will not be right when it is lowered in play.
Both are 10" arm wands -which is original design length. Personally I prefer original design over other lengths ex. 9" SAT, 9" SME V, 12" Acoustical Systems (Axiom) etc.
IMHO Seismion is the worst thing you can put under the pump unit or any other device I should say. It kills dynamics which is very bad for this silky smooth sounding tonearm. There should be absolutely nothing under the pump unit. It's very sensitive what's under it and requires direct coupling to ground (floor). That's my opinion YMMV.
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After fiddling with my friend’s TechDas AF10 tonearm I started to know its merits and ended up not using VTF mechanism.
The AF10 uses a sliding top plate when setting VTF and anti-skating. As far as I know, this is done to shift the pivot point. Maybe the pivot point doesn’t actually change, but it’s incredibly difficult to set VTF precisely, and it may drift over time. Additionally, the VTF and anti-skating adjustments affect each other.
So, I ended up converting the AF10 to static balance by disabling its VTF mechanism and setting the lever to zero. I now set the VTF using the rear counterweight. The red arrow points to the sliding plate, and the yellow arrow points to the VTF mechanism.
One incredibly important thing: do not use the supplied cheap VTF scale with the AF10. It’s absolutely essential to measure VTF at record height. In my experience, it makes a huge difference with the AF10—around 20%.
Dear @TLi, I recommend trying this, and I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on it.
The AF10 uses a sliding top plate when setting VTF and anti-skating. As far as I know, this is done to shift the pivot point. Maybe the pivot point doesn’t actually change, but it’s incredibly difficult to set VTF precisely, and it may drift over time. Additionally, the VTF and anti-skating adjustments affect each other.
So, I ended up converting the AF10 to static balance by disabling its VTF mechanism and setting the lever to zero. I now set the VTF using the rear counterweight. The red arrow points to the sliding plate, and the yellow arrow points to the VTF mechanism.
One incredibly important thing: do not use the supplied cheap VTF scale with the AF10. It’s absolutely essential to measure VTF at record height. In my experience, it makes a huge difference with the AF10—around 20%.
Dear @TLi, I recommend trying this, and I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on it.
Hi mtemur,
I agree with your findings. The tracking force is very sensitive to the VTA. The supplied tracking force scale is too thickness, the cartridge is raised too much and the reading tends to overestimate tracking force. I use a scale with side plate which is closer to usual record height.
I use half and half, i.e. half tracking force is static and half is dynamic. It seems to give the best of both worlds.
As for anti-skating, I only applied minimal force, half a step to one step in the scale. You can actually do without and doesn't notice much difference.
One other thing, I tend to remove as much as possible extra counterweight metal plates. This allows the whole counterweight to be placed as rear as it can. The increase in rotational inertia will give a more stable soundstage. You may want to try.
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