State Of The Art Vinyl Replay System

Tonearms / Stand / Cartridge Shown Not Included

CLASS A+ Stereophile

TechDAS Air Force Two:
The Air Force Two retains most of the design distinctions and features of TechDAS's flagship model, the Air Force One ($105,000): air bearing, outboard AC motor, air-suspension supports, vacuum record hold-down, massive plinth and platter. But the last two elements are less massive than in the One—the Two's total weight is 103.4 lbs vs the One's 173.8 lbs—and the Two boasts a simpler plinth. In his tests, MF found the Air Force Two to offer excellent speed stability, immunity to extraneous disturbances, and a degree of quietness that "helped deliver generous decays into aural blackness." MF also praised the Two's "sensational image stability and solidity," and its all-around talent for coaxing him into staying up "way too late" listening to records: "I loved the TechDAS Air Force Two. It's among the very finest turntables that I've reviewed, at any price."

The TechDAS Air Force Two is one of those turntables that takes ‘Awesome’ in its stride. It always sounds awesome, even when it’s resolving something straightforward like Tom Waits voice. But when faced with an orchestra, complex music, or the kind of rhythmic drive that’s supposed to be the domain of lighter-weight turntables, the Air Force Two just gets out of the way and lets the music shine through. Just shy of £35,000 is a lot to pay for a turntable, but you do get a lot of highly recommended turntable, too!  HIFI +

Listening to music using AF2 is sort of intellectual challenge. It brings a lot of surprises no matter if one listens to well known, or totally unknown recordings. It is also an emotional challenge—the great abundance of information provided by this turntable come together and result in a very true presentation. The turntable is no more an element of the equation—listener is left eye-to-eye, or ear-to-ear with music. This is not the single best turntable in the world, there are two, three that offer even more, and yet it is one that delivers one of the most competent, uncompromising performances I've ever heard.  - Positive Feedback 

Brand-new, A-level best buy model with a reasonably improved price, while maintaining high-end quality as it is, now realistically appears
 
The first analog turntable “Air Force One” manufactured by TechDAS, was introduced as a flagship reference, just like it sounds, with reasonable exploitation of the air force applying to every key part of its own mechanism, while having achieved ultimate analog playback sounds and receiving great acclaim from analog audio enthusiasts around the world.
The “Air Force Two” was developed as a sophisticated best buy based on the core technology inherited from “Air Force One”, while maintaining high-end qualityas it is and realizing price reduction successfully. It may be no exaggeration to say that this is a real product of value. 

Descended from the flagship model, the core mechanism contained in the exquisite design concept is so sophisticated that exploits the aerodynamic force equivalent to sound energy to the full. It is a well-known fact that an analog disc is a sensitively very fragile program source on which transformed sound waveforms by air vibrations generated from original music sounds, are imprinted as is into a microgroove. The turntable should be the key center of the playback process from picking up the original oscillatory waveforms due to air vibration in an authentic way through transmitting accurate audio signals. Any other signals than the valuable micro waveforms imprinted on an analog disc ought to be detected by a stylus of a cartridge, are maleficent without exception.

There are specific examples such as, frictional vibrations caused by bearings under a rotating turntable platter, vertical vibrations of a tonearm caused by warpage of an analog disc, or vibrations due to some stylus movement resonating with an even flat disc to the contrary and in addition to them, direct vibrations from the floor propagating directly through a turntable. There are surprisingly a constellation of maleficent vibrations. In the early efforts, various attempted procedures have been rendered, like
thinking out a better machining method for bearings, putting a stabilizer weight on the disc plate to reduce warpage and resonance as well as suspending the overall player by springs. As a result, it is a fact that no one could accomplish their objectives until today. 

Two key factors of “Air Force” descended from the flagship reference. An Air Bearing Mechanism and a Vacuum Disc Suction Mechanism 

It is as always the highest-priority issue on a turntable to obtain accurate and noise free stable rotation. Since sufficient inertia is required to actualize the stable rotation, a platter is needed to be very heavy. Accordingly the “Air Force Two” is also equipped with 10kg of platter. On the other hand, however, as the platter load onto bearings is being so heavy that the deterioration of bearings with operating time may progress and cause friction vibrations or degradation of rotation accuracies even by precision
products.

One of the key mechanisms over “Air Force Two” descended from the flagship reference is an Air Bearing Mechanism. Because of this, all the issues there have been completely resolved. This system is configured with no conventional bearings and a platter simply 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, but once the ancillary electric air pump starts forcing air into the turntable, you would see the platter floating instantly to the height of 0.03mm (30μ) above the base and rotating in deep silence and of absolute smoothness, especially due to the air bearing mechanism. As the platter load is no longer applied anywhere, not only frictional noise or various vibrations are perfectly eliminated but also the primary performance of highest quality is infinitely maintained.

Another key aerodynamic-force-dependent mechanism is a vacuum disc suction system. Even though the platter is rotating in extremely quiet manner and with maximum accuracy, disc warpage may cause a vertical motion of a tonearm and at the same time undesired stylus movement will induce sympathetic vibrations. Under such circumstance, no music signal is extracted with complete fidelity. According to undesired vertical motion by the tonearm, collaterally the stylus is seriously damaged. Sympathetic disc vibrations may lead deadly loss of music signal quality and its sensitivity. It was fashionable to apply a stabilizer weight on the disc as a solution in the past. With that method it does neither give sufficient solution on disc warpage, nor suppress the development of resonance.

While on the other hand, with our vacuum disc suction system, right after setting a disc on the platter, just one press on SUCTION button located in the main unit, allows a disc attracted on the platter simultaneously with it floating. You can see in a split second, as a result, a completely flat disc surface and the platter is keep rotating as is in the environment where the vertical motion of the tonearm disappears and the potential capability of the cartridge exerts its performance to the full, but not only those, it is possible to extract only the valuable music waveforms imprinted in the groove with high-fidelity.

After that, a press on the SUCTION button again allows full evacuation instantly enough to release attraction of a disc plate at the same time.
 
While, one more aerodynamic force is Hybrid Spring Suspension. This system is newly developed for the “Air Force Two”
 
One of the touchy issues for a 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 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. However, as all of you may know, we have barely seen successful examples where there was no wobbling. In the process of developing the flagship reference, we decided to employ the hybrid suspension system configured with the air and the macromolecular polymer as the third key mechanism that resulted in an elegant solution of this particularly difficult challenge. 

However, in contrast to the “Air Force One”, as the total weight and its distribution of the “Air Force Two” are different, it is not always technically suitable to employ the same system. Therefore, instead of three-legged structure we needed to develop a new suspension system with four-legged structure which accommodates upper chamber sealed with air and lower rubberoid diaphragm with built-in springs and sealed with oil internally. That diaphragm is connected to the upper chamber via a tiny hole of the orifice plate and damps the spring movements mutually by internally sealed oil and air from the chamber and as a result, produces a high vibration insulation effect by means of reducing Q-factor of resonance. This means that the “Air Force Two“ is the same system as the “Air Force One” in terms of exploiting air force effectively for quality, and even better and easier to use for longstanding audio. 
 

Newly developed suspension struture.

Precisely flat hard glass faces to the bottom of platter.
Air flow makes 30 microns of clearance between platter and glass.
 
The key to achieve significant cost reduction without sacrifice of performance is the main body chassis made of precision aluminum castings
 
The critical issues in design for the “Air Force Two” are to achieve price reduction and to ensure the existing performance on par with the flagship reference, the “Air Force One” as a best buy product. Since to manufacture the chassis of the “Air Force One” incurs many costs due to cutting a metallic block by a computerized numerically controlled (CNC) machine, we have successfully switched to the aluminum precision-cast and painting the chassis instead. As casting is not only integrally molding the whole of a chassis mechanism but also produces a better volume-production effect, we have successfully accomplished significant cost reduction without sacrifice of performance. The chassis supported by large-size four-legs is of a double-layered structure consisting of an upper layer with complex configurations and a flat but thick lower layer. To secure sufficient strength, not only the thickness but also ribs are employed according to the need. As a result, the total weight reached 32.6Kg. The heavy chassis coated with a calm color of feeling will support the fundamentals of music and sound firmly.
 

Two different tonearms such as 10 inch type or 12 inch type can be mounted on
 
As the “Air Force Two” is a arm-free designed turntable, no tonearm is incorporated. The chassis described above can accommodate two different tonearms to be mounted on it. Standard tonearms with the effective length of 10 inches can be mounted on the right side of the turntable within standard specifications but also an optionally available arm base for the second tonearm can be installed on far left of the chassis where a tonearm with the effective length of 12 inches can be mounted. Therefore, both types can be mounted on the turntable. Since an additional work is required for each mount to meet individual specifications, particular tonearms of your choice should be informed to to us prior to a placement of your order.
 
The fastidious fabric belt drives the heavyweight platter made of precision- cutting aluminum. The rotation is supervisory-controlled through a non-contact sensor and a microcomputer. Outcome is the very high rotation accuracy equivalent to that of a direct drive (DD) motor.
 
The turntable platter reaching a weight of 10Kg is manufactured from precision- cutting aluminum solid block (A5056). In analogy with the flagship model, the platter of the “Air Force Two” is equipped with a vacuum disc suction mechanism. In addition, the disc-absorption surface of the upper platter is covered with special thin film damping materials. The rotation of the platter is driven by a fabric belt. On belt for driving the non-stretch polyurethane fiber belt with polished surface is employed in line with the “Air Force One”. Please note that a common rubber belt seems much easier to handle than this belt when replacing. However, given the high-grade playback, for the high-precision heavyweight turntables like the “Air Force One” and the “Air Force Two” belt-drive by a common rubber belt obviously cause a loss of performance due to its elasticity and as a result convincing sound quality is not attainable. The motor for driving incorporated in the “Air Force Two” is a high-precision AC synchronous motor stored in free-standing rugged aluminum housing. The power supply is stored in the stand-alone cabinet by the name of “Air pump & Power supply Unit” as Power Amplifier Drive ‒ Rotation Control System that watches and controls a rotation speed of the platter through non-contact sensor and maintains a constant speed through speed adjustment microprocessor circuit. Due to outcome using systems including previously mentioned “Air Bearing System” a high rotational stability with less than wow and flutter 0.03% accuracy, which is equivalent to that of a direct drive (DD) turntable, is achieved even as a belt drive turntable. Switching the revolution speed between 33 1/3 rpm and 45 rpm is available and additionally as a maximum 10% pitch control in +/- 0.1% steps of each constant speed is possible, the playbacks with your favorite pitch to suit the discs like instrumental albums become operational.
 
The “Air Force Two” is configured with a turntable main body, a driving motor in free-standing housing and in addition to them the "Air pump & Power Supply Unit" in a separate case.
 
The “Air Force Two” is configured with a turntable main body, a driving motor and in addition to them the “Air Pump & Power Supply Unit”. In the “Air Pump & Power Supply Unit” an electric air pump, an air condenser and power supplies for the circuits are installed. The motor-powered air pump enclosed in a robust die-cast case provides incomparable quietness with conventional simplified vibration motors and as an additional configuration a unique rubbersuspension is employed for scrupulously cutting-off micro vibrations. This driving motor is combined with the air condenser which is a tempered glass chamber mechanism where air evacuated from the air pump is stored temporarily and after absorbing the pulsating air flow completely, the processed air is fed for the air bearings and the disc attraction. Other than the above mechanism, total 4 distinct power supplies for a motor driving, a rotation control circuit, an operating circuit and for LED light are enclosed in the unit. By each part specialized with a dedicated power supply it is achieved to ensure rich enough power to drive a motor and to enhance the performance of each part. By also isolating those power supplies from a turntable main body the electric interference to the faint music signals is cancelled and that enables realization of a superior playback.
 
The acrylic platter cover to insulate discs from dusts is included as standard.
 
  

Platter surface cover "The Platter Top"    Needless to say that a dust is a great enemy to the analog record. However a large dust cover to cover a whole body bothers some time when removing or putting on obviously. Even so, in this case it is natural that dusts on the platter can be crimped on the back of an analog disc without a dust cover. To resolve problems the acrylic dust cover, which only covers the platter surface to cope with dusts on it, is included as standard for the ”Air Force Two”.
 
The dedicated special damping table suitable for Air Force Two is also optionally available.
 
As you would understand by descriptions so far, this model is a large-sized and heavy weight instrument. Therefore minimum installation space with 685mm width and 460mm depth or above is necessary. And the whole weight of a main body is 47Kg. In order to give the best performance, it is essential to satisfy the required conditions as above accordingly. With that, in consideration of the fact that the ideal installation requirement is not easily cleared, the thick special damping table is become optionally available. As this damping table is made of specially pure acrylic crystal with thickness of 40mm, this is the best suited base for the “Air Force Two” with its strength and superior damping performance. 

Special Damping Table
Highly recommended to use for Air Force Two

Specifications     
Main body and Motor unit
Drive System
Chassis 
Platter
Moter 
Speed 
Wow & Flutter 
Total weight 
Minimum dimensions for setting up    
Belt Drive with surface polished polyurethane flat belt 
Precision aluminum castings, weight 32.6 kg 
Solid aluminum (A5056) , weight 10 kg 
AC synchronous moter. Speed controlled by DC amplifier. 
33.3rpm / 45rpm , Precise speed adjustment function
below 0.03% (W.R.M.S) 
47kg 
685(W)×460(D)mm
Air pump & Power supply unit Power consumption 
Dimensions    
50W 
430(W)×160(H)×240(D)mm, weight 10kg
 
Accessories supplied with Air Force Two
 
Tonearm base wood x 1 (drilled for specified tonearm) 
Platter cover “The Platter Top” x 1 
AC power cable x 1 (180cm length)
 
Optional items & Accessories
 
Special Damping Table 
Second Tonearm Base 
Tonearm base wood for supplement (for 1st and/or 2nd tonearms) 
TechDAS Disc Stabilizer (highly recommended to use with Air Force Two) 
TechDAS TDC01 MC cartridge & TDC01 Ti MC cartridge

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