Furutech / Air Tight LP Flattener - do they work?

Yabol

It may also be puzzling that you are playing 99c LP's on a 10k plus turntable. Not sure exactly what your point is. It would depend on how many LP's you currently have as well.

Very expensive to return US or Euro presssings from Australia.

BTW, you can buy the unbranded original manufactured Air tight unit for $650 in Japan so I classify that as very resonable price.

A surprising number of new heavy audiophile pressings have severe dishing that can't be removed with a record clamp, not to mention older discs. There's another thread here that outlines the frustration of both customer and retailer regarding the difficulty getting satisfaction through returning warped LPs. The economics are primarily about what it's worth to YOU to have a convenient, safe and effective way to deal with this frustrating situation. Granted they're expensive, and granted there are cheap, if not slick, alternatives.

Incidentally, I was reading on the website for the new Blue Note reissues that RTI was having trouble with making 200 gram pressings on presses designed for 150-180 gram discs and that that was responsible for a lot of the warping problems. They do not recommend 200 gram to their clients for this reason, preferring 180 gram pressings. It seems to me that some of the problems I've observed stem from the flimsy packaging of some of the 45 reissues, where 4 discs are shrink wrapped together without a box.

Twould be nice to know a source for the Japanese generic one.

I have bought some "amazing" LP's for 99 cents.My current discs on my "Speedy Flattener" are actually very collectible,and not cheap,but my method actually greatly helps dished stuff.
I am still playing around with time spent in my flattener,and windowsill heat/exposure.I should have this down-pat by summer's end.

Btw,if I could get a Furutech for 650,I'd jump on it,and trash my DIY unit.

Best

I have also flirted with the idea of getting a record flattener. Upon trying various clamps, I realized that the Basis Audio reflex clamp will simply flatten any dished record if you use an O-ring that has a larger cross-section.

According to my measurements, the O-ring the Basis clamp came with has a cross-section of 1.7mm. I use a 2.5mm O-ring between the platter and the mat. The inner diameter is 6mm. The larger cross-section is also to compensate for the recessed center area of the Boston Audio Mat I currently use.

The downside of using a reflex clamp is that I need to turn off the turntable to change sides.

Regards,

iSanchez

` I currently use the VPI outer ring and it works extremely well. However if there is a warp, even thou the outer ring keeps it reasonably flat, you can hear the warp.

Considering you get these things for under or around the $1k mark - I believe they can be very valuble. email me if you want the details.

Does anyone have the air tight English manual they can email me???