Regarding warped records I always use my Japanese ORB disc flattener which is very comfortable in ironing the records within a 4 hours loop, heating up 2 hours and another 2 hours for cooling down. After washing I leave the record for approximately 30 minutes for drying and “relaxing”. Indeed it is no real relaxing which I describe later on when I switch to the AFI Flat Duo. I put the record in the massive and heavy Japanese flattener, heat it up and let it cool down for 2 hours each period. As a result the record is flat.

Friends told me all the time that there is a new disc flattener on the market, being produced in Germany and sold by Oliver Wittmann. On top of flattening the record the AFI Machine has another function, the tempering. In the beginning I wasn’t really excited buying a new flattener with “the tempering” as an add on module.

Now I better understood what the AFI, and especially the new AFI Flat Duo is able to do. The cristalline structure of the PVC is treated during the tempering process.

In the production process of a record (pressed by 150 degrees) it is heated up and cooled down within 30 seconds. The tension of the material is frozen in this short time. Tempering by AFI organises a new and balanced structure of the cristalline order. This is the kind of relaxation of the AFI method. And it is fixed forever after the tempering. No more flattening and tempering at all. The record is finished for your collection.

So let me end up of all the flattening and tempering activity: Yes it makes a difference. It is quite substantial. If you are a record lover you need to decide if a life without the AFI Flat Duo is possible (yes, maybe) knowing that there is a more accurate and more intense/emotional life after all. I am enjoying my records NOW even more.