The new Zorin Audio AS-2 Ion Generator is a new fanless model. Although AS-1 and AS-2 both release positive and negative ions to achieve the effect of eliminating static electricity, they are used in different places and have different designs.
AS-1 is used on the air-floating tonearm and is installed between the air pump and the air-floating arm to eliminate the static electricity generated by the friction of the airflow through the air outlet, and the static electricity will cause the bushing and air outlet to produce adsorption force, which affects flexibility. After installing AS-1(a device that eliminates static electricity), significant differences between the original sound can be observed.
Although the airflow of AS-1 can still eliminate the static electricity of the record after passing through the overflow part of the bushing, the effect is not very direct.
What causes this is because of the distance between the ion’s air flow and the target object(Plater). After the ions are released, they will be neutralized after a certain distance. In the last photo, you can see that there is a black air pipe in the part connecting AS-1 and the tone arm. It is an electrostatic conductive pipe, not an ordinary black PE pipe, this pipe is to ensure the ion conduction efficiency. The shorter the tube length, the better the ion conduction efficiency is.
AS-2 is aimed at eliminating static electricity on the surface of records. Unlike AS-1, AS-2 does not require the airflow of the pump for heat dissipation, so the power supply of AS-1 needs to be linked to the pump to ensure its service life. , Because the distance between AS-1 and the air-floating bushing is far, and its power is large, the distance between the target object is the main factor affecting overall performance. As can be seen in the picture, The ion release hole of AS-2 is at the bottom of the rectangular tube. When playing the record, the distance from the record is only 1 to 2 cm (height is adjustable), which can ensure the effect of neutralizing static electricity.
In terms of service life, like AS-1, Zorin Audio also has a mechanism designed to easily clean the discharge needle. Normally, after hundreds of hours of use, crystals may form on the surface of the needle tip. If not cleaned, it will cause the ion generator‘s power reduced or even ineffective.
When using our turntable, it can be fixed on the arm plate. When changing records, just rotate the ion generator away from the top of the turntable. If you use another brand’s turntable or the turntable has no extra space to install the tone arm plate, we will provide external feet for each device. Which will make it easy for users to install.
