Does any Audiogon member have a Holbo air-bearing turntable?

Yeah, I haven't had many international shipments since the tariffs kicked in here in the US. But Slovenia to AUS doesn't implicate US tariffs. I know AUS was always expensive for exotic automobiles b/c I was shocked at the prices, and this was back in the day. (FWIW, I tried to buy a Brough motorcycle in AUS but could not get it vetted by someone who knew the bikes so I passed). Good luck with the table - it sounds like an ideal set up at a reasonable price. 

$160,000 for shipping!!!! Even in AUS dollars that seems impossible.

@lewm 

$160,000 for shipping!!!! Even in AUS dollars that seems impossible

Based on the cost of the DHL Express shipping charge for my 18-kg Holbo package, my first guess was A$40,000, but Troy said double my guess and double again!

As far as I know there are no import duties on cars into Australia, but there may have been a luxury vehicle tax.  My understanding is that the A$160,000 was just for the air freight.  Troy was not a happy man - he had been quoted A$80,000!

We are a big country (about the same area as mainland USA) but we are a very small market, less than the population of Texas. Someone once commented that Australia is characterised by distance the way Switzerland is characterised by mountains.  I like to point out that we do have snowfields and they are bigger than Switzerland.

It is a sweltering 40-degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Sydney today, but snow is forecast today on the Snowy Mountains to the south, still in the same State.

Yesterday I bought two sandstone slabs to go under the Holbo when it arrives.  I will separate the slabs with constrained layer damping.  Each slab is 600-mm x 400-mm by 50-mm and each probably tips the scales over 20-kg.  Under A$40 each.

My partner has banned scales from her pad in Sydney!  I will weigh them properly when I get them home to Canberra.

I am likely to buy an Italian Solidsteel S3-3 rack to go under the slabs.  The maximum shelf weight is 60-kg so should just squeeze in under that!  That model in the Solidsteel range does not have much in the way of vibration absorption, but I figure there's no substitute for mass.  At least it is reasonably affordable

I don’t know why the high line cars in AUS were so expensive back in the day but they were. 

As to mass loading, I found that better than just beneath the table as a plinth, the mass loading worked well on the table on which the turntable sat - a heavy antique mahogany prayer table. 

I eventually went to a big Minus K.

One thing I did do more as a precaution than anything, is clean the rail on which the air bearing travels- I use a non-shedding individual isopropyl lab wipe to do that before each play. Franc K thought it was unnecessary, but I don’t want the arm to hang up and torque the cantilever of my cartridges. 

Just my observations- I’ll be interested in your take once you get the unit set up. 

Dialing these in is far different than a pivoted arm. I don’t know what Holbo recommends, but the Kuzma likes to see a very tiny uptilt in the front right corner- beyond any measurement by "level"-- it is based on how the arm behaves at different intervals along the disc surface. There are not "null" points as such- I assume the mfr supplies a template and you can adjust the feet or plinth to get it to travel properly without worrying about "anti-skate" as such. It’s such a small adjustment, a slight turn of wrench is all it takes. I can adjust the stand, the Minus K and even the HRS platform to a degree. Get it right and it sings!