Mag Lev Turntable: You know you want to touch

[TitaniumTroy]

Though I am not a fan of vinyl, I thought this turntable was very cool. Technology and physics used in the service of music is pretty slick.

http://audiomatters.blogspot.com/20..._campaign=Feed:+blogspot/IPuyM+(AudioMatters)

 

[Flint]

That is nice for the platter, I can dig it. But what about the tonearm? In would porter the tonearm and platter move in sync rather than have the tonearm independent of the platter.

 

[Deleted member 133]

That is nice for the platter, I can dig it. But what about the tonearm? In would porter the tonearm and platter move in sync rather than have the tonearm independent of the platter.

Even though I haven't got a clue what you meant to say in that last sentence Flint I think I see where you are going with this. Maybe. Potentially. Ah hell! WTF were you trying to say!???

In any case let's noodle whether the platter and arm should, or should not, be "coupled" (mechanically - or in this case electromagnetically).

Hmmm...

I find myself thinking about the platter alone for a moment and wondering just how effectively it is in fact "isolated" and if it is, what kind of effective spring rate / damping exists? From the video, when the platter is tapped there seems to be a very long period of time (relatively speaking) for it to return to "steady state" which indicates very little damping effect.

I'm also thinking that there are four possible ways of looking at this:

1. "Conventional" platter and tonearm;

2. Mag platter and conventional tonearm (which this product has);

3. Mag platter and tonearm (assuming that's somehow possible for the tonearm - how do you get the signal through the mag barrier? Digitize and transmit somehow? How would you power that process?); and

4. Conventional platter and mag tonearm (ditto).

I'm stuck on imagining a way that the tonearm could be truly mag-isolated - either alone or in concert with the platter; short of simply levitating the whole thing (ie. eliminate the feet from a conventional turntable.) In that case you're just talking about a fancy way of having better feet - which you can already do in many other ways using tried and true vibration reducing techniques.

So that seems to leave us with 1 and 2. And there's any number of 2s (ie. conventional turntables) out there, so that only leaves option 1.

So (again for the discussion that you started and I'm trying to continue) it all comes down to the actual isolating characteristics of the design of this product. It might be "isolated" in appearance; but that's likely all it is. Unless we had a sample to play with and could try it out in some real-world situations. (For starters I'd sit it on top of a sub and see what happens!)

Jeff

 

[Botch]

My first concern wasn't mentioned by anybody, except the actual review. In the very first sentence.

Leaving aside the possible magnetic interference problems for cartridges,

Mechanical isolation is good, but with a MM or MC cartridge, magnetic isolation is equally important. This thing, while visually cool, fails in that respect.

 

[Deleted member 133]

My first concern wasn't mentioned by anybody, except the actual review.

You mean Troy and me, since, until he chimes in again, we're not really sure what the heck Flint was saying - are we?



Jeff

 

[Flint]

Typing on my.phone at a bar may be the problem.

It is simple, I think. The production of an audio signal is from the difference in position of the tip of the stylus to the magnets in the cartridge. If the platter is levitating, it could be susceptible to acoustic waves in a different plane from the chassis which the tonearm is fixed to.

Basically, any opportunity for the platter to be moved should be identically matched by the tonearm and thus the cartridge.

Just my views.

 

[Flint]

Mechanical isolation is good, but with a MM or MC cartridge, magnetic isolation is equally important. This thing, while visually cool, fails in that respect.

A static DC magnetic field shouldn't be a problem.

 

[TitaniumTroy]

Still having a magnetic levitation turntable might make you feel like Magneto of the X-Men.

I never thought about having the platter and tonearm being in sync vibration wise. However I did notice what Jeff did, the long return to stability after being disturbed.

 

[Botch]

A static DC magnetic field shouldn't be a problem.

It wouldn't be. But there isn't one here. ???

 

[Flint]

Maglev isn't DC?

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

You can actually see platter instability as it rotates; as the stylus/disc interface is extremely critical, movement like I see would be a disaster. The platter is seen wobbling, and this would be the same thing as a bad case of record warp which increases and decreases tracking force as the disc rotates from the changes in vertical tracking angle (which should be a constant 15 degrees).

Also, of course the thing they mention about magnetic interference between the magnets in a cartridge and the magnets in the deck.

Bearings on conventional turntables are NOT a weak link already, so why try to fix a non-problem?

The tone arm they are using looks pretty cheap actually, and the Ortofon cartridge isn't the greatest - If I were them, I'd concentrate on improving those and forget already-solved problems with platter bearings.

Like the silly pop removal thing I posted about; this is an answer to a question which nobody has asked.