Magnetic suspension for Cd player

[kuribo]

Check out this product- from the review copy, it seems to break Earnshaw's Theorm:

http://www.gcaudio.com/products/reviews/infomagix.html

Anyone seen these up close that can comment on how they actually work?

[Prune]

LOL, you cannot break Earnshaw's theorem any more than you can break, say, the speed of light.
Looking at the size of the things, I'd guess diamagnetic stabilization. But someone that knows German should look up Clearaudio patents and then you can build your own.
Once again, I'd argue magnetic levitators do not damp any vibration recieved from the air. If million dollar interferometers used in astronomy requiring far more isolation than any possible audio equipment do not use magnetic dampers, then you don't need to either.

[Prune]

I got a 5x5x3 cm N45 grade NdFeB magnet from eBay some time ago. I stuck it to the fridge once and it's impossible to pry off with one's fingers, you have to slide it off the edge. I have to keep it a meter and a half away from my monitor or the screen distorts so bad that the built in degaussing circuit can't fix it...
I was thinking of trying to build a levitation platform with this. But I still haven't a clue how the Magix are stablized. Even with my ultrapowerful magnet, diamagnetism is so minor compared to the magnetic force that at most it will levitate a thin slice of pyrolithic graphite; I also have some bismuth, another decent diamagnet, but even the small piece is too heavy. So clearly diamagnetism cannot be used for stabilization (unless these guys have invented the first high-temperature superconductor ), and that leaves only some sort of physical coupling (which is disclaimed in the advertisements).
Anyone have an idea what may be going on here?

[KBK]

A friend and I have found a relatively cheap isolation system that exceeds the quality of safe tables by a noticable amount, but we have been sitting on it for a few years, wondering how to bring it to market. For example, we have been using it to isolate a 1000th of a gram accuracy scale, which is sitting on a standard kitchen type counter top... next to a 0-20,000 rpm 2HP lab grade paint mixer. There is absolutely ZERO fluctuation in the scale at any speed or level of mixer use.

We have to 'pretty it up' for the audiophile crowd. He wants to go high level pricing and I want to hit the bottom. The problem, he says, is that the bottom end of the market is filled with strange isolation devices that don't work worth a damn....and ours could get lost in that pile of crap.... unless it distinguishes itself in some way, by let's say.. price!

Three of them (enough for one piece of equipment...they come in 6 different mass rating ranges) could be $100US, retail. I think that's perfect.

He wants to go to some re-arangement of the devices and method of use that makes it $1k (retail) or so to fix one piece of gear, but fix it in all axis, as in XYZ!

I'm asking for opinions here.....

[Peter Daniel]

The sensible approach could be making two versions, catering both markets. Wasting few years on deciding which approach to choose is not good either.

I'm using this one and it seems to improve the sound quite a lot: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attac...=&postid=91883

[Prune]

Another thing I've seen is the use of folded-pendulum style linkages, which can give you 60dB isolation in the horizontal for even low frequencies (there's a pdf somewhere, describing it's use in gravity wave detector multistage isolation setup).
One setup, used as a pre-isolator for an STM electron microscope (where you have atomic resolution), was just hanging the enclosure by elastic cords from a box with a heavy bag of sand, itself hung by cords from a frame. The mass of the bag resists motion transmitted by the cords, or something like that. Very simple, but if they are using in a machine that scans the surfaces of electron shells, it must be effective.

I find it interesting, however, that most setups for very sensitive lab equipment tends to use active devices, something that seems to be not well regarder in audio. But much lab equipment is more sensitive than audio equipment, so these approaches should work just as well in audio.

[Prune]

I'm asking for opinions here.....

My opinion is that it's good marketing to begin hyping the product at audiophile message boards. Oh, wait...