Do magnets and electronics mix?

Magnetics and electronics not only mix, but are inextricably inter-related. All AC signals on a wire are surrounded by a constantly expanding and contracting magnetic field, which is changed depending upon the conditions of the signal in the wire.

However, it is precisely because they DO mix, that unwanted interactions can occur between two wires' magnetic fields or a wire's magnetic field and some other magnetic force. A moving magnet in a coil of wire is how an electric generator works or vice versa. Unwanted inductance or other interference can occur when magnetic fields are in the area of the electronics, and may produce somewhat unexpected results.

If you doubt that a magnet can move the electron stream, consider the TV tube, which has a stream of electrons moved about on the screen by magnetic fields, creating your TV picture.

But all is not lost, the magnetic fields become reduced in intensity at a distance, and may not have any effect at all, at the distances you plan to use. But they might have an effect, too. It depends on the strengths of the magnets and the distance they are from any sensitive things.

Personally, I would never decouple any of my equipment from the floor in that way. It removes any possibility of airborne vibrations ever leaving the equipment. The vibrations have no way out. I think it is a very high-tech and interesting way to screw up the sound of your system.

TWL,
Thankyou for confirming my fears and the insight on draining vibrations. Perhaps I'll stick to cones and floating furniture. I wonder how S.A.P. addresses these issues. Patrick

Your turn-of-phrase "zero contact under my components" is philisophically inspiring. The magnetic force is nonetheless real and is surely a viable option for isolating your equipment.

One of the attributes of such a suspension system could be continuously tuneable motion damping implemented by inserting coils with variable series resistance into the magnetic field to dissipate kinetic energy to and from the table. This damping could be custom tuned over a wide range. Such damping schemes prevent large oscilations in analogue meters, for example, and a search of the web will find other illustrations of this. You should consider this mode of damping if you are going to design your own platform.

I think that given the ability to tune the stiffness and damping of these "magnetic shock absorbers" might provide a compromise between isolation and dissipation and allow for an effective, critically damped system.

No doubt this has been thought of for audio applications in which case it would interesting to know about.