mains OP
hi
has anyone had experiences with magnetic levitation , i keep seeing these products pooping up but notice a bar running threw the middle of the magnets i believe.
If both top and bottom are still connected how does the product work ?
As long as the effects of the magnets do not interfere with the isolated equipment , seeing a gap between component and solid surface looks very interesting , its just that pole that is going threw the middle makes me think the technique still needs some tweaking.
the issue with magnetic levitation devices of the sort that show up in audiophile systems is that two opposing magnets are used in usually four corners of the mag lev stand. As fate would have it magnets, especially the powerful rare earth type required to lift significant loads, are very slippery in the lateral direction, since there are significant magnetic forces involved that are not all vertical in their vectors as it were. Therefore some mechanism must be employed to prevent the top plate from sliding entirely off the stand and onto the floor.
There are two choices, one is to place "stops" around the stand that prevent the top plate from moving very far (but allowing it to move to some degree, at least until it hits a stop. Since isolation as I said before is defined as the ability to move freely in the direction of interest, in this case the horizontal plane. So, this is one drawback of mag lev. The other way to deal with the issue is to put pins or bars through the middle of the magnets, which accomplishes the same thing but has the same problem. In either case there is a path, albeit a small one, for vibration to be transmitted to the top plate. I built a mag lev stand for my modded Radio Shack CD3400 CD Player which gives you some idea just how long ago that was. Presumably the magnets act like springs, at least to some extent. Springs are better - easier to implement, better isolators, and they sound better IMHO.