anybody buying into magnetic levitation "eliminates the effects of any vibration" ?

geoffkait "The reason airborne vibration is not very important for turntables is because the resonant frequencies of the tonearm and cartridge are very low, by design, circa 10 Hz, much lower than the lowest frequency generated by most speakers."

Much has been researched and implemented towards controlling resonances of the tonearm and cartridge, but, depending on it's construction, the actual table itself will vibrate and resonant well into the audible range.  Those resonances will transfer to the tonearm as well.

jnorris2005
Much has been researched and implemented towards controlling resonances of the tonearm and cartridge, but, depending on it’s construction, the actual table itself will vibrate and resonant well into the audible range. Those resonances will transfer to the tonearm as well.

>>>>>There seems to be some confusion - the tonearm and cartridge resonance Fr is not in the audible range. It’s below the aublible range. What did I just say? Hint: the tonearm and cartridge resonant only at their Fr. That’s why it’s called resonant frequency.

larryi Of course it doesn’t provide complete isolation, the question is whether it does a reasonably good job of isolating whatever is on top from vibration originating from whatever the platform is sitting on at its price point. It is not going to do the job that a platform built for an electron microscope sits on, and even that wouldn’t qualify as "perfect."

>>>>>Bad example. Electron microscope stands by and large by virtue of their rather mediocre resonant frequency are actually quite ineffective for frequencies up to around 20 Hz. By then the damage has already been done since most of the energy of very low frequency seismic vibration is below 5 Hz. And for frequencies below the electron microscope stand’s Fr the effectiveness is zero. Follow? The most heroic isolation system ever developed and built was the LIGO iso system. The Fr for the LIGO iso system is well below 1 Hz, most likely around 0.1 Hz IIRC. Vibraplane and Minus K are both examples of electron microscope stands that were converted to audiophile products.

we already know that no iso technique is perfect. Give the guy a break.

Ummm.... don’t tell me what to do? Besides, he claims that it is perfect!

This allows you to mount the bottom RELAXA platform on any surface and that surface will have zero effect on the top RELAXA floating platform. Zero resistance equals zero vibration.

I’m not surprised at all that you’re okay with false claims!

Geoffkait,

I don't see the point in quibbling with every comment, particularly when they are meant to just to illustrate a general point, which I think we all agree--nothing is perfect, so it did not make sense for the OP to harp on the manufacturer's claim.


As for the specific application of using a Relaxa under a turntable, I certainly think that it can work, but, I think there are way too many variable to say it will work under all or most circumstances.  For example, will it reduce or make footfall problems worse?  This would depend on the resonant frequency of the entire system and that would depend on a number of factors, including the mass of the table.  When a manufacturer builds a spring suspension, or in the case of Verdier, a magnetic suspension, the manufacturer at least has knowledge about that variable.  Also, most tables with suspensions allow for some tuning of the springs. I would be at least concerned that something like the Relaxa will not be quite as flexible in this regard.