Has anyone seen this? A really beautiful turntable


I just got this email. I don't know if it's good or bad. It will definitely get the attention of anyone walking into your audio room. Does anyone own one? Joe https://www.touchofmodern.com/sales/mag-lev-audio-f3121a62-bcd0-46e9-a32b-df70180d0f84?open=1&au...
jnovak
^^
this table has been out for a while and the platter wobble defect is very obvious. I don’t think the target buyer cares or realizes the problems this causes. The record and cartridge are always the victims. If its no longer made I am not surprised.

Definitely a gimmick! My Luxman PD-444 had a magnetically opposed spindle that effectively made it floating, but it was always attached not floating in space. Some will want this for the unique look, not for the performance.
The Luxman magnetic bearing was not designed to fully float, it was designed to lessen the down-force, pressure, and stresses on the thrust bearing and contact points... and thus lower the friction, and lower the complex noise generation and noise transmission.

It’s right there in the widely available design brief for the turntable.....

And it works exactly as advertised....

If the TT in the OP is what I think it is (a floaty wobbly useless thing), it is a gimmick and a strong outlier of a backward step for high fidelity.


1+ larry, 
Audiophile rule #27 is for idiots. In this example the noise on the record is a constant and the same in both examples so just like a math problem it cancels out. Next, since when are air bearings not mechanical? There is a shaft in bushings just like any table except this one. Just the thrust plate is air. Clear audio and SOTA accomplish exactly the same thing in a far more elegant fashion using opposing magnets. A  more appropriate use of a compressor is vacuum hold down. My SOTA with it's new magnetic bearing still sounds exactly the same as the SME without as far as I can tell. Admittedly an oscilloscope trace would be more accurate than my ears but I did boost 20 Hz 10 dB which is as far as I could go without breaking a subwoofer from the rumble on the record. No difference. The noise on the record is far in excess of the noise made by the turntable...unless you have a broken bearing or an old idler wheel drive turntable. I have heard those rumble bad enough that you can hear it. Compare one to a modern belt drive table by recording them both with the same record and you will hear the difference. People that do not have boosted subwoofers generally do not care or notice the rumble it seems.
They are just psychologically attached to their turntables which is not a bad thing at all. You have to like/love you equipment as Nelson Pass said' " Audiophiles just want to be happy." People love their old 356 Porsche's.
Dynamically they are seriously flawed in comparison to a modern 911. But, who cares. They are still really cool cares and give you an experience that can not be matched in a new car. Audio equipment is exactly the same except we want to argue endlessly about what better is.
My car is faster than yours!  Who gives a f___.