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Pretty Cool New Turntable Design


thebes

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Cool Looking, But wonder how an electro magnet which is what causes the platter to spin if I read right interacts with a magnetic Cartridge. There are sensative cartridges out there that a hum laden just being near a transformer. There have been MANY turntables with mag. Bearings or air bearings that in essence levitate but they all had belt drives

 

Will be cool to see if it catches on and reviews on sound not appearance

 

Neat find Marty

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1 minute ago, joessportster said:

Cool Looking, But wonder how an electro magnet which is what causes the platter to spin if I read right interacts with a magnetic Cartridge.

 

Your post came in just as I was typing essentially the same thing. The levitation magnetic field is DC, but requires corrections to keep it level and at a constant height that are not DC. And, as you said, the field also has to make the platter spin, which means a rotating field at 5/9 Hz.

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 Pretty cool but it seems to me this levitating drive approach Is a solution in search of a problem. We already have turntables with better wow and flutter performance and S/N ratios. The Technics SL-1210GR  appears to outperform it in every respect that may be audible.  And costs considerably less. 

 

 I find it curious that in the video you do not actually see the needle land on the record. I suspect that initially the needle impact causes a little bit of wobble. Indeed, in the close-ups it looks like the whole platter is ever so slightly wobbling.    I don’t mean to detract from what they’ve achieved. It’s very very cool. But it Has to move analog forward or it will simply be a fascinating gimmick. 

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The manufacturers of this TT is actualy close to me. 

I have been following development od this, not closely but out of curiosity.

Early this year we had a chance to hear it playing music. This is not a "high grade" turntable. It usualy comes with entry level moving magnet cartridges. The audition was with Ortofon 2M black.

It had problems with stability of the plater when starting. Later on the plater went smothly, not wobling on axis. 

Playbeck was ok, nothing to shout about.

It is cool looking, fancy and expensive toy. May be it will mature later. 

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1 hour ago, Edgar said:

The levitation magnetic field is DC, but requires corrections to keep it level and at a constant height that are not DC.

 

While there may be an "AC" appearance to a strip chart of the {levi|ro}tation current, it'd still always be DC.

 

A bearing of some sort (though not thrust) would be required but it would otherwise be cool to tie-together, and float, both the platter and tonearm.  This would ensure the lateral tracking "tangent" stayed at least consistent.  I'd bet the tolerance on that specification opens quite a (variably) bit with the current product.

 

Alternatively, assuming good-enough repeatability of platter-to-arm rotation axis distances with what they've got now, it'd be cool to laterally shift the platter axis through the pattern required to keep the stylus cantilever on a perfect tangent to the groove at all times, just like the cutting head was (and nominally the Rabco [and one other with glass rods, the name escapes me] of the later 1970s).  Shit!  Did I just give away a patent idea? 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, glens said:

While there may be an "AC" appearance to a strip chart of the {levi|ro}tation current, it'd still always be DC.

 

The average value may be constant, but there will be local perturbations to keep the platter level, at a constant height, and rotating. They are not DC, and they may interact with the magnetic cartridge.

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Ahem...  They'd have to be DC, just occasionally more or less so.  I don't believe you'd get a constant upward electromagnetic repulsion with an alternating field (unless it was a strong one that was able to hold the platter both up and down. 

 

Now I haven't given any thought to how they control the platter spin with this field.  Developed torque would seem to hardly maintain steady angular rotation rate dragging a stylus, at a gram downward + antiskate, from outside to inside the record.

 

Still, I like it, though not in the sense I'd buy one (or any turntable?).

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48 minutes ago, glens said:

Ahem...  They'd have to be DC, just occasionally more or less so.  I don't believe you'd get a constant upward electromagnetic repulsion with an alternating field (unless it was a strong one that was able to hold the platter both up and down.

 

It is quite possible -- and, in fact, quite common -- to have DC + AC. "DC, just occasionally more or less so", is DC + AC. Perform spectral analysis and you will find a constant DC component and one or more AC components. That's how the math works, and it does a pretty good job of describing how the universe works ... at least, this tiny part of the universe.

 

Quote

Now I haven't given any thought to how they control the platter spin with this field. 

 

Exactly the same way that a maglev train is propelled, except that the "linear" motor follows a closed circular path. http://emt18.blogspot.com/2008/10/maglev-propulsion.html

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The problem with this turntable is that it would not be very practical.  Once the first side of the record is finished playing, you have to turn off the turntable, wait for the feet to rise and carry out the start-up procedure all over again to play the second side of the record.  It is very time-consuming and hinders the listening experience immensely.  In my opinion, it is not worth the price and the listening experience!

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2 hours ago, Blackbird said:

The problem with this turntable is that it would not be very practical.  

 

Yes, that AND iIt doesn't advance the medium in any substantive way.  ..It's cool to see a levitating platter.  ..But does it reduce rumble or W&F in any noticeable way?  ..No, not when grove noise is what it is.   

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