I agree. I am the first owner of such a turntable in Greece.
Every once in a while, a product comes along that is truly new, offering a significant advance in the state of art which is called Hi end, redefining its limits. The Da Vinci aas gabriel turntable, developed by Swiss craftsmen, is such a product and it is as close as possible to the requirements of a perfect cutting machine.
From the manual I copy the following which is indicative for the design:
The base unit showing the 2 modules of the drive chassis (lead painted silver & Permalin in white) and the platter floating on top. Using a mirror underneath you may see the bonding Allen screw (3 of the them placed perimetrically.
"... The complete chassis is produced in a single pass in a CNC controlled machining centre from high density permalin material. The chassis contains simply the bearing socket and a 'load repelling' ring magnet.
The DC motor follows the same principle: lead base on bottom with the motor housing and the spindle on top and the same bonding technique. The roughly 20 Kg turntable fitted with the bearing bush and the opposing ring magnet, is dimensionally stable and practically acoustically dead thanks to its special design and metallurgical treatment. The turntable is guided by its vertical bearing. Thanks to the magnetic field, it floats a few mm. above the drive chassis.
An absolutely maintenance-free bearing unit made to the highest precision, allows the turntable to operate with almost no friction...
...The drive chassis, pick-up base and motor housing are stabilised inside on a massive lead base..."
The truth is that since then, only once in a while I listen to my CD player and my main listening experience is provided by this great turntable. The sound produced is so pure that details and nuances only hinted at in past hearings of vinyl records, emerge as in the concert hall. Ambiance, that elusive property of live sound, which provides the "you are there" feeling of the live concert environment, is present in full measure.
The gabriel has some very interesting idea. Their methodologies may sound dinosaurs to technical freaks but the muscality is unique. Jlam forwarded me a reply from Da Vinci abt the design.
The picture shows the vertical bearing of the gabriel with magnetic rings on the bottom. There should be a repellent magnetic force from the chassis. The 20kg platter then floats up by a magnetic field. That's shouldn't be an easy job as the 20kg platter is solidly milled from CNC machine, so the damn mass is there to ensure beefy lower mid bass. Some other magetic floating designs filters lower mid bass weight/impact because the platter lacks mass.
There is no physical contact between the platter and chassis. The platter just swims on the magnetic field smoothly. This is not the direct coupling way BUT the mass remains. Interesting. Just one motor with a thin string turns the 20kg platter floating on the magnetic field. If the platter floats up in the air, the rotation should be damn accurate because physical resistance (at least vertical movement of the platter) should close to zero other than the some leftover vibrational energy transfers from the spindle but this noise is far lower than the direct bearing contact noises of hard coupling design.
JA's comments' on the ultra detail retrieval capabilities probably comes from zero contact of the platter against the chassis. This must be a serious turntable comparing to the top Walker Diamond Signature and Raven 3-Motor in the world now. I am interested to read JA's review on all of them soon.
Arguably, if the base of this design is subject to vibration, the physical movement of the base would induce a distortion in equilibrium with the platter floating 'within' it because the magnetic thrust would have been altered by the physical vibration thus leading to an 'induced' vibration on the platter although the sheer mass of it would have already avoided much of this.
There is a popular hifi platform adopting similar magnetic approach to float up the upper platform by 4-5 magnets, I tried to shake the base and as a result the platform sitting on top is also moved due to the magnets at the bottom coming closer / farther / moving aside from their opposite counter part on the top.
Comments
Every once in a while, a product comes along that is truly new, offering a significant advance in the state of art which is called Hi end, redefining its limits. The Da Vinci aas gabriel turntable, developed by Swiss craftsmen, is such a product and it is as close as possible to the requirements of a perfect cutting machine.
From the manual I copy the following which is indicative for the design:
The base unit showing the 2 modules of the drive chassis (lead painted silver & Permalin in white) and the platter floating on top. Using a mirror underneath you may see the bonding Allen screw (3 of the them placed perimetrically.
"... The complete chassis is produced in a single pass in a CNC controlled machining centre from high density permalin material. The chassis contains simply the bearing socket and a 'load repelling' ring magnet.
The DC motor follows the same principle: lead base on bottom with the motor housing and the spindle on top and the same bonding technique. The roughly 20 Kg turntable fitted with the bearing bush and the opposing ring magnet, is dimensionally stable and practically acoustically dead thanks to its special design and metallurgical treatment. The turntable is guided by its vertical bearing. Thanks to the magnetic field, it floats a few mm. above the drive chassis.
An absolutely maintenance-free bearing unit made to the highest precision, allows the turntable to operate with almost no friction...
...The drive chassis, pick-up base and motor housing are stabilised inside on a massive lead base..."
The truth is that since then, only once in a while I listen to my CD player and my main listening experience is provided by this great turntable. The sound produced is so pure that details and nuances only hinted at in past hearings of vinyl records, emerge as in the concert hall. Ambiance, that elusive property of live sound, which provides the "you are there" feeling of the live concert environment, is present in full measure.
The picture shows the vertical bearing of the gabriel with magnetic rings on the bottom. There should be a repellent magnetic force from the chassis. The 20kg platter then floats up by a magnetic field. That's shouldn't be an easy job as the 20kg platter is solidly milled from CNC machine, so the damn mass is there to ensure beefy lower mid bass. Some other magetic floating designs filters lower mid bass weight/impact because the platter lacks mass.
There is no physical contact between the platter and chassis. The platter just swims on the magnetic field smoothly. This is not the direct coupling way BUT the mass remains. Interesting. Just one motor with a thin string turns the 20kg platter floating on the magnetic field. If the platter floats up in the air, the rotation should be damn accurate because physical resistance (at least vertical movement of the platter) should close to zero other than the some leftover vibrational energy transfers from the spindle but this noise is far lower than the direct bearing contact noises of hard coupling design.
JA's comments' on the ultra detail retrieval capabilities probably comes from zero contact of the platter against the chassis. This must be a serious turntable comparing to the top Walker Diamond Signature and Raven 3-Motor in the world now. I am interested to read JA's review on all of them soon.
Hay! Share us more info?
Arguably, if the base of this design is subject to vibration, the physical movement of the base would induce a distortion in equilibrium with the platter floating 'within' it because the magnetic thrust would have been altered by the physical vibration thus leading to an 'induced' vibration on the platter although the sheer mass of it would have already avoided much of this.
There is a popular hifi platform adopting similar magnetic approach to float up the upper platform by 4-5 magnets, I tried to shake the base and as a result the platform sitting on top is also moved due to the magnets at the bottom coming closer / farther / moving aside from their opposite counter part on the top.
What do you think?
Marvel