This is the Mag-Lev Audio ML1, it’s a turntable with a levitating platter courtesy of a unique electromagnet system. Once the platter is levitating, there is no contact between it and any other surface, allowing a truly vibration free listening experience.
Mag-Lev Audio was first unveiled in 2016 through a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign that saw the working prototype of the design rake in $552,178 USD worth of backing from 717 people around the world. The Mag-Lev Audio ML1 is now in full production, and can be ordered online.
Above Video: This is the one minute introductory video that shows you how to use the Mag-Lev Audio ML1. As you can see, it’s all fully automated, requiring only basic turntable usage knowledge to start listening to music.
The Mag-Lev Audio ML1 works relatively simply, in fact it’s perhaps a surprise that no one has applied the technology to turntables before given the focus that audiophiles have on reducing vibration and turntable platter interference.
When the ML1 is turned off there are four automatic support legs that the platter rests on, once it’s turned on and the needle is moved into place over a record the legs retract and the magnetic levitation system engages, rotating the platter and keeping it perfectly balanced.
Once the needle/cartridge gets to the end of the record it automatically lifts to prevent wear, and the record can then be restarted, flipped, or replaced. Other than the levitating platter, the Mag-Lev Audio ML1 works much like any other traditional turntable, with a tone arm, needle, a speed control dial, a solid body, and four vibration-absorbing legs.
Perhaps the only downside to the Mag-Lev Audio ML1 is the sticker price. Nothing in the audiophile world is cheap, but the MSRP of €4,990 or approximately $5,335 USD will likely scare off all but the most committed (and most wealthy) of listeners.
The science-fiction element to the design is undeniably cool, however the fact that the turntable is completely separated from the micro-vibrations that can be created by the electric motor that powers the platter is what really excites audiophiles.
Each unit comes with an Ortofon 2M black cartridge, an RCA Audio cable, a counterweight, an anti-skating weight, two Inbus keys, a power cord, user manual, and the main turntable, turntable platter, and platter mat – everything you need to plug it in and start listening, other than a record of course.
Images courtesy of Meg-Lev Audio
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
