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Newsletter July 2019
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Audio Reproduction & Turntable
Vibration Isolation
Platforms, Tables, & Integrated
Systems
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Since the early 2000s, Minus K Technology, the developer of
Negative-Stiffness vibration isolation, has released several vibration
isolation platforms for the high-end audio market. These products have been
accepted with high acclaim by audiophiles and audio system manufacturers
worldwide.
The industry's highest performing vibration isolation system
is available in a cost-effective, low-height platform. The
BM-8 Series vibration
isolation platform offers true ½-Hz isolation performance vertical and
1.5 Hz horizontal and is easy to use. No air or electric power is required,
there is no maintenance and nothing to wear out. It is 18Wx20Dx4.6H and is
available with nominal load capacities from 25 to 250 lbs. It is ideal for
turntables, CD transports and other audio components.
The Helix One®
and Helix Two® turntables from Dohmann Audio, for example, come fully
integrated with Negative-Stiffness vibration isolation.
Doehmann Helix 1 (BM-8 fully integrated)
Doehmann Helix 2 (BM-10 fully integrated)
“The ability
of Negative-Stiffness to deal with vibration and resonance is unsurpassed, and
allows the music to be enjoyed with an outstanding level of
realism.
Analog audiophile aficionados talk about blackberry notes,
where the base is too prominent and muddy, explained Dohmann. This is often
caused by a reinjection of vibration into the playback mechanism, adding to the
amplitude of the needle movement and creating more signal that what is
physically in the groove. But Negative-Stiffness vibration isolation cleans
this up, so that the base is more natural. The timbre of the instrument used to
produce the base, whether a string, piano or drum, sounds more like the real
thing. It enables a sense of peace and calm to the playback."
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Mark Döhmann, Founder Döhmann Audio |
The
latest generation of Negative-Stiffness vibration isolation technology,
embodied within the new ultra-thin, low-hieght Minus K
CT-1, truly represents
a significant advance in sound quality in a very compact package for high-end
audio perfectionists.
SAT (Swedish Analog Technologies) XD1 Record Player
System with Minus K
CT-1 [integrated into the platform]
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“I have now tried the
CT-1 with the SAT top
platform the results are spectacular! I took a look at the mechanism inside of
the CT-1 and I have to say I am very impressed with the ingenious work you have
done. It provides most of its big brothers performance in an extremely compact
package that looks very slick. The arrangement and the finish of the mechanism
is an engineers dream and it should be proudly displayed. The equipment
supported by the CT-1 is well isolated from vibrations from 0.7 to 100 Hz, with
much deeper, clearer base and more information in the lower frequencies. The
CT-1 makes a huge difference in sound quality."
- Marc Gomez,
President / Swedish Analog Technologies SAT |
The
BM-1 Series platform
offers Minus K's signature 0.5 Hz performance, both vertical and horizontal,
and is available for larger and much heavier audio components.
The
BM-10 Series offers
smaller horzontal dementions at 12.2 W x 12.2 D x 4.6 H (310mm W x 310mm D x
117mm H).
More images, plus reviews and
testimonials...
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Microscopy Vibration
Isolation
Tables, Platforms, Benchtops & Custom Systems for
SEM, AFM, TEM, SPM, STM, STEM, NSOM-SNOM
Zeiss Axio
Obersver Z1 AFM
on a Minus K
BM-8
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Delong LVEM5
Desktop SEM
on a Minus K
BM-8
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Nion STEM on a
four-isolator
Minus K
FP-1
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NanoMagnetics
ezAFM
on a Minus K
50BM-4
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Many of
our clients' microscopes have nano and micro vibration isolation requirements
that are unparalleled in the metrology world (for
brain
research and at
NASA as examples). Minus K's negative
stiffness and "passive" verses "active" technology, enables microscopes to
achieve their highest level of performance. Our
isolators and
custom systems provide the performance of an
ideal bungee system and the convenience of a bench top system without any of
the problems associated with many of them, including air tables.
From
the ubiquitous bungee suspension systems, to large beds of sand on inner tubes,
there have been many attempts at achieving the ultimate isolation. Air tables
have been used with some success. However, our negative-stiffness isolators
provide superior isolation control and performance while offering better ease
of use and no facility requirements. We even have the flexibility of custom
tailoring resonant frequencies vertically, horizontally and in tilt to your
liking.
Small "active" systems (as opposed to our "passive" systems) are
sometimes used. However, those have several drawbacks:
- They are
expensive and fragile.
- They are
subject to the noise floor of every component in the entire feedback loop plus
AC line noise.
- They have a
limited dynamic range, typically only a few thousandths of an inch. If this is
exceeded (very easy to do) the isolator goes into positive feedback and you
have a very expensive noise generator underneath your SPM.
- They have to
be sitting on an infinitely rigid structure to work at their theoretical best.
Obviously, infinitely rigid structures are not easy to find in most labs. The
result is that the isolator is not always doing what you think it's doing.
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Our
isolators give you the best possible
performance in all axes, from high to low frequency isolation. They provide the
performance of an ideal bungee system and the convenience of a bench top system
without any of the problems associated with any of them, including air tables.
We enable our users to achieve the highest level of noise performance possible.
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Featured Product: BM-10 Bench Top Vibration Isolation
Platform
- Horizontal frequencies are
weight dependent.
- Horizontal frequency of
1.5 Hz is achieved at the upper limit of the payload range.
- At the lower limits of the
payload range the horizontal frequency is approximately 2.5 Hz.
- Vertical frequency is
tunable to 0.5 Hz throughout the payload range.
 The
BM-10 bench top platform offers 10-100 times better
performance than a full size air table in a package only 4.6 inches tall and 12
inches wide and deep. It also does this without any air or
electricity!
This vibration isolation platform is extremely easy to use
and offers extreme performance. It offers a 1.5Hz horizontal natural frequency
and our signature 0.5 Hz vertical natural frequency.
There are only two
adjustments. The
BM-10 is perfect for new generations of small
SPM's that require the highest performance in a very compact
system.
This is the thinnest, smallest footprint, most portable, and
most user-friendly isolator ever offered that is capable of delivering this
level of performance.They can also be made cleanroom and vacuum
capatible.
Pricing & Specifications |
Anybody who has ever
tried to hold a camera steady for a long exposure in low light knows exactly
what inevitably happens: the camera shakes, and the image blurs. The same can
happen with images from telescopes or any other long-range image. In fact, for
some very sensitive optics, even ordinary ground vibrations can be enough to
throw off the results.
Thats why, explains Serge Dubovitsky, instrument
system engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA often needs a tool
called a vibration isolator. These work in a few different ways but essentially
create a more stable platform where external vibrations wont interfere with
sensitive measurements..
Dubovitsky often works on optics, including
systems of mirrors for observational missions like telescopes. The mirrors
reflect light in different wavelengths, concentrating it into an image that can
be analyzed by other instruments. But before these optics are installed, they
have to be tested to ensure they perform as intended.
For optics that
operate in roughly visible wavelengths, says Dubovitsky, any motion on the
scale of one micron [that is, one-millionth of a meter], or in some cases even
much less than that, disturbs the image quality.
Optics testing is also often done in a vacuum, with
ramifications for vibration isolators. Vacuum is important in verifying optics,
because air interferes with light. If you are aiming at space applications, on
the ground you need vacuum, Dubovitsky explains. Even when working with optics
that will remain on the ground, a vacuum can be helpful for testing.
More...
Related: Spacecraft Vibration
Isolation On the Ground isolation...
Related: Vacuum Chamber Vibration
Isolation...
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Minus K vibration
isolation systems offer significant advantages for patch clamping,
electrophysiology measurements, fluorescent dye imaging, genomic sequencing and
other applications in biology and neuroscience. They eliminate the nuisance of
air and outperform air tables by a factor of 10 to 100, depending on the
vibration frequency. The bench top platforms are compact, saving valuable lab
space, and are easy to move around.
Biology/Neuroscience
Testimonials
Vibration can be caused by a
multitude of factors that are internal and external to the building in which
the system resides, including vibrations from heating and ventilation system,
fans, pumps, and elevators as well as vibrations from adjacent road traffic,
nearby construction, loud noise from aircraft, and even wind and other weather
conditions that can cause movement of the structure. These internal and
external influences cause vibrations as low as 2 hertz (Hz) that can create
strong disturbances in sensitive equipment.
Pacific
Biosciences Automated Genomic Sequencer Sequel System with fully intergrated
customized Minus K
BM-6 |
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Bruker Biospin
Ascend Aeon 950 NMR magnet with two fully intergrated customized Minus K
LC-4Us
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Related article regarding Neurology
& Brain Imaging...
Related article regarding Neuronal
Research into Animal Learning and Memory... |
Vibration News &
Articles
Previous
Features:
Optical-Laser Vibration Isolation +
video
Cryostat Vibration
Isolation
Nanoindentation & Micro Hardness
Testing
Vibration Isolation
Ultra-Low Frequency Vibration
Isolation Stabilizes Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
Neuronal Research into Animal
Learning, Memory Neuronal Research,
Vibration Isolation Problem &
Solution
Sunken Treasure Surrounding The
Coldest Cubic Meter In The Universe
Supported by Minus K Vibration
Isolators
Lithium Batteries: Superionic Solid
Electrolytes for Next-Generation
Spacecraft Vibration Isolation On the
Ground
Behavior of a Single Molecule-UCLA's
California NanoSystems Institute
Cleanroom Precision Vibration
Isolation
Negative-stiffness vibration
isolation is utilized to provide ultra-stability for multi-disciplined,
nano-level research at UCLA's California NanoSystems
Institute.
NASA/JWST Update: Custom James Webb
Space Telescope Vibration Isolators Working Well
Audiophile Interests: The Doehmann
Helix 1 Turntable
2018 Winners | Minus K Technology
Educational Giveaway to U.S. Colleges and Universities
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