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This may be a noob question and if it is, bear with me. :)

I've got a pair of M-Audio Studiophile AV-40s that I'm wanting to put on my desk. The product description on Musician's Friend says...

Unchecked, all speakers emit electromagnetic waves that can wreak havoc with your computer's video monitor or a nearby TV. The Studiophile AV 40 monitors are magnetically shielded so that all of your electronic equipment can coexist on your desktop without interference.

It says nothing about hard drives. Is the magnet inside the speaker a danger to my hard drive in close proximity — about 6 inches — or does the shielding protect it?

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You should be fine. It takes quite a powerful magnet to mess up a hard drive, and you won't generally find that in a set of speakers. Especially at 6" away, I wouldn't worry. Keep in mind that hard drives have incredibly powerful magnets in them.

See this article for more: http://www.pcworld.com/article/116572/busting_the_biggest_pc_myths.html

As always though, have backups.

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Fascinating! My dad must have learned that from having floppies - so I was still cautious sitting my hard drive enclosures on top of my speakers. But what about vibrations - shaking the drive off or messing with the heads...hmmm. – Sam Jul 21 '11 at 21:16
I'm not sure I would put a drive on top of a speaker, but even then you would probably be okay. It's just not something I would risk. Vibrations absolutely throw off drives. youtube.com/watch?v=tDacjrSCeq4 – Brad Jul 21 '11 at 21:18
Hard drives are also well shielded themselves, being surrounded by metal. – Dr Mayhem Jul 22 '11 at 15:10

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