Recently I got a hold on 3 piece set of speakers (2+sub) and I decided I need to know how close it can be to my LCD before deciding where to plant it, if it is an issue. I under stand the concept behind giant magnets and crts, been there done that, but I don't know much about LCD technology. Also, though I don't plan to place it near my computer, the sub woofer (BostonDigital BA7500G) claims to have "MagnaGuard(R) magnetic shielding", and I was wondering about it's effectiveness. My brother was working with his computer, and half mindedly set his 300GB HDD on top of his woofer... It's of no need to say that he was instantly ~250GB lighter on data.

Because I'm using a corner desk, it seems my only viable option would be to put the woofer on a corner shelf up high, but even that seems like a bad option. Any advice/experience is gladly welcomed.

Well the magnetic effect does not "carry" long distances. Also, if the subwoofer, or any loudspeaker, is built well it should not let almost any magnetic field at all outside it's box (though some will get). Getting a harddisk scrambled after putting it on top of a woofer sounds odd to me, like the woofer was built in a wrong way (losing the magnetic field outside the magnet itself does not improve the performance), but anyway I think you'll be "safe" if you just keep the woofer a bit off the machine; not necessarily at the other corner of the whole room.

Of course the farther, the better. In most of the loudspeakers I've encountered this far the magnet itself is shaped like a toroid and should keep the whole magnetic field inside it, except for the "air gap", but that ought to be so small that the field should not "get away" from it. Of course if you know the shape of the magnet and the current going through you could approximate how strong the magnetic field is at some distance of it, but I don't really think that's necessary.

Doesn't the specifications of the woofer tell you some information about the magnetic field it produces? I mean if you manage to break your disc, you should contact the seller/manufacturer of the woofer since they should be built so they don't interfere with any nearby devices..

The only informational labelling I get is a little silver sticker. I'm pretty sure my hardware isn't supported by the manufacturer any more, the latest date I can find on the thing is '97, and it's defnitely not on their web site.

One long shot I have is an ancient A/V transmitter I can try, but besides that I might be in trouble.

Thanks for the reply, really helped with my decision.

if you are in doubt always go for the safe side.