ELP Laser Turntable - Try Before You Buy

I see that ELP has a new 'audition before you buy' plan in place and thought some of the members might be interested. I know that more bad has been said than good about this record player but most of the people that put it down hadn't even heard it for themselves (neither have I) and some very good things were said about it. You have to pay a security deposit for half the amount which will be refunded if you decide to return it. There are shipping limitations because of shipping costs but it doesn't hurt to ask them if your country is okay for the audition.

ELP Laser Turntable

 

Be the first on YOUR block(or anyone else's for that matter) to rent your own Laser Turntable. For the small sum of $4950 deposit you can try it for one month- YIKES!!! $9900 to buy this piece!


Chris

 

Yep, hope it's not a "piece" at that price.

 

I'm actually saving for one right now. They ran an end of year special and had the prices down to around half normal costs.

 

IIRC, Steve said earlier this year that he had listened to the ELP and that he liked it... he listened to it in Las Vegas.

 

Even at 5,000$ couldnt you do MUCH better with a 1,000$ TT and a 500$ cart?

 

Maybe, maybe not. Without hearing it myself I couldn't say. From what I've read, both laser disc turntables and standard high end turntables have their pros and cons.

 

I've got to get on this thread. I've been interested in these for a long time, but, yes, they are (to my budget) super expensive. If anyone does try one, I do want to hear about it. About two years ago, their site was full of testimonials from their first Japanese customers, and I was very intrigued by comments like one guy who said his old beat-up records he bought in junior high school (he's now in his fifties) sounded like new. If that were somehow the case...

 

It is somewhat true as the laser reads a different part of the groove than the needle would normally see. Some groove damage can be "fixed" when the laser reads deeper into the groove and gets beyond the damaged area.

 

The reason I'm so interested in this unit is I'm tired of hearing the different tonal balances of the carts. No two carts sound alike so which one is accurate? Some are bright, some are dark, others have a hollow middle, etc... The laser can read the grooves more accurately than scraping a precious stone over plastic.

 

As I understand it, the laser also reads dirt in the grooves, and unless a record is thoroughly utterly spotless, it will play back that dirt, too, so to speak, which is reported to sound like rifle shots!

 

It sees dust like a needle does. The problems come in with fuzz or a hair on the record. It completely blocks the laser from the groove. I always clean my records before I play them.

 

In fact, it's adjustable on the fly. It's like being able to change the size of the stylus by turning a knob. No, I don't own one, but I've seen a demo with a cracked 78 (scotch-taped on the flip side.)

 

I'd say if I had the money, this would be the only TT I'd ever need. IMHO, it has the convenience of a CD player, and apparently, great sonics, too!

 

The one thing that will probably prevent me from buying the ELP is that you have to clean the record EACH AND EVERY TIME you wanna play it. Otherwise, even the tiniest bits of dust will cause the laser to "lock" or at least produce unlistenable distortion.

I also must say that I ordered their demo CD-R a while back, and have been impressed with how the ELP seemed to handle massed voices and orchestral peaks. Can you say zero inner groove distortion? However, it all sounded kind of laid-back and potentially weak in the lower frequencies. My own needle drops with the Well Tempered are still somewhat quieter, too - and that was before I replaced my old Denon 103 cart with the much better 103R.

I wish they had used a more "high end" turntable to produce the comparison sets on the demo CD-R, but they didn't, and presumably on purpose. I don't remember exactly what they used, but it was something in the $800-1000 range (probably a Technics or so).


Arne

 

However, they do say: "Plays virgin parts of the groove
Damaged needles will destroy a record on the first play. The LT beams can be set to play the top part of the groove that was not touched by the needle. Also the small laser beam never reads the bottom of the groove where most grime and hardened "crud" may have collected for years."


(Another note...the laser turntable uses 5 lasers to read the record).

 

While this may be true in theory, I remember that the reviewer in STEREO (a german hi-fi magazine) reported that playing an uncleaned record (even though it had already been cleaned the day before) gave absolutely horrible results. And if that wasn't enough, playing an uncleaned brand new record was just as bad. Although the STEREO review is a couple of years old, it is doubtful if things have changed that much. Remember that they used to sell the ELP with a VPI record cleaning machine included (they obviously cannot keep up with this policy any longer now that the price of the unit has been lowered significantly).

Arne

 

It doesn't play colored vinyl.

As for the cleaning, I always run them through the VPI before every play. Besides, I'm doing needle drops (will that become laser drops?) so I'm only playing them once.

Another thing, I hate the resting period for the vinyl. This will take care of that also.

 

Cool Kevin.

I heard about them last year when Steve mentioned it. I had no idea they existed before that. The price tag is a bit hefty but I keep my cars longer than I should (last one was 12 years!) This will be just like buying half of a new car... and it'll last longer and bring me more enjoyment.

 

Jamie, you know what would RULE and maybe help you out with your TT? Setting up a "needle drop" service using the Laser Turntable... YEAH!

 

That's illegal.

 

regarding ELP read this: very important:

http://www.smartdev.com/LT/laserturntable.html

 

Thank you brother!

 

Hmm...certainly worth a read.