Laser Turnatable from ELP

Laser Turntable

I know they're 27 kilobucks but am curious how they sounded. Anyone ever heard one?

 

I've heard one and I thought it sounded quite nice - considered picking up a used one a couple of months back but I waited too long and it had gone (reasons for the hesitation was I think they look ugly as sin plus I'd used up by turntable purchase quota )

All the best - Andrew

 

The link is fixed. Sorry about that.

 

They'll send you a free demo CD, if you go to the bottom link.

I listened to one, but I don't know what brand it was. I know it didn't sound like vinyl. The whole involved sound was gone, and at times sounded spooky.

 

I orderd the demo CD. Thanks.

 

I just got the CD but will not be able to listen to it until the weekend. There is another thread on this on the hardware forum.

 

Just got the demo CD. If you listen very carefully, there's places in certain music that the laser doesn't pick up at all. They play Satchmo doing St. James Infirmary, and there's a second trumpet (?) that's 1/2 missing on some phrases. Most upbeat music really sounds like there's NR in the very minute passages and the air is totally cold.

For a demonstration CD touting a $20,000 price tag, I'm not that impressed. It has its flaws....

 

It turns out it is more like $10,000 which is still a lot of money

 

Sckott, your post brought back memories of that disc! I had it a long time ago. You are right - it sounds spooky (maybe the fact that you are listening to vinyl that simply does not sound like it) and detached.

I never knew whether the laser digitized the info or whether the system was 100% analogue. But it really had a very cold, "ugly" sound to it. Spooky.

 

It's uncanny. A surface going that fast with 20 lasers on it won't pick up the very tiny itty bitty nuances of sound. The inhale of breath, the air in a saxophone. IT'S NOT THERE.

and you want $10,000 for this?!? Where's Judge Judy when you need her?

Gimmie a simple belt motor, damped platter and a v15vXMR any day.

 

I recently got the cd as well. The documentation that comes with it states that there is some damage on the lp that track was sourced from. They wanted to show how the table dealt with damaged discs.

Overall the sound isn't too bad - hard to judge from a cd. The comparison to the conventional turntable was certainly impressive, but who knows what that table was. By the way, the documentation also states that the signal was analog up until the A/D converter for the cd.