The ELP laser turtable from Japan

Anyone here shell out 16 grand for one of these? If so, any thoughts?

 

Link?

 

9 page thread on the laser turntable, which is actually one thread among many others.

And the answer to the OP's question is no, and why would anyone?

 

Aren't these the same ones that never really took off in the 80's and 90's? One speck of dust will ruin the sound. Almost impossible to get perfect playback even in a "cleanroom"

 

Yes.

I think some of the dust issues have been solved but it remains yesterday's technology masquerading as tomorrow's great idea that doesn't work well today.

 

They can play broken 78s, if reassembled, but you'd have to be a really obsessive collector to get it only for that.

John K.

 

This short video will tell you all you need to know. Basically, the noise level is unbearable.

 

You have to tape the record together or tape the pieces to the turntable, because at 78 RPM the pieces fly apart. Trust me.

 

Wow, sounds just like a Cd!!

 

I have had one for about 15 years (and have never had a service problem with it -- even though they want you to ship it back to Japan every couple of years for adjustment (at your expense -- about $500 a pop), I've never shipped mine to Japan and its been running perfectly for 15 years. Mine plays 33 & 45 RPM records. I don't use it except for old records that have trashed (mostly inner) grooves such as old Sinatra LP's, Beatles LP's from the '60's etc.

The great thing about this unit is that you can adjust the laser angle to read the "untrashed portion" of the trashed grooves of the record and come out with a result that sounds like a mint record. You've got to clean the records before playing them on the Laser Turntable and then immediately put them back into their sleeves because dust makes clicks and pops. Once I've cleaned the record on my Nitty Gritty, I never have to clean them again to play them on the ELP.

All-in-all, because ELP refuses to share their technology and knowledge about these Laser Turntables, they have no authorized repair facilities anywhere but Japan. Unless you're a large archiving library (ie the Smithsonian) who must have the ability to adjust for trashed recordings, these are a pretty bad value for home audio. If ELP would get full-service repair and sales facilities in Europe and North America, they'd have a hope of selling these. But... they stubbornly refuse to setup a dealer network and, by this stubborness, have condemned this technology to a pretty much oblivion....

 

Feinstein: Agreed, but I believe that their design is outdated anyway. I have no doubt, that if an electronics co like Panasonic, Pioneer, or Sony *Wanted* to, their engineers could design a better machine, using less lasers, that would be EASILY sell under $1,000 when mass produced, but they have no interest because the market simply is not there in 2016. We are in the era of "music is a file on your private network" now, and thats all there is.

What I'd LIKE to see is a unit that you plug your TT into, that reads the scratches, ticks and pops and removes them before sending the analog signal onto your amp. No moving parts, no motors, no lasers. Something like what Phase Linear used to make, but one that actually works without removing signal as well.

 

I don't know about the "outdated design" thing, but I agree with you that the technology went nowhere because ELP was not a major design or manufacturing company. The origin of the turntable was that Finial, a group of American designers sold the Laser Turntable to BSR, once a major manufacturer of consumer turntables. When BSR went bust, ELP was the result.

 

Like when AMF bought Harley Davidson? Sounds like one too.

But, all kidding aside, it's funny how back at the time someone came up with a laser record player, we were all looking for a different way to play music rather than on a vinyl medium. Then, lo and behold, digital came about and we all (or mostly all) raved about digital sound and the convenience of compact disc.

Guess you know the rest of my story?

 

I Would sooner waste £16K on a top of the line LP12.

 

No... from what I understand AMF almost ran Harley-Davidson into the ground.

The Finial->BSR->ELP was a different story. BSR was a major manufacturer of cheaper consumer grade turntables. When I say that they were major, I mean MAJOR, MAJOR. They were HUGE. BSR probably bought the technology from Finial because they thought that they could build a sub-$500 consumer grade laser turntable.

ELP actually produces a good product which works as it should (musical archive museums such as the Smithsonian and Library Of Congress use them to archive priceless recordings since the ELP can read different parts of the record groove that are undamaged).

The only reason that ELP has NOT been successful in the North American/European CONSUMER market was because of the fact that the guy who runs ELP refuses to let a North American or European distributor open up service branches where the lasers can be realigned etc. and the turntables can be distributed to dealers etc. Apparently, he's so protective of their technology, he doesn't want to reveal any "corporate secrets" about the laser technology for fear that someone will steal it and make a competitive cost-reduced clone.

As I said, ELP recommends returning the unit to Japan every couple of years for "adjustment". Unfortunately, insured shipping amounts to about $500 plus ELP's service costs. That's a helluva lot of money to spend to ship the product back to Japan, plus the huge delay in getting the unit back from Japan (not to mention customs issues etc). Luckily, I've never had to return mine though in the 15 years that I've owned it and it still does a fine job restoring old, trashed records to "mint" condition (my old inner-groove-trashed grey-label Capitol Sinatra LP's and EP's can't be played on my McIntosh MT-5 turntable (it's torture listening to the groove damage), but they sound "like brand new" when played on the ELP)....

 

The Library Of Congress does NOT use the ELP, or any other kind of laser turntable.

 

Thanks for correcting me on that. Don't they have some technology that photographs the record grooves and produces sound from that?

 

Yes, IRENE.

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