Any news in 2021 for Laser Turntables?

I work in the automotive industry. There was a distributor made on the 1992 Corvette (That GM used in various forms until 1997) that instead of using a magnetic sensor, would view things through an optical sensor. The issue was it was on the front of the engine, and often exposed to the elements. If it got a little dirty, or a little wet, it didn't work anymore. We have a kit that changes your engine from that optical distributor to a magnetic sensor and then works on newer electronics.

That being said, it seems like an optical sensor in a place where it's going to pick up dirt (like at the end of a tonearm) would need to be completely sealed and remain that way for ever in order for it to be functional. I read through that site and I didn't see if it's a sealed system or not, but if it isn't, the automotive industry has all but abandoned any optical pickups in favor of magnetic (hall effect) sensors. Kinda like how turntable cartridges are magnetic and there are a few kookey options out there for optical pickups...I'm not convinced it's going to be better.

 

I'm not quite sure if that's an absolute requirement... I mean, CD/DVDs aren't played in a fully sealed environment either.

 

No. Not enough LPs to justify even a $1K TT.

 

Oh man! I hope the charge $500 each, too! My credit card hand is twitching!

 

Many years ago I heard an ELP laser turntable, later the same afternoon I heard a VdH Grasshopper and thoughts of laser pickups were quickly forgotten.

 

Ed Meitner from EMM Labs just jumped into the optical cartridge space, making a new phono stage/equalizer specifically from the range of DS cartridges. While Ed Meitner is a genius when it comes to digital (his DACs are as sublime as they are expensive), I just read recently that he is truly an analog guy at heart. He is apparently floored T the results of what he was able to do with the DS cartridge and his phono equalizer compared with his reference MC cartridge. I’d like to hear that combo.

 

DS Audio DS 002 Optical Phono Cartridge

 

That's called a CD.

 

I feel development on the laser turntable has stalled on account of lack of support. This is the same point where colorization would have been, if only the public came to conclusions about it, watching aghast as Turner applied it to far too many prestigious properties, before it was really ready. But there were those who saw in it, a way towards both film restoration, and production enhancement. And now the craft and technique is within the hands of craftsmen and technicians, rather than over-eager carnival barkers.

The enhancements and the innovations will come to the device, despite the naysayers who see an incomplete product, and can't see the future within. And they will fight the very concept of it, because it makes them feel secure in their convictions. What it really needs, is those who never stop asking the question, "Actually...why not...?".

 

Patents only last 20 years, so any patents that existed on the laser turntable have expired long ago, and you could take apart any of the existing ones, duplicate it and sell your own.

I suspect it is simply a matter of limited markets. Combined with the fact that the people who like vinyl, like all the fiddliness that accompanies it.

The so-called "optical cartridges" appear to be mechanical cartridges with an optical mechanism to convert the mechanical movement of the stylus to audio.

I think both approaches are technological cul-de-sacs, and that the future of vinyl playback will be using a micro camera to image the groove and convert that directly to audio.

This will be done without contacting the surface of the disc at all, causing no more additional wear, and allowing playback of even cracked disks that have been glued back together. The technology could also image the entire groove wall of each recording, allowing unplayed portions of the groove wall to be used as the audio source.

Here's the thread where I posted about it:

Alternative ways of extracting music from records (laser, photographic)

 

No I didn’t mean CD, because there’s more to it than just a difference in material between records and CDs.
You should look up what analogue and digital signals are and how a CD/record is read.
There are also serveral discussions on this forum about it, but most are a bit like belt drive vs. direct drive or cables - a lot of bickering, but not so much good info.
I think the YouTube channels are a good starting point, channels like Techmoan and Technology Connections probably have some good info on it.

 

Thanks for linking to that video.

I love how the laser avoids the skipping but preserves the clicks and pops!

Surely any successful laser system will combine the ability to read "damaged" albums with effective noise reduction / suppression. And, if implemented sufficiently well, should produce...CD-like quality sound.

And perhaps then the biggest benefit will be the elimination of groove wear, making vinyl truly equivalent to CD. (I'm not judging "superiority" - or not - just saying that the listening experience should be nearly identical.)

At a sub-$500 price point, and with the performance as I have alluded to, I could be enticed to buy one in order to play the hundreds of vinyl albums that I still own, but which I likely will never play again with a "regular" turntable.

Jeff

ps. Here's a question that I don't know the answer to offhand: what is the "theoretical" maximum signal to noise ratio capable of being contained in vinyl record grooves, and how does that compare to CD (and other digital forms)?

 

From gleaning through Google, the maximum theoretical SnR for vinyl records is 70db but in the real-world, it'll certainly be lower than that.

Here's the link of the said information I found: Digital Vinyl ? !

 

60dB SNR is more realistic, for high quality records.
Comparison of analog and digital recording

 

The laser turntable was a bad idea then, and it's a bad idea now.

 

Agreed. The old carts where just better. Common sense really. Still wisdom comes with age eh MrRom9200. Whoops! I mean 92. Sorry.

 

The inability of a cartridge with mass to accurately trace a groove has probably already been "built in" to the mastering of an lp. If you had a device that could trace that groove accurately, it would probably have to be remastered.

 

Yep. That is why I stick to digital.

 

Ruling out a whole category of formats just because of one spec... that's a bit out of proportion IMO.
Plenty digital formats are sourced from analogue tape (~70dB SNR) anyways or are brickwalled by the mixing/mastering engineer.
In the end, the implementation of a format is what matters IME - not the format itself.

 

For me, a Laser Turntable is a specialty archival transfer option. To play records which can't be played conventionally. It's superb for that. Folks, most of these are probably bought for that purpose by institutions dealing with archival audio.

 

On spec!? Hub?! How about surface noise, warped records, groove distortion, mistracking, etc.

 

A. That’s not the “Jupiter” Symphony.

and

2) The laser turntable renders Lennon’s voice nearly unrecognizable.

 

I thought the Laser turntable played back a record perfectly. Apparently not. If they get the price to below $500 I might buy one.

 

Poor signal to noise ratio is just one of vinyl's failing. It has many others.