EIP Laser Turntable

[Cohibaman]

Has anyone given one of these a listen?

http://www.decodedmagazine.com/the-e...touching-them/

[Masterlu]

Cool machine, thanks for sharing.

[Higgens]

Interesting technology. I assume the cart manufacturers aren't going to like this.

[Capcom]

Its an interesting technology...but I understand that (in the past) one of the criticisms of this player is that if the record your playing isn't
absolutely spotless and clean...the playback is even more noisy than with a regular turntable. Perhaps the newest model has addressed this potential problem.

[Cohibaman]

Originally Posted by Capcom

Its an interesting technology...but I understand that (in the past) one of the criticisms of this player is that if the record your playing isn't absolutely spotless and clean...the playback is even more noisy than with a regular turntable. Perhaps the newest model has addressed this potential problem.

I think Ivan can help you with a really nice record cleaner.

[o0OBillO0o]

I've heard the same story about noise. In a nutshell the needle in a regular Turntable "pushes" the stuff outta the way.

If there was a kickstarter campaign or something to re-intro this product in US and Europe I would definitely pledge. Of course with a price point in the $2000 range. I wonder how many units it would take to get it there.

[BillK]

As far as I know they are still available should you really want one.

[John49]

Originally Posted by BillK

As far as I know they are still available should you really want one.

Don't tell David / Golucid...!

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by John49

Don't tell David / Golucid...!

I was a bit thrown by the Title. I thought this was a new Laster TT. The actual web acronym is ELPJ. Their slogan is, ""Uncompressed, Non-Digitized, Pure Analog Audio & No Physical Contact". Their Laser TTs price range $14, 000 - $18,500.

Yeah, I've known about this machine for a number of years. I know, why haven't I purchased it. I did seriously considered it!

I made an inquiry and was promptly assaulted with aggressive sales tactics [phone calls and emails] and I get turned off really fast with pressure... to me that's a red flag. They did send me out a CD and propaganda. The CD content demonstrated comparisons of regular turntable + cartridge versus their Laser tracking. To be honest, I wasn't impressed AT THAT TIME with the sound that they recorded. But this was a time when they first arrived on the market. I'm sure things have changed in the positive since their version one edition.

I just saw their website again moments ago and they have physically made some changes from their earlier models. So, I would imagine technological improvements as well.

*From their website*

Stylus vs. Laser Advantage

How a Stylus Works
Stylus reproduces Analog Music by making contact with a vinyl record. As you may know, sound quality is different if we change either the cartridge or the stylus. Because of contact, it is impossible for any kind of stylus to reproduce analog music without any distortion.

Laser Advantage
Because there is no contact, the laser reproduces without any distortion.
The laser picks up all of the audio signals in the groove, lower signal through higher as it is.
This results in laser sound quality that is quite similar to the original sound in the recording's master tape. Most of people never get to hear the master tapes, but with the Laser Turntable, you get comparable quality, as acknowledged by Professional Sound Recording Engineers in Japan.

No Contact and No Wear
The same audio information has been engraved on the groove wall from the top through the bottom. A stylus reads audio information close to the bottom. The laser reads audio information close to the top. Namely the laser reads audio information which never been read by a stylus, without any contact and without any digitization or audio compression.


They now offer online the ability to listen to Listen to Audio Samples by Needle & Laser

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by Capcom

Its an interesting technology...but I understand that (in the past) one of the criticisms of this player is that if the record your playing isn't
absolutely spotless and clean...the playback is even more noisy than with a regular turntable. Perhaps the newest model has addressed this potential problem.

Oh yeah, you're right David. That was something stated in their material. Vinyl cleanliness is paramount. I do believe I've got that one covered!