For the VINYL guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (1 Viewer)

[terence]

Great peice to hook up to your new seperates or receiver. You can break out those old LP's!


"What would you do if I tell you that there’s a new listening device that plugs into your home stereo and uses lasers to read information from a music disc? You’d probably say: “Who cares? CDs have been around for 20 years.” But what if I told you that this laser device played 12-inch vinyl disks?"



"The ELP Corporation’s LT (Laser Turntable) is incredible. It actually does for vinyl what CD players do for aluminum. Without using a needle, 5 lasers read the information from your old records (45’s, 78’s and 33’s) and reproduce the music. You also get all the bells and whistles normally associated with CDs — such as number of cuts per side, time remaining, and cut programming and skipping."

"Here’s the rub. Each one of these devices is custom built in Japan and shipped directly to the buyer. Current “introductory” prices start at $10,500 and go up to $14,300! Only one new device is making the rounds between reviewers, so I haven’t gotten my hands on one to play with. Analog music guru Michael Fremer of Stereophile Magazine was first on the list; check out his write-up in the next issue."


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

 

[Scott_N]

Yeah I read Fremer's column in Stereophile and it sounds very interesting but way out of my price range. You have to have a VPI cleaning machine or one like it for the player to read the records very well.

 

[Brian Fitterman]

I dont get it. If it is using a laser to read the record, is that just not another form of Analog to Digital conversion needed? Lasers need micro-processors to analyze the signal...Vinyl is analog, that is the whole point why vinyl guys love vinyl...You have a nice analog signal right there, why convert it to digital just to convert it back to analog again? At least that is the vinyl guys argument.

I must be missing something here.

 

[Heath_E]

According to the manufacturer, the whole process is analog. The following quote is from the article posted above by terence.

"Two additional laser beams are directed at the left groove wall and the right groove wall just below the tracking beams. Modulation on the individual grooves is reflected to scanner mirrors and onto left and right photo optical sensors. The variations of the modulated light cause the audio sensors to develop an electrical representation of the mechanical modulation of the grooves. The entire sound reproduction chain is analog."

Interesting.

 

[Rachael B]

These things have been around for a long time. They used to cost about $40,000 twenty years ago, or so...? If they ever get cheaper I may buy one. They'll play records that styluses cannot or cannot do well I've been told by a user over at AVS. Pops supposedly don't occur, no skipping, ect. I've quit disposing of or making into crafts, records, that would intrest me if I could play them, presumably on a Laser Turntable.

If I had one, I'd have a field day in the cheap section of the local used vinyl mart and oh those dusty treasures on the shelves.

Damn, even my ride wouldn't even trade even for the cheapest model...

 

[Brian Fitterman]

The variations of the modulated light cause the audio sensors to develop an electrical representation of the mechanical modulation of the grooves.

I saw this too, but I still am having a hard time understanding what measures the variations in light and how can that part be analog? Converting light to an electrical impulse just seems like a Digital process to me. It just sounds fishy to me, but I am not an EE or a vinyl expert so I am probably wrong.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Brian,

Just because it's optical doesn't mean it has to be digital. Remember Laserdisc? That was optical laser-read format that was 100% analog. Digital audio was added later, but there are still 100% analog video and audio signals present.