ELP vinyl record player employs lasers instead of a needle!
Posted on 20/05/06 03:08 by Dan Bell                             
ELP vinyl record player employs lasers instead of a needle!

OK guys, maybe you heard of this thing, but it's news to me. We have many visitors here that for one reason or another, still have some vinyl records around. Yours truly included, I just can't bring myself to getting rid of them. Even though you can get a good turntable, each time you play the record, it must have some negative impact on it. Imagine if you could play them and never touch the surface. 

Japanese company ELP, have devised a player that uses lasers to play your old records, which is pretty darn cool. The laser "stylus" reads the record grooves with light, therefore no groove contact and no wear, plus the unit features pure analog playback. Speaking of playback, audiophiles rejoice, as the ELP will play back your vinyl treasures with master tape quality. The only drawback is, it will set you back about $15,000 dollars US. But, to a CD Freak, this is nothing! 

How the LT Works
 
The Principle of Contact-Free Tracking and Audio Reproduction

Two Tracking Laser beams are directed to the left and to the right shoulders of the groove of the record. Only the part of the beams that reach the groove are reflected to two PSD (Position Sensitive Detector) optical semiconductors. The part of the beams that fall on the land area of the record are deflected and not picked up by the PSD devices. The signals are sent to a microprocessor via analog to digital converters, then to servos to maintain the reader head position directly above the groove.


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.

The distance from the surface of the record to the traveling pickup head is kept constant by using a separate laser beam. This is very similar to every CD player that uses a "focus" laser to move the laser that reads digital bits to the proper spacing between the reader and the disc. Since phono records vary in thickness, this feature assures precision alignment from the pickup head to the record. The servos are fast and responsive allowing the LT to accommodate even warped records. Also the new audiophile 180 gram (thick) records are reproduced beautifully.


A special calibration LP record is furnished with each Laser Turntable and is used to set up the optics and microprocessor. The record has about 20 minutes of grooves with no sound. It is necessary to run this special disk for about 30 seconds.

The calibration disk should be used when you operate the machine for the first time. Every few months you may elect to run the calibration disk to maintain tracking accuracy, particularly if you notice any mis-tracking during playback. When the machine is moved to another location, it is wise to run the calibration disk again.

The Laser Turntable is, no doubt, the most sophisticated and state-of-the-art "Record player" ever designed.

Well, I wont argue with that last line, if I didn't lose count, the ELP uses five lasers to read these discs. This thing is expensive for sure, but it is such a very interesting and sophisticated machine. We should congratulate the engineers involved in such a feat and also Mr. Sanju Chiba, President of ELP Corporation, as they passed a milestone in 2005 by selling their 1000th unit!  I can imagine that museums or collectors or any place that has one-of-a-kind recordings, would love one of these, as they certainly allow the listening without fear of damage. For those that are interested in such technology, you can find much more information on the ELP website.

Source: ELP

Reactions
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By adam917, Sat 20 May 2006 03:19
I heard of this in 2003 or so. Been out since 1989 in Japan, I believe. It costs a whole lot, but I wonder if the sound makes up for the insanely higher 14000+-USD price you will pay for it.
By Crabbyappleton, Sat 20 May 2006 03:29
CrabbyappletonGood question, I just edited that in to the article. According to ELP, it reproduces sound at "Master tape quality" whatever that is. At my age, I'm certainly no audiophile, so it would be a waste on me, but I was just amazed at the way this thing functions! Now I am even more amazed as the technology apparently has been around for so long. Smilie
[edited by Crabbyappleton on 20.05.2006 03:32]
By adam917, Sat 20 May 2006 03:59
Yes. This is a must for any archivalist or someone who wants to preserve their records. I would reccomend making a copy of every new record you get with this before DJing it...
By FidelC, Sat 20 May 2006 04:03
FidelCLOL! It doesnt actually Burn vinyl.. cry I ll buy one for around a 1000
By Ivanhoe, Sat 20 May 2006 04:19
IvanhoeReasons for me to sell my Linn LP12 on Ebay to justify such a purchase.biggrinbiggrin
By nmpaulcp, Sat 20 May 2006 04:44
nmpaulcpI looked into buying one ov these several years ago. I like the idea that it doesnt actually touch the vinyl. But after talking to several people I decided against it. Most people I talked to felt it did not reproduce the music with the same realism as with a good turntable and cartridge combination.
By greg42, Sat 20 May 2006 09:04
LMAO - Reproduces sound with master quality ? That is taking audiophiles for idiots ! The same people who claimed MP3 128kbit is CD quality........ come on people - The sound quality of this laser version is better than the cheap crappy turntables that's for sure......BUT.......nothing beats the genuine sound quality of a QUALITY turntable with quality cartridge. I have a Marantz and a Bang&Elufsen with $600 cartridges and it puts the $15,000 unit to shame with its 5 lasers. So before you rush and buy this baby make sure you come back down to earth Big Grin
By koba, Sat 20 May 2006 10:34
kobaSInce I live in Japan and me and my dad have many Vinyls left I once went to their Showroom and heard some samples. The quality was good but my Technics SL-1200MK5 turntable sounds just as good and if you have a high end quality turntable with a good cartridge it will sound even better than this Laser player. The only thing is you wont damage your Vinyls with this player but sound quality wise it is not worth it.
By Mordorr, Sat 20 May 2006 11:00
MordorrThe first time i saw a similar model was on 92`s......or more less one year, on a German Magain of audio.. Like someone said, the sound is not good as a real Cartdrige... But even so, nothing beats a super turntable with a super cartdrige... Sometimes, i put a Vinyl, i a crap turntable, with some classical music, and i feel a diferent, warm sound coming from it.... It`s a very diferent sound, from CD one..... Try to hear your favorite album on Vinily, forget the noise on back....isn`it more warm? Mordorr
By koba, Sat 20 May 2006 13:43
kobaIf you ask me about the quality I would say that Vinyl >Open Reel>CD>MD and MP3 players>Cassete. The sound is just warmer etc with Vinyl.
By Mordorr, Sat 20 May 2006 14:02
MordorrSmall Question: MD = MP3 Bitrate 220kb`s or superior?
By koba, Sat 20 May 2006 16:23
kobaGood Question since the MDs and MP3s have different bitrates. MD has SP-STEREO ATRAC 292kbps LP2 ATRAC3 132kbps LP4 ATRAC3 66kbps and newer ones also have ATRAC3plus (352kbps、256kbps、192kbps、64kbps、48kbps) ATRAC3 (132kbps、105kbps、66kbps) PCM（1.4Mbps） and MP3 (32kbps～320kbps) Playback functions. ATRAC, ATRAC3 and Atrac3Plus are lossy formats like MP3. Thats the reason why I put MD and MP3 as equal. For more info about MD:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc
By koba, Sat 20 May 2006 16:28
kobaJust some more addition. I know that some MP3 players also can handle lossless codecs and PCM and other format than MP3 like ogg Flace and APE etc. So actually it is very difficult to compare CD, Md or MP3 Players. My comparison is based on Cd against normal MD (lossy) and MP3 Players (lossy).
By shaolin007, Sat 20 May 2006 17:18
shaolin007Archive your vinyl on cd. It will sound better than the store bought CD version anyways.
By stvastva, Sat 20 May 2006 23:33
A few teats back I sent for the FREE cassette demonstration of this player. Clearly, the sound was NOT as good as the physical model of a daimond & magnets moving around to play the record - meaning a nice cartige & turntable. Also, I read about the idea that thru experience, owners of this unit found that the record had to be in near perfect condition because the pits or scratches on a record were interpreted by the laser to analog converters withy a horrible sound. The actual tone of the record played by laser vs. a cartrige on the demo cassette was flat & uneventful. It is a fascinating concept. Personally, I like my stanton cartriges with the stereohedron stylus on a stanton truntable. I also like the 1mil saphire stylus playing a mono record where I can stack 16 L.P.'s at a time on my Monophonic 4 speaker [including Jensen 15"] through array of tubes. That is the Motorola "Masterpiece" phonograph. The VERY Best addition one can give thier vinyl collection is a VPI record vaccuum. That even makes the old shellac 78 rpm's sound better on a windup! records come to life when they are vaccuumed before play. The idea of records is FUN. It is a form of media that will take decades to dissappear, that is if it ever does.
By kg_evilboy, Sun 21 May 2006 13:43
kg_evilboyLet's call this VinylFreaks!

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