subject of expensive audio equipment, we figured we should mention a companion piece of equipment for the Hovland Stratos: ELP Corp.’s Laser Turntable. In case you’re not familiar, the Laser Turntable uses, um, a laser to play vinyl instead of a needle. The laser not only doesn’t physically damage records from repeated playing, but picks up audio information that has never been touched or damaged by a needle reproducing audio without digitization and maintaining true analog sound. It’ll even play severely warped or damaged platters. Or at least that’s what I’ve been told.
The only obstacle to vinyl-listening bliss? The entry-level model will set you back $9,900. While this is a big savings over the $15,000 price tag it had last year, it’s still out of reach for the average consumer. Or even the above average consumer.
ELP Laser Turntable
Nice – using new tech to play old tech – although after the signal goes through all the analogue to digital conversions and sound processing gear, the sound would probably be the same as playing from the CD anyway … you’d probably be better off investing in a quality amp / CD player combo.
Please check out their site. (ELP) It clearly states that their player does not use A/D conversion. The output is straight analog from LP to output.
You seem to have missed the point of this article entirely. How many vinyl records are available on CD now days? Can you name a Group, Song, Artist, or even Soundtrack that isn’t from the past 30-40 years that is available on CD? The answer I am guessing would be no, and that is because alot of these classics are no longer produced and have original tapes. Yeah Tapes the old kind that are called reel to reel tapes. These classic vinyl records (LP’s) are very rare and go for quite a bit of cash. A LP of the Beatle’s White Album will set a person back nearly 1-2G’s for a middle of the line copy. That is only for the vinyl reccord not the cover. So go ahead and buy your fancy amp / CD combo unit. I will be listening to my classics long after you have made your 16th+ copy of your favorite CD which you must do every 10 to 15 years or it will be degraded. Nice article Josh.
I want one! I have thousands of albums and some are so rare and so perfect that I am afraid to let a needle touch them. This machine would set my records free!!!!!!!
I could play my mint records all the time without fear of wear or them loosing their value! When you have records worth hundreds of dollars each maybe thousands you don’t let a needle touch them.
I use a linear tracking turntable now just because of that reason. I still have hundreds of albums I won’t play out of fear of wear. This is a great product.
I wish it didn’t cost this much. I will still keep my gems in storage until one day I can get one of these. Then the party will start!