Re: [ARSCLIST] [MLA-L] Requesting feedback on laser turntables (a)

[George Brock-Nannestad <pattac@xxxxxxxx>]

From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad

Steven, are you relaying responses back to the MLA?

From: Jeffrey Kane

> I own the LT-2XRC. I see no advantage whatsoever to the ELP but quite a few
> disadvantages given the situation as outlined. The turntable is hypersensitive
> to contamination. Any dirt/dust/etc will cause a torrent of audible pops and
> clicks where such distortion will be subaudible and/or not as severe with a
> standard turntable.

----- the clicks are clean and brief such as you would never get with a
mechanical reading of the surface. And for an archive the great advantage is
that you can play and identify a dirty record without the need to clean it,
and there is no wear to a stylus.

Thus, a mandatory investment would be a Keith Monks or
> Loricraft record cleaner. Even they won't always get things clean enough for
> the ELP and you'll still have annoying transients.

----- when bought full-price the ELP comes with a record cleaner. Certainly
before the change in US 'distributors' this was a VPI model that did an
excellent but terribly noisy job.

>
> The subjective sound quality of the ELP is excellent. Yet, the conversion to a
> streaming digital medium will likely negate any advantage. Note that the ELP
> is fully analog and will still require A/D conversion.

----- as would a mechanical pickup. How can an advantage in signal quality be
negated by A/D conversion?

................................
>
> I have not had reason to contact ELP for support. As I understand it, any
> repairs require shipping the unit back to Japan. Should ELP fail, the
> turntable will be a very expensive orphan.

----- this I consider a great problem, because the ELP is a precision
instrument that I would not want to be thrown about. I know from experience
that the big carriers (DHL, USP) respect neither "Fragile", nor "this side
up".

>
> In my case, the ELP gets very little use. I find it invaluable when working
> with cracked LPs and 78s as it still plays through defects that would snap a
> standard stylus straight off. It also has some utility in compensating for
> groove wear as it can 'track' different points on the groove wall. It will not
> work with colored vinyl/shellac (although it DOES work with dark translucent
> vinyl such as Quiex II and JVC Supervinyl). In short, it's a limited purpose
> tool that does a few things quite well. It's a nice complement to a turntable,
> not a replacement for one.

----- it could well be a replacement if you do not intend to use vertically
modulated records of the Edison or Pathé type.

The person in the US whom I would expect to be presently the most
knowledgeable about the ELP is Eric Jacobs.

Kind regards,


George