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Yes, there really is a turntable that plays LPs (and even 78s) optically, that performs this function to the highest audiophile standards and that is now readily available. This raises audiophiles’ interest since at least the mid 1980’s when an American named Michael Stoddard formed a company called Finial Technologies to develop it. Unhappily, it was perfected just as the CD came out and in the middle of a recession. Like many other American companies, they went belly up and sold the rights and machinery to a Japanese firm, and through several deals and company name changes, it has ended up with ELP.

So exactly what is the ELP unit? The Finial people came up with the idea of using low power lasers to read the grooves of the record rather than a conventional needle. While a simple concept, it was, according to articles from the 80’s, a fairly difficult feat for the electronics and mechanisms of the day. They finally came up with the present system of actually using five lasers, two to station the head directly over the center of the groove and keep it there and a third beam to read depth of the groove to keep the two reading lasers focused on the groove walls. While the three sighting lasers use A/D conversion to run their electronics and servo motors, the reading laser’s signal is kept analog for the transition from light to electrical signal output, thus no digital conversion.

Anyone, with hundreds if not thousands of LPs, 45s or treasured 78s or anyone convinced that analog recordings musically outperform digital ones should begin saving up for the ELP Laser Turntable. The LT-1LRC (RC for remote control) plays back at 33 and 45 for €10,000, the LT-1XRC will also do 78’s for €13,000, and the LT-2XRC adds the ability to play any size record for €14,000. Shipping costs from Japan are additional. If you do not have a phono stage, they will supply a solid-state unit for €190. If you are into non-RIAA 78’s they also have a filter-equalizer for €370.

For now the units must be shipped back to Japan for repair and a one-year full warranty in included. After the warranty period you pay for shipping charges of approximately $500 and about $300 for the actual repair. There is also a service contract for $500 to 700 per year if you so desire. ELP also recommend an overhaul of the unit every 5 to 7 years, which should cost about $1,000 with shipping. While this seems like an outrageous price to pay for a turntable to play recordings, stored in what most people would consider to be an obsolete form, the recently announced Domus turntable and arm designed by Ben Ghibaldani goes for a cool €12,750 and that price doesn’t include the cartridge, yearly needle replacement, a cleaning machine, and your records will still wear down, so obviously the analog beat goes on.

So what are the theoretical advantages of the ELP unit over the standard needle-cartridge-arm interface?

Since there is no mechanical contact with the groove, and the lasers are low power, there should be no damage to your irreplaceable vinyl. Whether needle damage is a true problem is certainly a question, as I have played back a few of my test records several hundred times with no apparent loss to my ears, but if you’re worried about your Mercs or Shaded Dogs the ELP unit should allow you to sleep nights.

By adjusting the focus laser, it can scan various depths of the groove so you can find the depth with the least vinyl damage for less noise or distortion. This is very important with older recording that may have damage from previous needle tracking errors or scratches. (Plus it gives tweakers one of the few adjustments on the machine to play with.) The unit acts like a linear tracking tonearm so there is no tangency problem or inner groove distortion or need for anti-skating, much like my Walker Proscenium. (Certainly no negatives here.) Resonances of the record-needle-stylus-cartridge-arm interfaces are eliminated. (On the other hand it may be those resonances that give analog vinyl playback its warmth over digital)

As the wavelength of the reading laser is much smaller than the contact surface of a stylus with the groove, it should be able to pick up micro-information that the stylus can’t. They claim flat frequency response from 10Hz to 40kHz (but, it will also pick up noise from micro-pits in the vinyl that a needle may skip over). Output levels of the RIAA signal are at moving magnet voltages (1.5 mv) rather than the much lower voltages of audiophile moving coil cartridges, so there should be less signal loss from the pickup to the pre-amplifier and less noise introduced by the pre-amplification process. ELP also claims less (or no) acoustic feedback problems compared to needle playback.

There is also no turntable bearing or motor noise that is transmitted through a stylus while maximum stereo separation is achieved, as each side of the groove is being read by a separate laser. Thus, whatever the cutting head pressed into the record, usually about 26dB of separation, will be heard. There are only two settings to control. One is for groove playback depth and the other is for playback speed, which can be adjusted in 0.1 rpm. A wireless remote control allows for play, pause, stop, fast-forward and back, plus track skip.

The ELP turntable is easy to setup. The turntable should be placed on a flat surface after unlocking the platter’s mechanism by turning the unit on its left side, and rotating a large screw on the bottom counterclockwise about 20 turns. Then one places the unit’s turntable section within its slot on the carriage. You then place an included setup record on the platter and press play. The unit reads the grooveless record and sets the retrieval head for best playback. This only has to be done once unless you move the unit or are a tweaker. Then simply place your first record on the platter, press play, and the head will then run across the disc to learn where and how many tracks there are. It also sets the focus of the laser to the optimum depth. This ELP unit will begin playing. This entire calculation happens in approximately 30 seconds. That’s it. No more playing with stylus force, alignment, tangency, overhang and VTA.
Except for the increased clicks, pops, and occasional other noxious noises, The ELP comes as close to a neutral master tape sound.
The ELP picks up every bit of musical information in the groove. The most difficult information for a pickup system to obtain is the micro-information including the air around the instruments, the ambience of the hall, and the high frequency overtones of the instruments that are all captured on the smallest of the groove modulations. This is the ELP’s major strength as the laser has a significantly smaller contact area than anything except those needles with a super fine line. The laser also reacts at the speed of light to the modulation changes, as it has no inertia. Another benefit is that it has the advantage of no force on the groove yielding no chance of damage.

If I didn’t have my present setup and had $11,000 to spend, I would buy this unit in an instant. For those individuals getting into vinyl who can come up with the dollars, especially those with primarily new records who like folk, rock, etc. and were not brought up into the intricacies (and headaches) of vinyl playback, I cannot think of a better system. For those that are more into djing (like me) it’s a non sense. The ELP is also the perfect playback system for colleges, libraries, etc. that are archiving our treasured 20th century musical heritage and audiophiles (like me) who want to digitize and archive their precious vinyl.

Manufacturer:
ELP Corporation
3-10-1 Minami Urawa,
Urawa-shi, Saitama 336, Japan;
phone 048/883-8502, fax 0-48/883-8503;
e-mail: elpchiba@interlink.or.jp, website @ www.elpj.com.