Laser turntable: Difference between revisions
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The laser turntable was first conceived by [[Robert S. Reis]], a graduate student at [[Stanford University]] (his Master's thesis was "An Optical Turntable"). Reis founded [[Finial Technology]] in 1983 with $7 million in venture capital, and along with engineers [[Robert Goddard]] and [[Robert Stark]] began development on a consumer-grade laser turntable. A non-functioning mock-up was shown at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show ([[Consumer_Electronics_Show|CES]]), generating much interest and a fair amount of mystery, since the patents had not yet been granted and the details had to be kept secret. The first working model, the Finial LT-1, was completed two years later and presented at the 1986 CES. The prototype, unfortunately, was not of usable audio quality: it was so accurate that it played every particle of dirt and dust on the record, rather than pushing them aside as a conventional stylus would. Even assiduously-cleaned records sounded dirty! The projected $2500 street price (raised to $3786 in 1988) limited the market to serious well-heeled audiophiles. Finally, by this time digital [[CD|Compact Discs]] began flooding the market at prices comparable to LPs (with CD players in the $300 range), which rapidly killed the technologically-inferior LP. |
The laser turntable was first conceived by [[Robert S. Reis]], a graduate student at [[Stanford University]] (his Master's thesis was "An Optical Turntable"). Reis founded [[Finial Technology]] in 1983 with $7 million in venture capital, and along with engineers [[Robert Goddard]] and [[Robert Stark]] began development on a consumer-grade laser turntable. A non-functioning mock-up was shown at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show ([[Consumer_Electronics_Show|CES]]), generating much interest and a fair amount of mystery, since the patents had not yet been granted and the details had to be kept secret. The first working model, the Finial LT-1, was completed two years later and presented at the 1986 CES. The prototype, unfortunately, was not of usable audio quality: it was so accurate that it played every particle of dirt and dust on the record, rather than pushing them aside as a conventional stylus would. Even assiduously-cleaned records sounded dirty! The projected $2500 street price (raised to $3786 in 1988) limited the market to serious well-heeled audiophiles. Finally, by this time digital [[CD|Compact Discs]] began flooding the market at prices comparable to LPs (with CD players in the $300 range), which rapidly killed the technologically-inferior LP. |
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Although there were millions of LP collectors all over the world who would have benefited from a wearless, super-high-fidelity playback device, the Finial never came to market because of endless production delays, component unavailability (in the days before cheap lasers) and marketing blunders. With tens of millions of dollars invested in development costs, Finial was faced with a [[Hobson's choice]]: an absurdly high selling price, or attempt to go into mass production (thus lowering the selling price) at the very moment the market for the product was rapidly disappearing. In late 1989 Finial Technology finally succumbed to bad timing and declared bankruptcy, selling the patents to Japanese turntable maker [[BSR]], which became [[CTI Japan]] which in turn created [[ELPJ|ELP Japan]] for development of the "super-audiophile" turntable. It finally reached the market in 1997 as the '''ELP LT-1XA Laser Turntable''' -- for a list price of US$20,500 |
Although there were millions of LP collectors all over the world who would have benefited from a wearless, super-high-fidelity playback device, the Finial never came to market because of endless production delays, component unavailability (in the days before cheap lasers) and marketing blunders. With tens of millions of dollars invested in development costs, Finial was faced with a [[Hobson's choice]]: an absurdly high selling price, or attempt to go into mass production (thus lowering the selling price) at the very moment the market for the product was rapidly disappearing. In late 1989 Finial Technology finally succumbed to bad timing and declared bankruptcy, selling the patents to Japanese turntable maker [[BSR]], which became [[CTI Japan]] which in turn created [[ELPJ|ELP Japan]] for development of the "super-audiophile" turntable. It finally reached the market in 1997 as the '''ELP LT-1XA Laser Turntable''' -- for a list price of US$20,500! |
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==Technical details== |
==Technical details== |
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Revision as of 05:23, 28 September 2007
A laser turntable is a phonograph that plays gramophone records using a laser beam as the pickup, rather than a stylus in mechanical contact with the disc. This has the advantage of mechanically never touching the disc in playback.
Present laser turntables play most varieties of phonograph record (vinyl or 78 rpm) at high fidelity. Being quite expensive — over US$10,000, as much as the most expensive conventional turntables — they are favoured by record libraries and radio stations (for archival use and transcription to digital media), and audiophiles with extensive personal collections (and funds).
History
The laser turntable was first conceived by Robert S. Reis, a graduate student at Stanford University (his Master's thesis was "An Optical Turntable"). Reis founded Finial Technology in 1983 with $7 million in venture capital, and along with engineers Robert Goddard and Robert Stark began development on a consumer-grade laser turntable. A non-functioning mock-up was shown at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), generating much interest and a fair amount of mystery, since the patents had not yet been granted and the details had to be kept secret. The first working model, the Finial LT-1, was completed two years later and presented at the 1986 CES. The prototype, unfortunately, was not of usable audio quality: it was so accurate that it played every particle of dirt and dust on the record, rather than pushing them aside as a conventional stylus would. Even assiduously-cleaned records sounded dirty! The projected $2500 street price (raised to $3786 in 1988) limited the market to serious well-heeled audiophiles. Finally, by this time digital Compact Discs began flooding the market at prices comparable to LPs (with CD players in the $300 range), which rapidly killed the technologically-inferior LP.
Although there were millions of LP collectors all over the world who would have benefited from a wearless, super-high-fidelity playback device, the Finial never came to market because of endless production delays, component unavailability (in the days before cheap lasers) and marketing blunders. With tens of millions of dollars invested in development costs, Finial was faced with a Hobson's choice: an absurdly high selling price, or attempt to go into mass production (thus lowering the selling price) at the very moment the market for the product was rapidly disappearing. In late 1989 Finial Technology finally succumbed to bad timing and declared bankruptcy, selling the patents to Japanese turntable maker BSR, which became CTI Japan which in turn created ELP Japan for development of the "super-audiophile" turntable. It finally reached the market in 1997 as the ELP LT-1XA Laser Turntable -- for a list price of US$20,500!
Technical details
The laser pickup uses five beams — two on each channel to track the sides of the groove, two on each channel to pick up the sound (just below the tracking beams), and a fifth to track the surface of the record and keep the pickup at a constant height, which allows for record thickness and any warping. The pickup focuses on the groove above the level a physical stylus will have travelled and below the typical depth of surface scratches, giving the possibility of unworn reproduction even from worn records. The pickup output is analogue rather than digital. The main limitation of the pickup is that the record must be black and opaque — coloured, transparent or translucent records may not work.
Use of a laser pickup avoids many problems with physical styli: physical wear, horizontal tracking angle error, leveling adjustment issues, inner groove distortion, channel-balance error, stereo crosstalk, anti-skating compensation, acoustic feedback, locked-groove problems, problems tracking warped, cracked, or eccentric records and cartridge hum pickup. The laser can read at a different depth in the groove (user-adjustable), avoiding groove damage from previous wear or damaged styli. They are, however, still extremely sensitive to record cleanliness. The laser diode also typically lasts 10,000 hours of playback, rather than the 500 hours recommended for a diamond stylus or 50 hours for a sapphire one.
Versions of the ELPJ laser turntable will play back analogue disc records at any speed from 30 to 90 RPM (+/- 0.1 RPM) and of any size from 7 to 12 inches (178 mm to 305 mm). There are three models of the hand-built ELP laser turntable, selling for $9,990, $12,990 or $13,990 (with noise reduction and vacuum attachments extra). In ten years approximately 1,200 units have been sold, primarily in Japan.
Competitors
The IRENE system, developed by physicist Carl Haber and installed in the Library of Congress late in 2006, uses a camera rotating around the record which takes detailed photographs of the grooves. Software then uses the digital images to reconstruct the sound. IRENE often produces a large amount of "hiss" with the recording, but is very capable of removing "pops and clicks" produced by scratches on the record surface.
External links
- ELPJ - About the laser turntable
- Former distributor warns about limited availability
- Record scanning - Ofer Springer
- Record scanning - Sound Reproduction R & D Home Page
- Record scanning - VisualAudio: An optical technique to extract sound from old records