ELP Laser Turntable Review
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 8:03 am
ELP LT-100STD Laser Turntable with phono level output Review
Part 1 of 2
Occasionally I will browse the websites of high end audio stores in the area. I don’t do this too frequently (which probably saves me a lot of money), but once every few months I see what new equipment they may have listed. I especially like the listings for used items as often there are bargains to be had. Well, I was looking at one of these lists this past summer and I’m going down the list,... hmmm some Grado headphones, that would be nice to get so I can use them at work. And then almost at the end of the list I see it. “ELP Laser Turntable”. Suddenly, my interest was peaked.
I called the shop up and asked them about the headphones and turntable. Unfortunately, the headphones were sold earlier and the list was not updated. But, the player was still available. Supposedly new condition with the protective plastic still attached to the panel. I asked them if I could come down and take a listen and they were happy to oblige. I was there in two days with some LP’s.
I was really excited to hear what this player would sound like as I had read a few reviews over the years. I knew that it was rather controversial in the audiophile community. Lot’s of “if you want a laser turntable, just buy a CD player” comments. At the same time there was substantial praise as well. Maybe a love it or hate it situation? I didn’t know what to make of it before listening as many reviews said it made records less noisy and then some said it amplified any dirt or imperfections of a LP. Also, it is designed to only play black vinyl and that concerned me as I have a few colored vinyl sets that I really like.
I picked some records from my collection. This included a set of Pink Floyd The Wall 180gm that I had only played 2-3 times so it was practically new. I also grabbed my “slightly worn” Mark Knopfler Brothers in Arms disk that I have listened to no less than 40 times on my previous player. The disk is now over 30 years old and having listened to it so many times I know where all the pops and scratches are! I also included a colored vinyl set of the Star Trek II - The Wrath of Kahn soundtrack that my brother had bought me for Christmas. I wanted to see if it would play colored vinyl or was that out of the question. I brought a few more disks just for good measure.
It was the first time I had gone to this audio store and the gentlemen there were incredibly friendly and it was not a high pressure sales environment. They had the unit set up when I had arrived and they were just like “here, the room is yours, have fun and let us know if you have any questions or we can be of any help.” A big shoutout and thank you to http://www.avtherapy.net , these guys are top notch.
I started with my clean copy of The Wall and it sounded really nice. Frankly, I was more interested in the technical qualities of the player vs the actual sound. I know that my speakers and setup are going to sound different then the demo unit they had there but the sound of crackles and pops would still be present. I was trying to ascertain if these artifacts were augmented, diminished, or neutral. What was a complete surprise (and then also reinforced with home listening) is that clean records had these sounds much like they do on my traditional turntable and were not significantly different than a traditional player. When I put records in that had a lot of surface noise, I thought that the Laser Turntable actually diminishes these unwanted sounds a little bit. Furthermore, there is a setting on the turntable that allows you to adjust the location of the reading laser in the groove of the vinyl. Small increments can clear up the sound tremendously. Also, with vinyl that has been played extensively adjusting the laser out of the worn area can bring new life into music. If you adjust the reading area too much then you will start getting distortion. I would say that 95% of the records play fine with the default setting and then 5% probably benefit from this fine adjustment.
I was pretty much sold. I bought the unit on the spot and brought it home. It would be another 2 weeks until I got to listen to it in my system as the original shipping box was not in the store (they mailed it to me via UPS later that week for no additional charge). Furthermore, they have someone come in and do ultrasonic record cleaning on a regular basis and asked if I wanted the calibration disk cleaned this way. I said absolutely and received the record with the original box the following week. I also decided to make a new set of RCA interconnects and Power Cable for the unit. I had to order some parts for the cables so that extended my setup time another week. I did some listening to my old turntable (Rega Planar 3 with a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge) for old times sake and so that I could make a fresh comparison to the Laser Turntable when I would have it installed.
I finally had everything setup and I did a little tinkering with my phono preamp (a heavily modified Jolida JD9) to get the new input levels just right and to try and get the best sound possible. A few hours later I was ready for some serious listening.
Review Continued Below
Part 1 of 2
Occasionally I will browse the websites of high end audio stores in the area. I don’t do this too frequently (which probably saves me a lot of money), but once every few months I see what new equipment they may have listed. I especially like the listings for used items as often there are bargains to be had. Well, I was looking at one of these lists this past summer and I’m going down the list,... hmmm some Grado headphones, that would be nice to get so I can use them at work. And then almost at the end of the list I see it. “ELP Laser Turntable”. Suddenly, my interest was peaked.
I called the shop up and asked them about the headphones and turntable. Unfortunately, the headphones were sold earlier and the list was not updated. But, the player was still available. Supposedly new condition with the protective plastic still attached to the panel. I asked them if I could come down and take a listen and they were happy to oblige. I was there in two days with some LP’s.
I was really excited to hear what this player would sound like as I had read a few reviews over the years. I knew that it was rather controversial in the audiophile community. Lot’s of “if you want a laser turntable, just buy a CD player” comments. At the same time there was substantial praise as well. Maybe a love it or hate it situation? I didn’t know what to make of it before listening as many reviews said it made records less noisy and then some said it amplified any dirt or imperfections of a LP. Also, it is designed to only play black vinyl and that concerned me as I have a few colored vinyl sets that I really like.
I picked some records from my collection. This included a set of Pink Floyd The Wall 180gm that I had only played 2-3 times so it was practically new. I also grabbed my “slightly worn” Mark Knopfler Brothers in Arms disk that I have listened to no less than 40 times on my previous player. The disk is now over 30 years old and having listened to it so many times I know where all the pops and scratches are! I also included a colored vinyl set of the Star Trek II - The Wrath of Kahn soundtrack that my brother had bought me for Christmas. I wanted to see if it would play colored vinyl or was that out of the question. I brought a few more disks just for good measure.
It was the first time I had gone to this audio store and the gentlemen there were incredibly friendly and it was not a high pressure sales environment. They had the unit set up when I had arrived and they were just like “here, the room is yours, have fun and let us know if you have any questions or we can be of any help.” A big shoutout and thank you to http://www.avtherapy.net , these guys are top notch.
I started with my clean copy of The Wall and it sounded really nice. Frankly, I was more interested in the technical qualities of the player vs the actual sound. I know that my speakers and setup are going to sound different then the demo unit they had there but the sound of crackles and pops would still be present. I was trying to ascertain if these artifacts were augmented, diminished, or neutral. What was a complete surprise (and then also reinforced with home listening) is that clean records had these sounds much like they do on my traditional turntable and were not significantly different than a traditional player. When I put records in that had a lot of surface noise, I thought that the Laser Turntable actually diminishes these unwanted sounds a little bit. Furthermore, there is a setting on the turntable that allows you to adjust the location of the reading laser in the groove of the vinyl. Small increments can clear up the sound tremendously. Also, with vinyl that has been played extensively adjusting the laser out of the worn area can bring new life into music. If you adjust the reading area too much then you will start getting distortion. I would say that 95% of the records play fine with the default setting and then 5% probably benefit from this fine adjustment.
I was pretty much sold. I bought the unit on the spot and brought it home. It would be another 2 weeks until I got to listen to it in my system as the original shipping box was not in the store (they mailed it to me via UPS later that week for no additional charge). Furthermore, they have someone come in and do ultrasonic record cleaning on a regular basis and asked if I wanted the calibration disk cleaned this way. I said absolutely and received the record with the original box the following week. I also decided to make a new set of RCA interconnects and Power Cable for the unit. I had to order some parts for the cables so that extended my setup time another week. I did some listening to my old turntable (Rega Planar 3 with a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge) for old times sake and so that I could make a fresh comparison to the Laser Turntable when I would have it installed.
I finally had everything setup and I did a little tinkering with my phono preamp (a heavily modified Jolida JD9) to get the new input levels just right and to try and get the best sound possible. A few hours later I was ready for some serious listening.
Review Continued Below