May 19 2006

Look Mom, No Hands: The ELP Laser Turntable

Posted by Geezer as Gadgets, Old School, Sound

Laser Turntable

The ELP Laser Turntable lets you listen to your old school vinyl records without worrying a bit about mechanical damage. You see, old school vinyl players actually had to make physical contact with with the grooves in your vinyl discs, slowly wearing them down over time. With old discs, this causes concern for collectors and old timers alike. But the ELP Laser Turntable reads the grooves with lasers, fully preserving the surface integrity of the vinyl disc.

In fact, the ELP Laser Turntable can actually help regain some of the discs fidelity if it has been damaged or scratched, letting people listen to their long lost artifacts that they thought they had lost forever.

I’ve gotta confess that relative to vinyl, I’m a youngster. I seriously started flirting with vinyl records around the time Pearl Jam started proselytizing and selling vinyl discs of their stuff and playing it on their free radio shows. Then I went into my mom and dad’s huge vinyl collection and started getting schooled on Peter, Paul and Mary, The Beatles, CCR, Simon and Garfunkle and Led Zeppelin.

Pretty soon, I started falling in love with the character of vinyl records. The scratchy imperfections, the pops and spits. My major concern with the ELP Laser Turntable is that since it uses digital technology, I doubt it preserves the actual character of vinyl listening.

What would be truly cool is a digital laser device that sells for something like $500 rather than $15,000 and which could introduce a whole new generation to the distinct pleasure of old school vinyl listening. But for now, the ELP device will have to suffice for those who want to digitize, preserve and frequently listen to their old vinyl records.

Share and Enjoy:

Comment (1)

One Response

Itty Bitty Tube Amp: The ZVEX iMPAMP | Gadzooki
02|Aug|2006

[...] As a burgeoning old-sound connoisseur I’ve got to get my hands on one of these guys. For $525 it’s a steep price to pay, but if you live for sound like I do, then it might just be worth emptying out the spare change. [...]

Search Gadzooki

Our Features

Software and Security

Silverlight – Is This Going To Be Web 3.0?

It’s not that often when a technology comes along that leaves me amazed. You know, the sort of thing when you look at it you think “wow, this is good. Not just good, but perhaps is going to make a difference to websites in a very real way in the near future”. [...]

Read on
More Software Features

Hardware and Gadgetry

The CrunchPad is dead. Now what?

It’s dead, Jim.

And now, news of the CrunchPad’s demise has reached the blogosphere (twice-over, I must say), we’re here to examine the post-mortem. It was an ambitious project: an internet tablet meant to sell cheap. Everybody was waiting for it with bated breath, but it never came.

Read on
More Hardware and Gadget Features

Gaming

Sony reveals PlayStation Move

I have to admit, my mind is officially blown. Sony finally revealed its new PlayStation 3 motion controller at GDC 2010 in San Francisco, and boy is it looking good.

Dubbed the Playstation Move, the advanced motion controls on this baby makes it supposedly more accurate than that other motion controller from that little-known console from [...]

Read on
More Gaming Features

Automotive

Pagani Zonda R

The Pagani Zonda R is a truly awe inspiring car. With a price tag of about £1.3 million, this was always going to be a special motor. What made it even more impressive is just how tuned it is, the level of performance and technical specification is breathtaking. Here’s the official line [...]

Read on
More Automotive Features

GADZOOKI TEAM