"Rob Tweed" wrote in message
I wonder if any record labels have considered using a
laser turntable (eg http://www.elpj.com/about/index.html)
in situations where the master tapes have deteriorated?
Has anyone out there in this group ever tried one of
these machines?
At one time ELP had a web site with downloadable transcriptions of LPs that
were made using their equipment. The ones I've heard did not sound
particularly bad.
I've also personally listened to their equipment at a high end audio show.
The well-known problem with laser pickups is that they do not deform the
groove in a way that is complementary with the way the groove was deformed
when the LP was cut. There is also no "plowing action" that pushes fine
particulates out of the way. Therefore ,nonlinear distortion can be higher
and groove noise can be oppressive. At one point ELP turntables were
packaged with some kind of digital noise reduction hardware or software.
The usual reference equipment for vinyl and lacquer playback for reasons of
QC during production is a fairly standard high quality turntable with a
basically conventional design.