ELP Laser Turntable

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
What do you think of them ??

ELP Laser Turntable

Joe: If you're on Facebook, friend Jeremy Kipnis. Out of all the people I know, he's had the most experience with the unit.
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
7,097
412
1,210
Northern NY
Thanks Myles

are you trying to avoid carts and tonearms ? ;) I feel these things are a compromise, especially for the money. (That said, I never heard one) Spend the same on a nice turntable and I bet the sound is superior. Ask Bobby what he thinks of them Joe....
 

jeromelang

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2011
433
66
935
I have one. And I love it.
Mine is the hi-res version.

In April last year, I took a trip to Japan - solely to listen to the ELP Laser Turntable - before deciding to purchase it.

Upon ordering, it took 4 months to deliver.





As with a lot of equipment, after living with them for a number of months, and once you get the hang of it, you start to discover little peculities about them, and learnt how to rein them in for better sound.

One example - a newly cleaned (washed and vacuumed) LP will progressively sound better after a few more spins on the ELP.
And the noise blanker function needs to be deactivated to let the full spectrum and dynamics shine through.
The sonic difference is very very drastic.

This function is set to ON, by default (and intentionally omitted from the manual)

But with a filter that's set to kick in so early in the middle of the audible freq spectrum, it is bound to affect the music reproduction somewhat.

After incessant writing to Chiba San, I managed to squeeze the info out from him.

Right now, the frictionless 'table is singing sweetly through the pass lab ono phonostage and i am getting getting more and more captivated every passing day by its lack of perceivable needle-groove interaction.

how do one begin to describe it?

imagine a brand new LP.

play it once on a conventional needle clad turntable, and immediately play it again.
the 2nd time the LP is played again, it sounds "different".

the tightness in the throat, that squeekiness at the intense crescendos, that sharper-than-real life imaging delineation - all those too familiar artitfacts of needle playback - are now happily made conspicious by their absence is what this ELP thing sounds like.

Perhaps the most important thing is no damage to your precious LPs.
I have a couple of LPs that are valued above 1k in today's market.
One of them is starting to exhibit sonic characteristics of wear towards the end.
But on the ELP, it tracks beautifully with no audible artifacts.
 
Last edited:

Joe D

New Member
Dec 20, 2012
41
1
0
Halfmoon NY
Thanks Christian
Hey Bobby is coming up for a visit in a couple weeks ...i would love to get together and maybe hear your system ...would be big fun
Joe
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
7,097
412
1,210
Northern NY
Thanks Christian
Hey Bobby is coming up for a visit in a couple weeks ...i would love to get together and maybe hear your system ...would be big fun
Joe

Sounds like a plan. Let me know when he is coming up.

Nice explanation of the ELP Jerome. Strange they wouldn't tell you how to dis engage the noise reduction circuit in the manual. I wonder if that is the same technology FM Acoustics uses in their phono Pre with the declick/decrackle circuits. A nice idea, yet a compromise in dynamics.
 

Jake Purches

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2015
35
20
140
I have one. And I love it.
Mine is the hi-res version.

In April last year, I took a trip to Japan - solely to listen to the ELP Laser Turntable - before deciding to purchase it.

Upon ordering, it took 4 months to deliver.





As with a lot of equipment, after living with them for a number of months, and once you get the hang of it, you start to discover little peculities about them, and learnt how to rein them in for better sound.

One example - a newly cleaned (washed and vacuumed) LP will progressively sound better after a few more spins on the ELP.
And the noise blanker function needs to be deactivated to let the full spectrum and dynamics shine through.
The sonic difference is very very drastic.

This function is set to ON, by default (and intentionally omitted from the manual)

But with a filter that's set to kick in so early in the middle of the audible freq spectrum, it is bound to affect the music reproduction somewhat.

After incessant writing to Chiba San, I managed to squeeze the info out from him.

Right now, the frictionless 'table is singing sweetly through the pass lab ono phonostage and i am getting getting more and more captivated every passing day by its lack of perceivable needle-groove interaction.

how do one begin to describe it?

imagine a brand new LP.

play it once on a conventional needle clad turntable, and immediately play it again.
the 2nd time the LP is played again, it sounds "different".

the tightness in the throat, that squeekiness at the intense crescendos, that sharper-than-real life imaging delineation - all those too familiar artitfacts of needle playback - are now happily made conspicious by their absence is what this ELP thing sounds like.

Perhaps the most important thing is no damage to your precious LPs.
I have a couple of LPs that are valued above 1k in today's market.
One of them is starting to exhibit sonic characteristics of wear towards the end.
But on the ELP, it tracks beautifully with no audible artifacts.
Hi Jerome. I also have a ELP turntable but I have never been able to find this filter option. Can you tell me how to locate it or deactivate it please? Thanks _ Jake Purches, UK.
 

jeromelang

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2011
433
66
935
I am stupid.

I dunno how to access to private messages sent to me on this forum. There was a mail to me last Saturday, I think. I had a quick glance this afternoon at the office and now that I'm home and ready to answer it I couldn't figure for the health of me to to recall back that mail. So, I'll post the answer here:

[ How to turn off the noise blanker on the ELP Laser Turntable ]

While the record is playing, press and hold down the [ PLAY ] button until this appears on the display panel:

nb : On




Press the [ CLEAR ] button located at the farthest right.

The display will show

nb : OF



The noise blanker is now turned off.


I received the new upgraded player just only last week.

The instructions how to turn off the noise blanker is now available on the new printed owner's manual.

The new upgraded player sounds better than the previous unit, even brand new out of the box!
 
  • Like
Reactions: mtemur

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing