Testimonials
Music lovers around the globe have enjoyed the pure sound of the Laser Turntable. These include Stevie Wonder and others in the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Public institutions that now own an LT include the Library of Congress USA), the National Library of Canada, the Yale Music Library, The University of Mississippi (USA), Chinese University of Hong Kong, Visva-Bharati University (India), the Berlin Broadcasting Station (BS), Mexico BS, Spain BS, Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Archive of Compositors ERESBIL (Spain).
Dear Mr. Chiba,
I received the LT in good condition. It ran the set-up disc with no problem. Then I played music — wow! Your new LT sounds wonderful. It is not just a "sound version up." It is a sound version up up up! This is a big improvement in sound AND noise. I always enjoyed my LT, but my new LT is something special. Why doesn't everyone have an LT?
Thank you!
— T. Berger, USA
Dear Mr. Chiba,
I received my LT today and this evening I have installed it in my audio system.
The LT arrived very well packed and works very well. I've tried it on 12" LP, 10" 78 and 7" 45rpm singles. I initially had trouble calibrating with the calibration record (with the 'CBAD' message), but after trying a few times and cleaning the record on my VPI cleaning machine the calibration worked.
It's been a long time, but so far I'm very happy with the LT.
— P. Clark, United Kingdom
Dear Mr. Chiba,
I have performed some trials with the LT-100.
The unit is, for sure, sensitive to dust, but after one or two cleanings the sounds is good and the noise disappears (depending on the disc's condition).
The channel separation is excellent; I have never heard such a level of separation on a stylus player! The bandwidth is also better. I heard many details I had never heard before on my records! The voices are clearer and easier to understand. I have also made a comparison with a CD (The Beatles' White Album). The upper frequencies seem truncated on the CD; it is impressive. I have discovered that my vinyl records have a more natural sound than CDs (normal CD's; I have not yet compared with a SACD or Audio CD).
Thank you for designing and manufacturing such a unit!
Many friends and colleagues are very interested in listening to it. (Maybe it will increase the number of French owners?)
Again, thank you for this unit. I am very happy with my purchase.
— M. Roger, France
On the 4th of July we had a knock on the door. When I opened it there was a very large box from ELP, and my girlfriend and I were very happy to see it. When we got it inside and started opening the box, we found another smaller box inside with instructions on how to lift it out.
Inside the smaller box was a big black thing, which we gently lifted out. My girlfriend, who is blind, had an even bigger smile on her face. I followed the instructions on setting it up. I found a record we could try in the Laser Turntable, which was very damaged and scratched. I pressed the open/close button to close the LT door, and after about 30 seconds it started to play. By this time, my girlfriend was so happy that she was jumping and shouting to hear the sounds coming from the ELP player!
There is a bit of background noise that we cannot get rid of because the records we have are very dirty, but we are happy with the results. My girlfriend asked me to play one of her good records, which I had cleaned. I was impressed as we own both the CD and vinyl versions of this album and could hear sounds on the record that are missing from the CD. Overall, I wish we had paid for the upgraded sound quality, but we could not afford it.
Top marks — if we had the money to spare, we would have purchased the top end model. Thank you for the ELP LT-100STD!
— I. Arbery, T. Jackson, and Guide Dog Ivy, United Kingdom
For many years my biggest dream was to play records without any contact and keeping them in brand new mint condition even after playing each LP two or three hundred times.
Nearly two years ago this dream became reality when I bought my first Standard LT from ELP! This wonderful machine changed my habits of listening to music completely! I do have a huge collection of some thousand vinyl records but also as much CDs which I've listened to daily. But from the day on I've got my Laser Turntable, I can't stop listening to my vinyl ONLY!
There are some HiFi enthusiasts who can't imagine that a turntable using a laser could sound as good as a traditional stylus, for me it even sounds different, if not BETTER! Provided each LP has been cleaned by a vacuum record cleaner before the listening experience of course!
My whole CD collection keeps dead in the shelves because they sound clean but static and "cold" compared to the wonderful warm and pure analog LT sound from which my ears get spoiled every day.
The LT brings so much fun and joy to me—5 LPs per Day—that I bought a second High End LT Model 7 months ago. This one is built in such robust high quality housing and also sounds simply marvelous!
Now I began selling a huge part of my CD collection only because I'm totally infected with the VINYL and Laser Turntable Virus!
Dear Mr. Chiba & ELP – THANK YOU so much for building this one of a kind, innovative turntable!
— R. Wackerbauer, Germany
The sound of your Laser Turntable seems to have improved from week to week. You called it "aging" in your brochure.
The details are fantastic.
— Prof. R. Burk, Germany
The LT is very musical and expressive and lives the music like no other analog system I have ever heard.
I am also very happy with the professional advice and second-to-none customer service I have received from Mr. Chiba and the ELP Corporation.
— R. Neale, Australia
Part I:
I received the LT yesterday. I made a quick check yesterday evening and I can tell you that everything is all right. The packaging was great! Also, the description was very detailed. Great supplies (cable, calibration record, etc.).
The LT looks extraordinary and putting the LT into operation was very easy. My first impression is great. The LT sounds fantastic.
This weekend I will test the LT extensively.
Thank you very much and best regards from Germany.
Part II:
I have listened very intensively over the last weekend. I can say that the LT works very fine and it is a pleasure for me to play my vinyl with it.
When I compare with my old needle turntable, there are more crackling and pops with the LT when using the same record. After washing the records with my Double Matrix machine, the LT is getting a bit better.
All in all, the LT reproduces a great sound and the machine looks just great. At least I will listen to much more vinyl in the future.
I wish you very good business for the future with LT.
— O. Lottmann, Germany
My new ELP LT-2XNP is really a beautiful object in its "metallic champagne colored dress". It is quicker to start, more precise and more powerful, and I decreased my listening level preamp volume. It seems to me less sensitive to "dust scratches"?
I keep on listening to music and thank you every day for your masterpiece!
— M. Bellaiche
Part I:
I got my LT today. My first reaction is WOW! I played records at least 60 years old and they sounded excellent. I am really excited about trying other old records including some 45 RPM and 78 RPMs from the late '40s and early '50s. Many of the later popular records have been transcribed on CD's. So far I am very pleased. Everything I have tried never sounded this good!
I use the LT to transfer old 78s, 45s and 33s to CD for people who will never find CD replacements. Some are college or high school recordings made 60 to 70 years ago. They are always amazed at the quality of the CD.
I recently listened to a record from the 70's of a Dixie land band. It was amazing to be able to place all of the players across the stage in proper position. I feel that this is due to the absolute separation of the right and left channels. A single needle can not possibly come close. Your technology has produced a product of extremely high quality and for a true audiophile a masterpiece that reproduces music as no other turntable with a plus of no needle wear!
I am an organist and it is interesting, while listening to a good recording, to separate the sounds of individual ranks and divisions. I can almost close my eyes and imagine myself at the console!
Part II:
The state of the art in laser turntables is amazing! I am absolutely blown away every time I try my old collection and those of friends.
Listening to a collection of Cambodian 45s that had been collected by a young man of Cambodian heritage, was such a revelation to him. He had been playing the records on a standard turntable and was unable to hear some of the music due to the background noise. Since the laser plays the records above where the usual needle wears, the results were astounding.
My own collection of LPs has expanded. I am no longer afraid to pick up second hand records. I know that they will sound great and I can hear classical releases done 50 to 60 years ago that are no longer available and will not be released on CDs. I especially enjoy organ music as I am an organist. Some of the past greats will never be re-released due to the small demand.
Any true audiophile deserves to treat himself or herself to a laser turntable hearing. They may be amazed at what they can hear and at the nuances that they have been missing.
— G. Burke, USA
I bought the Standard Model about three years ago. This time, I replaced it with the new High-End model.
I received it today and set it up. Everything sounds great. I am very impressed by the new sturdy build quality and excellent sound.
— D. Tiso, United Kingdom
The National Library's Music Division welcomed Sanju Chiba, President and Izumi Tsuchiya, General Manager Engineering from ELP Corporation of Tokyo, Japan to install their company's newly developed Laser Turntable.
The ELP Laser Turntable plays grooved, analog 33.3, 45 or 78 RPM discs using laser beams instead of the conventional tone arm/stylus technology. The walls of each groove are illuminated by five laser beams: two for the left and right channel audio pick-ups, two for the horizontal tracking (which assures that the audio pick-up is directly above the center of the groove), and one for the vertical tracking (which assures that the lasers are at the proper height to focus on the groove, compensating for warps or discs of varying thickness). Sensors capture the reflections from the walls and the system translates the optical imprint into and electrical signal.
The turntable plays discs of different diameters and the standard RPM can be varied to compensate for discs recorded at non-standard speeds. The aim of the lasers can be adjusted to compensate for groove damage and variable groove widths.
At start-up, the turntable scans the disc taking note of blank spaces between tracks. With this information, the turntable can be programmed to play certain tracks or can be instructed to jump directly to the next track (or the beginning of the current track) — capabilities similar to those of a CD player.
The most obvious and important advantage of this new technology is that there is no direct physical contact between record groove and turntable. Since there is no contact, there is virtually no chance of damaging an audio document during playback. Discs that might be too fragile to play on a conventional turntable can be played successfully and a surrogate created. Also, the drawbacks associated with the traditional tone arm-stylus combination, such as drag, inertia, rumble or acoustic feedback are absent.
The Music Division is proud to add this new technology to its audio studio and is confident that the ELP Laser Turntable will play an important role in its preservation activities for many years to come.
— Gilles St. Laurent
Conservator, Recorded Sound Collection
National Library of Canada
Sinds vele decennia wordt muziek al vastgelegd op de vinylplaat. Dit medium heeft ook in de tijd van tablets en smartphones voldoende potentie om op het hoogste niveau te kunnen presteren. Om de emotie te voelen, adviseren wij de perfecte laser platenspeler van ELPJ — zonder naald.
— Excerpt from the Dutch-language site http://www.stringspeaker.eu/html/muziek.html.
Zugegeben, Sanju Chiba ist eher Geschäftsmann als Magier, doch was er und seine Mitarbeiter in Saitama schon seit 1989 produzieren, ist für Audiophile und Liebhaber von gutem Vinyl-Klang ein echtes Wunder. Chiba zeichnet sich für einen Plattenspieler verantwortlich, der ohne Nadel auskommt, der die Rillen der Platten gar nicht berührt. Möglich macht dies ein spezieller Laser, der die Rille abtastet und somit sicherstellt, dass die empfindliche Vinylscheibe nicht durch häufiges Abspielen oder Fremdkörper beschädigt wird. Gerade Besitzer von seltenen oder teuren Schallplatten wissen diese Erfindung zu schätzen.
— Excerpt from Der japanische Vinyl-Zauberer; read the full German-language article at http://www.absolutradio.de/.