The future of Audio for Music Lovers?

[JimPullan]

Originally Posted by richteer

So you're the guy who bought a Finial turntable!

No ticks and pops here either, on my Forsell Air Force One Signature. But then I am extremely careful with my vinyl!

That's me !!! Their now known as ELP and are still currently available here for a mere $ 10,000.00 or so. Here the link to their site:

http://www.elpj.com/main.html

Jim

[dobyblue]

That's really cool. How do you find the playback on that so far Jim?

[JimPullan]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

That's really cool. How do you find the playback on that so far Jim?

Before I purchased this, I had a high end Thorens Turntable, and at one time both were in my home to where I could do an A-B test. I had a friend of mine blindfold me and play the same record on each player, and I was unable to discern the Laser Player from the Needle Player. Both sounded outstanding. I have over 1,500 LP's in pristine condition and I wanted to keep them that way and the Laser approach simply made sense to me. Many of my LP's are not even available on CD, so I had to protect my investment. Yes, it was expensive, but so is my collection of LP's, some are priceless. [Jim]

[Baseball3]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

Baseball, I've been planning to pick up Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic, how is it?

sweeeeeeeeattttttttttt emotion, my friend. I am no pro at this stuff but I do know what I like and I love this SACD!

[Baseball3]

Originally Posted by digibob

After my trip to CES this year, I started buying SACDs because of my PS3 ability to play them. However I don't have a HDMI receiver. I couldn't wait for the new receivers from Pioneer so I bought the Sony SCD-CE595 for $80 on e-bay. I cannot believe SACDs never caught on. They sound incredible. I do wish there were more selections though. The ones I bought so far sound amazing, especially Diana Krall. I would love to see a SACD come back or BD become a standard for Hi Rez audio.

SACDless and still listening in the dark, so to speak. I am pulling for a SACD come back and am doing my small part as I just can't see/hear buying another audio format.

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by JimPullan

That's me !!! Their now known as ELP and are still currently available here for a mere $ 10,000.00 or so. Here the link to their site:

http://www.elpj.com/main.html

Jim

hmm, just 10K huh? I'll take 2

That is actually pretty cool, what happens playing warped or scratch records? Does audio fall out if there is a big scratch or does it replicate the sound?

[JimPullan]

Originally Posted by jdc115

hmm, just 10K huh? I'll take 2

That is actually pretty cool, what happens playing warped or scratch records? Does audio fall out if there is a big scratch or does it replicate the sound?

The laser can handle up to 5-7mm warp. All my collection is fine. They do have to be clean, and no dust though or it effects the laser reading. [Jim]

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by JimPullan

Before I purchased this, I had a high end Thorens Turntable, and at one time both were in my home to where I could do an A-B test. I had a friend of mine blindfold me and play the same record on each player, and I was unable to discern the Laser Player from the Needle Player. [Jim]

The laser turntable is an amazing idea. I didn't know such a thing existed. One thing though, if it really does sound the same as a (high-end) turntable with a needle, that would be a candidate for the biggest fluke in the history of audio engineering. The two technologies for reading the grooves work on wholly different principles; they may end up sounding similar but surely they can be told apart? You say you A/Bed them with a single record; maybe a difference would have emerged with a wider spread of material? (From the armchair I'd expect the laser turntable to sound better or at least have some characteristic pleasant sound.)

Optical vs magnetic pickups for guitar -- a distant analogy, but there you have a laser being used as an alternative means for sensing vibration of the strings and the sonic difference is noticable.

[JimPullan]

Here's info. on the Needle vs. the Laser. You may find this interesting. [Jim]

http://www.elpj.com/about/needle.html

and here's how it works:

http://www.elpj.com/about/how.html

and here's the sound quality:

http://www.elpj.com/about/sound.html

[richteer]

Originally Posted by Teazle

The laser turntable is an amazing idea. I didn't know such a thing existed. One thing though, if it really does sound the same as a (high-end) turntable with a needle, that would be a candidate for the biggest fluke in the history of audio engineering.

The ELP has been around in one form or another for ages (maybe a decade or so?), but yeah, it's pretty low profile outside of us audio nuts. :-) Oh, and it's a stylus, not a needle! (Well, cartridge, cantelever, and stylus--but I digress!) Needles are what they used in wax cylinder players.

BTW, is the person in your avatar one of the guys from Little Britain?

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by richteer

BTW, is the person in your avatar one of the guys from Little Britain?

Yeahbutnobutyeahbutnobut ... Matt Lucas as Vicky Pollard.

[JimPullan]

Richteer,

Most consumers are familiar with the term 'Diamond Needle' or Needle. Yes, we know it as a stylus. I didn't realize we have several 'audiophile' forum members here on a forum for Blu-ray Disc, hardware and software. [Jim]

[showcasehome]

For Jim,

My Musical Fidelity M1 turntable suits me just fine for now. I don't understand how you mentioned that you don't get clicks and pops if the laser reads a scratch or click or pop then it's going to be reproduced. Kinda confusing there, as far as multichannel audio is concerned, a properly executed 2 channel system will produce all the ambiance of the live performance without the need for multiple speakers muddying the performance.

[RBFC]

IMO, SACD hasn't flown due to the complexity of setup with multiple analog cables and dedicated players. Mass consumers just weren't ready to re-tool their systems just to play another format.

With BD, the player install base will already be there. 7.1 24/96 recordings can easily be accommodated on a BD, with additional room for video titling, etc. (or medium bitrate video). It's possible that multi-channel hi-res music could live on as concert videos and album remasters with video supplements.

As to turntables, I was the first guy that Bruce Thigpen (now known for the Thigpen Rotary SubWoofer) provided a tight-tolerance air bearing manifold for my Eminent Technology ET2 tonearm. I was using an oilless air compressor in my basement to drive the tonearm on a SOTA Star Sapphire turntable. The arm ran at 40 psi, rather than the stock 3.5 psi. Ah, the old days with 2-channel analog.........

Lee

[welwynnick]

Sounds like there are many people who haven't forgotten the joys of good anallogue stereo reproduction.

I have a 5.1 these days of course, but I still wonder if it sounds better in stereo. Does anyone else think that the centre speaker has little benefit when stereo is working properly?

Nick

[HDJK]

Originally Posted by welwynnick

Sounds like there are many people who haven't forgotten the joys of good anallogue stereo reproduction.

I have a 5.1 these days of course, but I still wonder if it sounds better in stereo. Does anyone else think that the centre speaker has little benefit when stereo is working properly?

Nick

I used to think the same thing. But after some hours of trying out different speaker placement and tweaking I do think it can add to the 'I'm right there' feeling better than stereo. I think once I can afford to get 3 identical speakers for the front, set up equally it will be even better. Some day.

Anyway, I think what keeps Hi-End enthusiast away from 5.1 is the fact that some people spend 5 digit numbers just for a stereo setup. To get the same quality for 5.1 they would need to about triple that expense.

And yes, I still enjoy our Linn Sonder LP12

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by welwynnick

Sounds like there are many people who haven't forgotten the joys of good anallogue stereo reproduction.

I have a 5.1 these days of course, but I still wonder if it sounds better in stereo. Does anyone else think that the centre speaker has little benefit when stereo is working properly?

Nick

For most audio recordings i still feel stereo is the way to go. With a good setup and proper placement it is amazing and most home theaters don't usually have a proper setup for 2 channel audio. But I do like a good multi channel audio recording but usually it isn't from a 5.1 mix of a stereo recording or a Dolby Digital 5.1, I still prefer 2.0 PCM over 5.1 DD for most concert videos. But hopefully BD will have a lot more 5.1 uncompressed recordings to TrueHD/DTS HDMA to enjoy

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by HDJK

I used to think the same thing. But after some hours of trying out different speaker placement and tweaking I do think it can add to the 'I'm right there' feeling better than stereo. I think once I can afford to get 3 identical speakers for the front, set up equally it will be even better. Some day.

Anyway, I think what keeps Hi-End enthusiast away from 5.1 is the fact that some people spend 5 digit numbers just for a stereo setup. To get the same quality for 5.1 they would need to about triple that expense.

And yes, I still enjoy our Linn Sonder LP12

That is a very good point. My speakers are far more then my TV and my system is modest. Before HT took off, I have visited some people that had $15K in 2 speakers and 10K in a 2 channel power amp and music matter a lot more then movies and they had no desire to cut the budget in order to reproduce 5.1 movie soundtracks and it makes it hard to triple that investment for music.

[HDJK]

Originally Posted by jdc115

That is a very good point. My speakers are far more then my TV and my system is modest. ...

I wouldn't call Gallo Ref 3 modest

I never had a chance to listen to a pair of those. I take it you like them, but how do they compare to other known loudpseakers?

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by HDJK

I wouldn't call Gallo Ref 3 modest

I never had a chance to listen to a pair of those. I take it you like them, but how do they compare to other known loudpseakers?

I enjoy them a lot, I started just with the 2 channel system for music and used spare speakers I had around for 5.1 until I could build out the system. But that is what makes HT difficult for some of the audio people, if you have to buy 5.1 or 7.1 system then you usually have to compromise the audio system unless you really have unlimited funds.

So I just started with the audio system that I liked and then within the next couple of years i converted it for HT. But others I liked were Paradigm, Thiel, B&W, and M&K (but they went under last year). Though they all have a bit of a different design then Gallo.