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The Laser Turntable
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| richard raiban |
About the Laser Turntable
It took over 14 years of research, innovation, and refinements, with a 20 million dollar investment to produce the Laser Turntable!
Our motto is: "No Needle, No Wear ™." The LT features an absolutely contact-free optical pickup system. Play a record thousands of times with no damage to the record. Get the same sparkling sound on the thousandth play as on the first play.
The Principle of Contact-Free Tracking and Audio Reproduction
Two Tracking Laser beams are directed to the left and to the right shoulders of the groove of the record. Only the part of the beams that reach the groove are reflected to two PSD (Position Sensitive Detector) optical semiconductors. The part of the beams that fall on the land area of the record are deflected and not picked up by the PSD devices. The signals are sent to a microprocessor via analog to digital converters, then to servos to maintain the reader head position directly above the groove.
laser tracking
Two additional laser beams are directed at the left groove wall and the right groove wall just below the tracking beams. Modulation on the individual grooves is reflected to scanner mirrors and onto left and right photo optical sensors. The variations of the modulated light cause the audio sensors to develop an electrical representation of the mechanical modulation of the grooves. The entire sound reproduction chain is analog.
The distance from the surface of the record to the traveling pickup head is kept constant by using a separate laser beam. This is very similar to every CD player that uses a "focus" laser to move the laser that reads digital bits to the proper spacing between the reader and the disc. Since phono records vary in thickness, this feature assures precision alignment from the pickup head to the record. The servos are fast and responsive allowing the LT to accommodate even warped records. Also the new audiophile 180 gram (thick) records are reproduced beautifully.
laser pickup head
This is a view of the inside of the Laser Pickup Head.
A special calibration LP record is furnished with each Laser Turntable and is used to set up the optics and microprocessor. The record has about 20 minutes of grooves with no sound. It is necessary to run this special disk for about 30 seconds.
The calibration disk should be used when you operate the machine for the first time. Every few months you may elect to run the calibration disk to maintain tracking accuracy, particularly if you notice any mis-tracking during playback. When the machine is moved to another location, it is wise to run the calibration disk again.
The Laser Turntable is, no doubt, the most sophisticated and state-of-the-art "Record player" ever designed.
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personally i dont think that this is going to be successful. the reason why people purchase vinyl is because they enjoy being able to handle the needle and skip to whichever part of the record they want! a lot of people say that the sound of vinyl is far better than cd's but overall cd's are much more convenient. this would have been a HUGE success if it was created before the "CD" came into play!!! even now the cd has its competition (mp3's & gadgets like an ipod)
what do you guys think? u think this will do well? |
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| dEsidEL |
i think it'll change the way we look at dubplates .. :D
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| VERTiG0 |
| This sounds like something from 1992. |
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| SgtFoo |
i hate to burst the bubble, but this was released several years ago.
I think sometime near the middle of 1999 or 2000. It's not new news.
I heard Numark wanted to make the cdx1 a dual player that would use lazer to read the vinyl on top and also read a cd inside... both at once.... now THAT would be shnazzy!!!! |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by SgtFoo
i hate to burst the bubble, but this was released several years ago.
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what ?? great how am i gonna look at Richard Raiban with any respect anymore .. :mad:
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| goodnet |
The laser turntable is uber expensive right now and obviously made for a niche market only.
The whole reason for the laser turntable is to play precious records without the chance of ever damaging them. It's meant for vinyl collectors (stuff that hasn't been pressed in many years), archivists & such who have very deep pockets. |
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| SgtFoo |
i dunno... he's a house DJ, right?? :D :D :D ;) :rolleyes: :D
j/k!! :crazy: :tongue2 :stongue: :stongue: |
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| richard raiban |
:stongue:
this is news to me...i guess ive been living under a rock
ah well, back to the ol drawing board |
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| Orko |
I think with the further introduction of SACD vinyl will be further suppressed. with the sampling rate at 192khz/24bit, i think that should be pretty high quality for most people.
this is an awsome idea, bucause in the end SACD is still digital, and therefore guessing is involved, so vinyl will always have its place. |
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