Re: [ARSCLIST] The ELP Laser Turntable for 78 transfer?

[James L Wolf <jwol@xxxxxxx>]

George,

    Thanks for pointing out ELP's service policy, of which I was not
aware. I'm not in Recorded Sound at the Library anymore, so someone
there would have to look into servicing the table. If improvements are
possible, I'm eager to hear the results. I should point out that I did
most of the initial use of the Library's ELP machine, and it had all of
the bad features I mentioned right out of the box. But a tune-up may
still do it some good.
    I'm pretty sure that the Library didn't acquire the ELP for
transcription use (though I can't speak for their current policy), but
for playback uses only. There are situations for which it's very handy,
like a researcher who needs to hear a particular LP track over and over
again, or wants to skip around tracks. The programming features make
these sorts of things easy and the laser stylus takes care of
needle-drop or wear worries. So I'm still of the opinion that the ELP is
best for research use, but I hope that LC can avail itself of ELP's
service staff.

Usual disclaimers.

James


>>> pattac@xxxxxxxx 1/22/2004 3:44:44 PM >>>
From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad

James L. Wolf in a private capacity wrote:

>     I must respectfully, but strongly, disagree with George. I've
used a
> relatively recent model ELP turntable with a variety of discs in a
> variety of conditions. At it's best, the ELP sounds worse than the
> cheapest cartridge on the cheapest turntable. It is very noisy,
lacks
> any dynamic range to speak of, and has trouble tracking loud attacks.
It
> does NOT track cracked discs very well at all. It only works if the
> crack edges are perfectly lined up. Any gap, and it won't track.

----- My reply to the above is: I must respectfully, but strongly,
suggest
that the machine you used would have been entitled to the after-sales
service
the company provides. Something tells me that some dirt must have been
sitting on the optics, interfering both with its tracking ability and
its
signal-to-noise ratio. The reason the company provides such service is
that a
testimony such as yours does not do their company any good. That is why
any
trader will always prefer that you come back to him first. If you have
not
been treated as a valued customer, then I agree that there would be
reason to
complain publicly.

Kind regards,


George