Equipment > Turntables

Early laser turntable?

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BSD2000:
[attach=1]I was browsing the net, looking for old ads and I found this:

Has anyone seen this before? I wonder if any of them still exist. It played mono records only, but the idea that back in 1940 they were experimenting with optical photo-electric playback systems is interesting.

Today, laser turntables exist but are really expensive and very rare. I have a demo CD from a company selling a $10K laser turntable, maybe I'll post a sample later today.  ;)

BSD2000:
Here's a link to the ELP Laser Turntable website.

I filled out the free demo CD request a while back, just for the heck of it.  8)

I uploaded the full CD in 320k, mp3 format to the media gallery. Enjoy!

lshin80:
Wow, never seen that before. Back in the day, a "beam of light" player was like science fiction!
By the way, Philco opened in 1958 a factory in a small village in Italy, just 3 miles away from my home. It produced TVs, refrigerators and washing machines. During the time, the brand was sold several times, and reduced its production to washing machines. The factory is still working today.

As for the laser turntable, it was first designed by an American guy around 1986, but it had no market (CDs were taking over), so he sold it to the Japanese.
The concept is great, but it takes out the pleasure of experimenting with cartridges :P Also I heard that the laser is very picky with dust.

BSD2000:
I added a playlist for the demo CD.    8)

Found this on Youtube:
PHILCO BEAM of LIGHT

Philco BOL (Beam of Light) DEMO

This is interesting:

Binaural Record Demonstration Livingston Tone Arm (1953)

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