musishan

Hi all,

I am new here, so be nice
A couple of questions
First: Is a laser turntable worth it, They are very expensive but I like the idea of not wearing ot an LP when I play it.

Second: i was thinking of buying a record collection on ebay, item 150390785826 Album Record Collection -Full Inventory + Custom SW - eBay
Is this worth it? or shold I just keep at it with the garage sales (no more this year till spring) there are a couple of titles I really want but am not sure what the reserve is and don't want to waste my money paying more than something is worth...

thanks all,
Nice forum btw...

GuitarBizarre

Firstly - Yes and no. If you listen to LPs CONSTANTLY and have the money to burn, then yes. They certainly sound very good, being audiophile equipment, and obviously if you're playing a LOT of records, its a good way to safeguard the investment. You'll have to make this decision on your own I'm afraid. If your system isn't already audiophile quality throughout, I wouldn't reccomend it.

Second - The great thing about Ebay is that you can bid without worrying what the reserve is. If it turns out you haven't bid high enough, then you're not exactly out of pocket are you? If anyone is, the seller is. Bid to the level YOU deem the record to be worth, and not a PENNY more. You don't want to get involved in a bidding war, you want a fair price, Ebay makes that easy.

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musishan

I seel the laser trntables for 10,000 +. dang, that is alot of money for a trntable, But minimal wow and flutter, static and wear and tear makes this a real nice thing...Why are they so expensive??? the technology shold be to the point where they are nder a grand. I assume there are patent isses preventing others from selling these?

As far as the action goes, I will bid under 1000, no more. I think it would be worth it to me but don't have the time (or patience) to look up all the records on his listing (her listing?) and see if they are really worth it as far as collectibles...

No offense to yor post but I disagree with the only being worth it if all my equipment is audiophile grade, we all have to start somewhere and this would help prevent more wear of the LPs.

Thanks,

Quote:\
Firstly - Yes and no. If you listen to LPs CONSTANTLY and have the money to burn, then yes. They certainly sound very good, being audiophile equipment, and obviously if you're playing a LOT of records, its a good way to safeguard the investment. You'll have to make this decision on your own I'm afraid. If your system isn't already audiophile quality throughout, I wouldn't reccomend it.

Second - The great thing about Ebay is that you can bid without worrying what the reserve is. If it turns out you haven't bid high enough, then you're not exactly out of pocket are you? If anyone is, the seller is. Bid to the level YOU deem the record to be worth, and not a PENNY more. You don't want to get involved in a bidding war, you want a fair price, Ebay makes that easy.

GuitarBizarre

What I mean is there are no laser turntables of less than super audiophile grade. The reason for this is simple - There are three main 'markets' for companies, of people who buy LPs and turntables and whatnot.

1 - People who have old vinyl they want to keep and dont want to retire to an attic somewhere. These people aren't buying high end equipment unless they've got fantastical amounts of money just lying around. I work for a hi-fi company, and these are the people buying cheap turntables, around the £100 mark up to about £150. They might even be USB models, and they're converting the vinyl they have to digital formats and then forgetting about the table itself.

2 - Audiophiles. This is self explanatory. SUPER high end turntables, LOTS of cash exchanged, and a real NEED to have super high quality equipment throughout the system. Why? Because they're not buying vinyl for convenience or novelty factor, they're buying it because through an audiophile level sound system, its the best format currently available. Problem is, to actually hear the audible benefit of vinyl frequency response over CD, you need a high end system. Preferably over a grand to begin with, and thats the very LOWEST end of 'audiophilia'. These are people who will likely spend £30k on a pair of speakers ALONE and not think twice about it as long as it sounds better than the other speakers they had.

These are the people where a laser turntable will be marketed to them. Most everyone else will be perfectly happy with conventional technologies, and, being perfectly honest here, unless your record deck is setup incorrectly or you're using a blunt stylus, your vinyl will last a very long time even on conventional turntables. No wear is a BENEFIT of laser systems, but its not the reason they exist. The reason they exist is to sound better than everything else.

Theres also the fact that for a laser turntable to even WORK, you need a very, VERY stable platter. That means expense, and lots of it throughout the tables drivetrain. your cheap low end turntable platter just isn't steady enough, it will wobble and the laser won't track.

3 - People who COLLECT vinyl. They might not even necessarily play it. They'll have a turntable on hand with which to test the disc for wear and jumps and so on, but likelihood is, their MAIN music listening isn't from the vinyl itself, its from other, far more convenient sources. These are another section of people buying cheap, usually USB turntables.


End result is there are three kinds of turntable on the market. "Low end" turntables using conventional technologies with varying degrees of refinement, these tables are the ones ranging around 100/400 pounds.

Then theres a HUGE gap, then you're in the realm of low end audiophilia, which is around £1000+ just for the turntable. Laser tech is still too expensive to justify here unfortunately, since a well designed conventional table will sound better than a budgetised laser model, simply due to them being better developed and more easily manufactured.

Then theres another HUGE gap, and you suddenly find yourself spending multiple thousands PER COMPONENT in the audio system. THIS is where you'll be finding laser turntables, purely because just like in any market, the innovation happens at the high end and then any technologies which can be adapted for lower cost, are adapted later. Laser is, sadly, not one of these technologies, since it RELIES on high precision to even WORK, let alone sound good.






As for the auctions, thats great. You should probably invest in a record collectors book or two though. They're published every year with big lists o every imaginable LP in, along with a current estimated market value. Obviously they'll eventually be out of date, but they do give you a great starting point as to the worth of any particular record and in what condition.


Edit: Oh, and heres why I said the rest of your system should be audiophile grade - If it isn't, you're NEVER going to hear the benefit of an expensive turntable. You could run the best turntables in the world through a bad amplifier and a bad set of speakers, and they'd still only sound as good as the bad speakers and bad amp. A CHAIN IS ONLY AS STRONG AS ITS WEAKEST LINK.

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musishan

Great post Guitarbizarre, Very informative,

I still think the technology can be made cheaper, the one I saw online was the ELPJ turntable, it looks kind of cheap, like the old technics linear tracking units from the 80s.
I decided that I don't have the time to check each of the LPs that are for sale on Ebay (item 150390785826)from that guy (he posted a list) and have decided that it really is only worth a certain amount (based on what I am willing to invest right now) and could care less what they are worth (according to the book) after all, I intend to never sell my LP collection and eventually give it to my children. The latest pricing guide I have was from 5 years or so ago and I assume it wouldn't be accrate to try to price items with such an old guide. Besides, it wold probably depress me anyways.
As far as a laser turntable, I would be willing to go $2000 or so but not $10,000. I think thetechnology should be more reasonably priced...
Thanks again for the info, you make a great point about the weakest link in the chain of yor equipment so to speak.

Dr_Rez

Obviously, he has no other kind!

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GuitarBizarre

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GuitarBizarre

It can. But there'd be no market for it whatsoever, since mechanical technology would outperform it in the pricerange, and above about £600, all the market revolves around is sonic performance.

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