"RdM" wrote


It's all relative, but thanks for the thought!

Nah, I'm a Kiwi, Keith - it'll be DIY for me;-)



Oops! OK, that knackers it a bit! :-)



I already have a Tellus shop vac, case (old mahogany veneer spkr box),
spare turntable parts/platters, even a lid, lined up for the project...

Check out:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/recordcleaner.htm
http://www.uhfmag.com/Issue58/LPMachine.html (partial article)
http://www.teresaudio.com/haven/cleaner/cleaner.html
NB that the last one is *really* basic and has a hand-held applicator!

The principle in all of them is basically the same as in commercial ones
and the savings plus the satisfaction of DIY make it no contest IMO;-)
: :-)


Fair enough! It's not wetting the discs that get them clean - it's getting
it all off (vacuum) that *cleans* them!!

Post a pic when you get summat built! :-)

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 16:34:35 +0100, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article
, TCS
wrote:
On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 17:23:58 -0500, RichA wrote:
It seems like it would be the best thing for vinyl records, no wear
mechanism.
And no good contact with the record, and no ability to read past dust
that wouldn't bother a stylus.


Yet you don't see too many laser turntables.
They were a rich idiot's toy.

They are potentially useful in serious reference libraries/museums where
there is a fear of using physical stili in case of any wear or damage to
the record being played. However IIUC they are expensive and may be a
nightmare to use due to the extreme demands on how clean the played
surfaces have to be.

IIRC someone like Denon did once make some cartridges that use small
mirrors on a stylus to sense the groove waveforms. In principle, this could
give low tip mass, etc, and hence give low wear and deformation. However I
don't know if they ever developed these to the level of performance that
would have made them useful.

The problem with contactless pickups is that they don't necessarilly see
the groove; they see the crud on top of the groove, and the bits of worn
vinyl. Put a stylus in there and it'll push aside the crud, etc.

Alan Rutlidge rutlidge@ wrote:


IMHO, the only advantage of the laser turntable is that playing them using
this type of technology will never wear them out.

And you won't have to buy a new cartridge/stylus every 500 hours or so.