Interesting "Love" Intelligent Turntable New/Old Technology

[barnettrp21122]

This isn't the first technology to keep the record stationary while the needle moves over it, but it connects with bluetooth, smartphones, etc.
I have no connection with this; just thought it's interesting:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/49 ... -turntable

Bob

[PeterF]

I'm gonna just add bluetooth to my Soundwagen: http://djworx.com/the-soundwagon-is-dea ... rd-runner/

[Retrograde]

Pretty cool... I watched the video twice just for the babe!

[Marco Gilardetti]

It's indeed amusing. The world is full of "gadget men" so I suppose it may have a niche market. However, all the youngsters that are attracted by LPs that I know of, mainly like the idea of owning "the big old stuff": a great-looking turntable, possibly cabled to an aluminium-finished amplifier with big big backlit VU-meters, and of course loudspeakers as huge as possible. It won't attract Hi-Fi enthusiasts either, as the sound is sampled and sent out wireless, which bascically means that it is killed. Also, the claim that "there is no pressure on the grooves" is obviously false, as the record is read with an ordinary lightweight pick-up. The mere idea of it being battery-operated, by the way, will be a nightmare for most.

But on these annoying and puzzling years 2000, you see all sort of freak things, like a totally unnecessary informatics and high-tech engineering deployed just to read a simple, ordinary, plain record "the hard way".

Good luck for their fundrising nonetheless! Everything that might keep the interest high on LPs and records in general is absolutely welcome!

[WDC]

Actually the LOVE turntable is an oxymoron as it does not have a turntable at all.

I watched the video with a partly interest as well as disbelieve. Strangely, he is talking of "analog sound" and then having digital outputs only. That's quite contradictory. Any record should be dead flat as the unit is passing very closely above it as a fixed distance towards the center.

The FAQ are somewhat funny too as some questions aren't answered at all, such as what stylus the unit uses. The answer: "They come with an easily replaceable stylus." - Great, that's exactly what I want to know.

In the video he mentions an "industrial standard cartridge" - my best guess would be the usual $30 AudioTechnica AT95E, which has been used in other fashionable kickstarter devices. Also found an answer to a comment that would suggest that: "The size of the cartridge we’re using is similar to Audio Technica’s “ATxxx” range / universal mounts." Now, there is nothing wrong with the AT95E, but for LPs I'd like to get a bit more beyond that.

It does look intriguing, though, but a decent direct drive AT-LP120 will only cost $250, has an analog output, easy-to-change headshell option and 78rpm. If I want to select tracks by pushing a button I simply use a CD player. A Hokey Pokey with Bluetooth and WiFi for $300 / $600 MSRP doesn't sound that convincing to me.

There are very good reasons why 99%+ of all turntables are built the way they are. With the rotation of the unit, rather than the record, there will be centrifugal force applied to the pickup in some way, increasing with playback speed and distance. With everything built-in, I would furthermore doubt that the technical specs are close to a modern $100 turntable at best.

At least it is unlikely to be as damaging to the records as so many of the cheapo plastic milling machines with ceramic pickup are.

[Curt A]

Since this is the day of high tech stuff, I would like to see an "affordable" device that would read records and cylinders with a laser... that would be a real breakthrough (read affordable).

http://hackaday.com/2012/05/27/reading- ... th-lasers/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXYixTN6oOs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnGh7FADitg (interesting playback of broken records with fiber optics)

[Chuck]

*Facepalm!*.....yet another gadget. *Yawn*

[CarlosV]

This technology is not that new, see http://www.ebay.fr/itm/WV-combi-sound-w ... SwnHZYXAay

[CarlosV]

The car turns around the record

[FloridaClay]

I wouldn't buy one (I don't do LPs anymore), but kinda cool nonetheless.

Clay