We truly believe the Laser Turntable is a fine product or we would not have represented it. However, it has been a struggle working with the factory. They appear, to us, to be "out-of-step" with modern business practices.
SMART Devices, Inc. had been the marketing agent for ELP since June of 2003 and has provided all the advertising, arranged product reviews, paid for trade shows, produced the Demo CD they are using, new color brochures to replace the outdated version from the factory in Japan, in addition to answering emails and phone calls for English speaking prospects. All of this promotion and marketing was paid by SMART, and staff, and nothing was contributed by ELP. A majority of the information on their website, and almost all the photos, were taken from material we prepared for our website, for which we were never compensated.
Many foreign cultures do not understand the ownership of intellectual property, or copyright laws, and use material that belongs to others without paying for the use of that material. We understand ELP is still using the content of the demo CD that we produced, at our expense. They removed our name and copyright from the CD artwork we generated and we believe they are still presenting the material as their own.
We know these machines better than anyone outside the factory. Since all machines are sold and shipped from the factory in Japan there are some policies and caveats of which you should be aware.
New TRIAL Program. We had been pushing the factory for one year to offer a home trial program. They would not do it. Now, ELP has a new program called the "Free Audition system" that will cost you between $4950 and $6650 as a security deposit, depending upon the model you wish to audition. (See our recommendation on the expensive LT-2XRC cheese) You will have one month to evaluate the product and return it if you do not like it. You will pay about $1000 for the freight to and from your location if the product is returned, as long as there is no damage to the product by you or by the freight company. If you decide you do not want the product your deposit will be returned within 30 days. That means ELP has your money for 60 days. They will ask you for a wire transfer of the security deposit. This should cost about $40 at a bank. You must also pay the incoming U.S. tariff on the shipment from Japan.
There are now new sales agents in the United States., England, Australia, France, UAE, Switzerland, and Italy. Also, Owner/Reps, listed on the ELP website, receive a sales commission if they demonstrate the LT in their home which results in a sale. They receive nothing if no sale is made. You cannot assume these representatives are totally unbiased when a commission is paid by the factory when you buy.
We believe this new program is in response to this publication which criticized the factory's refusal to offer customers a trial in their own system. Many leading Audiophile Stores offer an in-home listening test using your credit card as security. They do not bill the card until you actually purchase the equipment. If you decide not to buy, there is no charge on your credit card. The ELP "Free" audition system ties up your money for 60 days and you bear the cost of shipping both ways plus U.S. customs (even if you decide not to buy.)
ELP removed their "30 Day Free Audition" program from their Internet site. The U.S. dealer is now offering a "10-Day FREE Audition" program for a security deposit of US$7500 to $9500, based on the new retail prices (50% higher than 2004) which gives little time to evaluate the product, considering the shipping time to and from your location.
Another one bites the dust. The exclusive U.S. distributor in has bailed out. Their website is still active at www.audioturntable.com but both email addresses are no longer active. A new "Exclusive" distributor in Torrance, CA is a Japanese company with a US office. They just recently dropped the prices of the machines, again.
REPAIR only in Japan. There are no repair stations outside the factory which means expensive shipping over a great distance to a foreign country. In the last months we were associated with ELP we experienced numerous damage issues due to a poorly designed transport locking system and improper packaging. All machines had to be returned to Japan for repair. Several changes were made because of our recommendation and we hope they have fixed their problems. There are NO service manuals, schematics, or data that a local service company can use to fix a machine outside the factory. We observed that many of the ICs and other parts in the product have the part numbers removed to make it impossible for a qualified local technician to make even the simplest repairs.
If you have shipping damage or must return your new machine to the factory because of a defect, it can take several weeks for the return of your property. From our experience we learned there is generally no backup inventory available at the factory (at least there was none when we were dealing with them.) We understand the U.S. distributor has his own inventory of new machines (or demo units) that could be used as replacements, but this is not necessarily true for the other dealers around the world. Our experience with this company leads us to believe they use part-time "piece" workers that are paid only when there are machines on order. Therefore there are generally no extra machines to handle special, immediate problems.
FICTITIOUS Pricing. Even though the most popular Laserturntable has a previously published price of $9,400 (now $14,999 on the ELP website) we know of no customer that has ever paid that price. The factory has a perpetual private sale on their models. This practice gives the impression that you got a bargain. If the current sale does not suit you, just wait for the next one. In our opinion buying an LT is like buying airline tickets, everyone on the airplane pays a different ticket price. The discount prices are no longer displayed on the ELP website, but offered in email messages to prospects that request brochures and the demo CD. Only suggested list prices are show on their website. When you contact the factory via email they will respond with "today's" pricing.
HIGHER priced models. We are one of the very few that have examined the three models side-by-side and cannot find any mechanical differences between the models. It is our opinion that the computer code in the lowest priced unit has been "crippled" (abbreviated) to prohibit playing 78s and other sized records than 7", 10" and 12" However, the price difference is about $4000 between the popular and high priced model. The most expensive unit also plays 8", 9", and 11" sizes for only $4000 more How many of those sizes do you have in your record collection? We believe this is a waste of money. See cheese.
BEST BUY. ELP has been offering a perpetual sale on "Previous Model" machines since June 2003. The name has been changed to "Standard Models" and "Inventory Clearance models" that do not contain the limited remote control capability. We believe it would be foolish of the factory to continue to manufacture "new" 14 year old previous audio boards when the new improved version is in production. We are convinced the "Previous models" built today are identical to the "New Models." We recommend you consider these machines unless you absolutely must have a remote control. This is thousands of dollars lower than the published price of the "New Model" basic machine. Look for future "Inventory Clearance Sales", "Previous Model Sales", "Old Models", "Demo Sales", or "Standard Model Sales". They are all the same machines but sold at heavy discount. Solicitation is generally via email and not mentioned on their published web price list.
ORDERING TIP. The factory allows you to place a non-refundable $1000 deposit on the model you wish to order, or pay the full amount, both via wire transfer. The factory maintains no inventory and builds machines only on order. Keep this in mind when you order a machine that costs $15,000 to $19,000 (including shipping and taxes) over the Internet from another country. We have observed during the past year that the factory is in no particular hurry to supply your machine after they have your money. We highly recommend that you get a firm delivery date from the factory before you send them any money. If the date is not satisfactory you have an opportunity to buy something else that is readily available.
UNSTABLE PRICING. The factory pricing of the various LT models have changed up and down 5 times since July 2003. Right now the prices are up again substantially with the most expensive model at US$19,000. This is a 50% increase since December 2004. This is also about 50% higher than the current factory direct price. What will they cost next month? Up or down? We mentioned earlier that the best purchase price is whatever you can negotiate with the factory. ELP has a history of changing prices frequently and suddenly. The new U.S. distributor recently droppd the price of each model by from $1000-$2000 from the previous prices.
NOISE ISSUES. As Michael Fremmer stated in his December review in Stereophile magazine some records sound like you are munching potato chips when listening to the LT. Records must be immaculately clean when played on these machines. We advise you keep your old turntable when you find records that are too noisy for the LT, or for colored or clear records . A standard phono cartridge will produce a far quieter playback on some difficult records that may appear quite noisy on the LT. Comments
NOISE DE-CLICKER ELP is now shipping a hardware De-clicker noise reduction box that is external to the turntable. This is a re-packaged CEDAR noise reduction system, which operates in conjunction with the LT built-in noise blanker. The product is advertised at $2800. We believe this is an attempt to control the surface noise of records played on the LT. Many equipment reviewers have been critical of the record noise heard on the LT, that is not as severe when the same record is played on a conventional phono cartridge. The De-clicker appears to have a fixed threshold for removing pops and clicks from various records and there is no sensitivity adjustment, If you listen to the demo CD you will notice on tracks 1 and 2 the same song is played with and without the de-clicker. The large pops are removed on track 2 but low level "grunge" is still there. You have no control as to how much action is performed and whether large musical peaks are also removed. The product description on the ELP website states there is a "Glitch-Free" mode of operation. What does that mean? Which glitches are bypassed when the unit is in the non-noise processing mode?
It is important to note that when using the De-clicker there is now digital processing introduced into the audio chain. The LT is no longer analog output unless you go to the bypass mode of operation.
SALES AGENTS. The ELP factory has set up worldwide sales agents in an attempt to improve sales. In some cases, these will be unqualified representatives that have no technical knowledge and can unwittingly give you poor or inaccurate information. Correspondence with the factory is interesting when you get a response in Japan-English.
WHO WILL BE HERE TOMORROW? The world wide distributors listed on the ELP website come and go. The Australian distributor dropped off the list in June 2005 after only a few months representing ELP, and the U.S. distributor in Vermont in 2006. When you buy such an expensive product you expect the distributor in your area to hang around a while to support the product.
AND NOW THERE ARE NONE! A check of the official ELP website in March 1, 2007 shows there are none of the original worldwide distributors listed. Also the price of the machines are back up to $19,000 for the most expensive model.
FLASH: A bulletin was posted on the ELP website on March 8, 2007 announces direct factory sales (only) for the LT and a huge price reduction on all models of up to 33%. This is $5000 less for the LT2XRC than last month. Their pricing goes up and down like a yo-yo. What did you pay for your machine?
MORE BUYING OPTIONS? The worldwide patents on the Laser turntable has expired. A patent may be held for 17 years and the original Finial machine as patented in 1988. Is it possible that other manufacturers will pick up some, or all, of the schemes that are were covered by US patents, and offer lower priced models.
1000 SOLD. The ELP website states that they recently sold their 1000th machine. We were told in 2004 that they had sold 1000 units. Which statement is correct? That averages 7 machines a month in the 14 years of production. Yet, even with such low sales ELP still makes you wait 30 days or more after you pay the deposit to get a machine.
OUR PURPOSE in making a full disclosure from our knowledge of these products is to give you vital information you may not have seen before so that YOU NEGOTIATE THE VERY BEST DEAL if you decide to deal with this company.
* The information contained on this website is from first-hand dealings with the ELP factory over a period of one year. Any conjecture is clearly labeled as an opinion. The information is correct as of 7-16-2004 and may change if ELP decides to improve their program by reacting to some of the suggestions made on this website. We have not been contacted by ELP in any way after we abandoned the business relationship, nor have we been advised of any policy changes by the factory. This information was shown to ELP before we published on this Internet page to assure accuracy of the statements and opinions. We got no response.
| Please call us for details on purchasing a "mint" LT-2XRC Laser turntable that was used as a demo at a mjor trade show. This unit is now burned in. Priced at $1000 less than the published $14,000 on the ELP website. We will also pay shipping charges to anywhere in the Continental US and no sales tax outside Georgia. The U.S. import tarrif has already been paid. Phone: 1-(800) 45-SMART |