TBG, As old as this thread is, it's nice to know that someone saw my post. It's also nice to know that someone has experienced a good demonstration of the ELP. All too often, the ELP has not been demonstrated to its best advantage.
If a person can afford it, the absolute best of both worlds is achieved when you have a high quality turntable like the
Shindo Labs and an ELP. So many of my older LPs that exhibit some degree of record wear actually do sound better on a standard turntable. I attribute this to some slight degree of forgiveness by a standard arm/cartridge combo, though other factors that I am about to mention are likely to be involved as well. I've not found any rhyme or reason as to why some LPs that I used to think were great don't sound so great on the LT, and yet others that I never thought much of on my standard turntable are astonishingly good on the LT. A new record of a well recorded performance will sound great on either playback format, but the ELP, with its greater channel separation and typically more linear response really shines on a top notch piece of program material on a reasonably neutral system.
I've speculated that the reason the ELP doesn't sound quite as dynamic or as alive as most moving coil cartridge/arm combinations relates to what I remember seeing years ago in test reports showing the performance of moving coil cartridges (mcc). In looking at the oscilloscope output of a good mcc reproducing square waves, I consistently observed a rapid rise time on the leading edge of the square wave accompanied by a rather significant overshoot before settling back to the amplitude of the top of the square wave. The reproduction of the top of the wave would exhibit constant ringing. The return to the baseline was also marked by an negative overshoot. Compare that to the square wave reproduction of a Grado Signature. The Grado not only exhibits no overshoot, but actually slightly rounds the corner from the vertical rise to the horizontal top. Further, it exhibits virtually no ringing at the top of the wave and very little if any overshoot as it falls back to the base line.
Now, anyone who has been around this game for a long time can readily describe the differences in the sonic character between most any moving coil and a Grado moving iron. The "coils" always sounded more dynamic, more lively, more defined, and airier on top (in no small measure due to the rising high frequency characteristic that many exhibited). OTOH, the Grados sounded somewhat rounded, full bodied, smoother, and very musical. It's been a number of years since anyone has published any test result of square wave reproduction from a moving coil cartridge, so I can't say to what extent these anomalies have been ameliorated, but I can say that the sound of mcc's today relative to the sound of the ELP is reminiscent of that old comparison between the Grados and various mccs. The biggest difference is that the ELP, sonically, doesn't exhibit the weakness of rounding or dulling the leading edge of the square wave as the Grado did.
If you can afford both, by all means get an ELP. Truly, the longer you listen to one, the more you will grow to appreciate its virtues, both sonically and operationally. Short of being financially capable of buying the very best in conventional turntable/arm/cartridge systems, I don't believe that I would ever go back.
If a person can afford it, the absolute best of both worlds is achieved when you have a high quality turntable like the
Shindo Labs and an ELP. So many of my older LPs that exhibit some degree of record wear actually do sound better on a standard turntable. I attribute this to some slight degree of forgiveness by a standard arm/cartridge combo, though other factors that I am about to mention are likely to be involved as well. I've not found any rhyme or reason as to why some LPs that I used to think were great don't sound so great on the LT, and yet others that I never thought much of on my standard turntable are astonishingly good on the LT. A new record of a well recorded performance will sound great on either playback format, but the ELP, with its greater channel separation and typically more linear response really shines on a top notch piece of program material on a reasonably neutral system.
I've speculated that the reason the ELP doesn't sound quite as dynamic or as alive as most moving coil cartridge/arm combinations relates to what I remember seeing years ago in test reports showing the performance of moving coil cartridges (mcc). In looking at the oscilloscope output of a good mcc reproducing square waves, I consistently observed a rapid rise time on the leading edge of the square wave accompanied by a rather significant overshoot before settling back to the amplitude of the top of the square wave. The reproduction of the top of the wave would exhibit constant ringing. The return to the baseline was also marked by an negative overshoot. Compare that to the square wave reproduction of a Grado Signature. The Grado not only exhibits no overshoot, but actually slightly rounds the corner from the vertical rise to the horizontal top. Further, it exhibits virtually no ringing at the top of the wave and very little if any overshoot as it falls back to the base line.
Now, anyone who has been around this game for a long time can readily describe the differences in the sonic character between most any moving coil and a Grado moving iron. The "coils" always sounded more dynamic, more lively, more defined, and airier on top (in no small measure due to the rising high frequency characteristic that many exhibited). OTOH, the Grados sounded somewhat rounded, full bodied, smoother, and very musical. It's been a number of years since anyone has published any test result of square wave reproduction from a moving coil cartridge, so I can't say to what extent these anomalies have been ameliorated, but I can say that the sound of mcc's today relative to the sound of the ELP is reminiscent of that old comparison between the Grados and various mccs. The biggest difference is that the ELP, sonically, doesn't exhibit the weakness of rounding or dulling the leading edge of the square wave as the Grado did.
If you can afford both, by all means get an ELP. Truly, the longer you listen to one, the more you will grow to appreciate its virtues, both sonically and operationally. Short of being financially capable of buying the very best in conventional turntable/arm/cartridge systems, I don't believe that I would ever go back.