180 gram?


If is topic has been discussed before, I apologize.
Back into vinyl after 20-25 years. These 180 gram albums are totally new to me.
Are they worth the additional cost, do they actually sound better or are they just thicker resulting in less warping?
markeetaux
Prior we didn't give a fluke about record weight, but lots of good quality pressings especially classical had been on heavy vinyl reaching 200g. What I noticed that noise floor on heavy vinyl is lower which is the crucial factor for classical music. For R&R it's all subjective and more would depend on mastering quality.
For me etched letters RL next to printed STERLING on the dead wax is more preferable than 180g.
RL stands for Robert Ludwig recording engineer. Sterling denotes where it was pressed and that it is an original pressing.
The original concept for a 180 or 200 gram record was to cut a deeper groove into the vinyl. The result was better dynamics and sonics being reproduced by the stylus/cart. These LPs were marketed as "audiophile" recordings and often did sound superior than the mass-produced vinyl runs.

Today, 180 gram is basically a marketing term for the new generation of vinyl being produced and the new wave of vinyl buyers; "if its thicker and heavier, then it must sound better."

Czarivey makes a good point in that the quality pressings are still dependent on the engineering and the record cutting process. There are still excellent records being released by a few top cutting plants. There are also many 180 LPs being released with defects due to poor quality control and the push to get the product to market.

This is the thread previously mentioned regarding 180g warped records...
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1427751926&openflup&6&4#6
I thought the idea behind thicker pressings was less resonant? It is a shame when you purchase a thicker lp and it comes in warped, which happens a lot. I'll have to say that quite a few of my best sounding lps are the thin sort, some are almost like "dynaflex" thin.