Why would anyone want 180g records ?

Dear friends: The standards to cut/press LP are the same for any LP weight, are standards as the RIAA equalization in all LP's and phono stages: can't change. Are an audio whole industry standards.

I own more low weight LP's that the heavy ones and in both cases I listening very good quality performances and very bad QP. So a heavy weight is not a warranty of better quality sound.

All of you posted almost all about and almost agree with all posts. I think that in some ways the overall recording process improved through the years and that fact makes that some today recordings be really better but not because the LP weight.

Obviously that through the marketing advertasing the industry makes that we think that heavy weight LP's are better when is not because that weight but the imagen they all builded permits to them to take advantage with a very high prices on all those heavy LP's.

That's a " great " marketing estrategy. Through the latest times existed and exist , day by day, higher demand for the LP and even that not only the LP's price does not gone down but the other way around: higher prices!!! everywhere and with no better quality LP sound!!!

This is a problem for all of us music lovers, always we customers are the ones that have to pay for it with almost no nothing in the change of each one of us money.

Do you think that LP future prices, even this trend of very high demand, could make that the prices goes down?

We will see but I seriously doubt.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul, that's a great point about record prices going up, not down.

I think record prices will remain high due to record pressing plants having to maintain and upgrade equipment that has been put back into service, plus there are a number of new record plants with start-up costs.

There may also be a greed factor; record labels and vendors wanting to make quick money while the vinyl business is hot.
A typical price for a 180g LP at SS Direct, Music Direct and others used to be $24.99, now new releases are higher.

Highest quality vinyl I have is Japanese from seventies and it's not 180g. I think, these thick and heavy records are a complete waist of the resources, you also have to adjust the tonearm each time you play them. In addition, I tried couple of 180g reissues, and I don't know whether it was remastering or the weight and thickness of the records or both, but I didn't really like what I heard, it felt kind of 'stupid'. Maybe my Spacedeck just doesn't like them, yeah maybe, I am quite certain it was not voiced and tuned using them. Anyway, just give me older Japanese quality regular weight vinyl and I'll be happy.

"Elephant Mountain" by the Youngbloods came in 3 different thicknesses over the years.  The thickest(and probably the first) one sounds substantially better than the other 2, but maybe it was due to other factors.  I've also not found copies of the thickest nowadays.

I have an audio mag from the 70's at home (Stereo Review, IIRC) with a short piece covering a record company's hyping of its new thinner pressings.  The claim was the thinner vinyl would sound better.  Now records come with stickers hyping their increased weight.  I seriously doubt if the thickness of the record has any effect on sound quality.