Heavy Vinyl

IMHO the weight of the vinyl has pretty much zero to do with the sound. I have some great sounding albums from the 70's that flex like crazy. The sound is going to be affected by a host of other things, one of which is who mastered the music in the first place. If it was a lousy recording to start with, having it on heavier vinyl or even remastered, won't fix it. Specifically, I am thinking the first Chicago album (CTA), and Carol King's Tapestry - two of my fav albums (you can tell I am an old fart) but IMHO kinda muddy sound, even the remastered versions. And then released around the same time, BS&T 2 - incredible sound and music. My best sounding albums have one of the following guys (all guys) as the mastering engineer - they are normally listed in the fine print on the back of the album or in the liner notes somewhere: - Bernie Grundman; Stan Ricker; Kevin Gray; Steve Hoffman; Roy Halee; Bill Schnee; Doug Sax; George Marino; Todd Wunderlich (MoFi). I am sure there are others, but if I see one of these names, then I know it will be great sounding record. Also the label - Analogue Productions - IMHO - seems to do the best job of re-issues and re-masters. MoFi is also good, notwithstanding their lawsuit and marketing. There are other labels that are defunct that produced some great sounding music - you can find them on Discogs - Umbrella, from Canada; Crystal Clear Records, M&K Real-time; Recut Records (Sweden) - again, a short list from my old memory.

YMMV of course.

cleeds

5,366 posts

10-11-2023 at 08:35am 

I haven’t found heavy vinyl to be more susceptible to warps at all. In fact, the most warped records that I can recall were the old RCA Dynaflex LPs, and they were incredibly thin.

Boy I remember those. They were beyond awful!

@elliottbnewcombjr 

You mentioned 12” 45rpm .records. Do you have any?  Do you think they sound better? 
What are your thoughts?

yes.

45rpm is better, LP needs to be quiet of course.

Less content per side, which is why 45 lost to 33 except juke boxes ...

Ry Cooder, by the river, with an Indian master, learned about it here.

https://www.discogs.com/master/225028-Ry-Cooder-VM-Bhatt-A-Meeting-By-The-River?format=Vinyl

I have 2008 reissue by Analogue Productions, original all analog recording by Water Lily Acoustics in 1993

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Ry Cooder. Album notes are informative.

I have a couple other 45 rpm LPs, can't remember ....

Better, but I don't think I would spend the money for 45's anymore, and based on several warped, I'm not spending for 180 gram anymore either.

If well engineered, it's the content