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Heaver grade vinyl vs Standard

I am new to vinyl and I am in process of buying a scout. I was wondering was peoples thoughts were about reissued 180-200 gram vinyl. Ive read that it depends on the a number of things (pressing, recording, turntable) but in general who thinks its worth it to spend 20-30 dollars more?
macd
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Not me. It's about the quality of the recording/pressing, not vinyl thickness. In fact most of my best recordings are of the common thickness, that associated with recordings pressed in the 50's, 60's and 70's. I've got a bunch of 're-issues' on thick vinyl and I find nothing about them that is particularily superior. I think it is mostly hype.
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
In general, I say no. However I do buy them when I can't find or afford an original. Be careful with jazz re-issues. There are some that were not pressed well and have quality issues.
bdgregory
1,710 posts
 
I find little correlation between the weight of the vinyl and the sonic quality, and wouldn't pay a premium for 180 gram pressing unless I thought it was a superior production and pressing to lower cost alternatives. One of my best sounding lps is a super flimsy lightweight pressing of Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat".
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
I don't think I've ever had a bad-sounding RCA Dynaflex, which weighs in at a whopping 80 grams!

I have a lot of fine-sounding 180g audiophile pressings from various sources. The 200g pressings, OTOH, are probably more trouble than they're worth. The extra thick lump of vinyl makes it very difficult to press uniformly and keep all that vinyl at the same temperature and softness. I have two Classics Records 200g pressings. One is very crackling and noisy in places, the other is great.

I also have a 150g red vinyl Classic Records pressing and it's fantastic.

It has more to do with vinyl quality, mastering, and QA during the pressing process. Using a record grip or clamp helps make the playback quality more uniform. If a 200g pressing sounds better to you than a 120g pressing, it probably has more to do with how the difference in thickness affects Stylus Rake Angle (SRA, aka VTA or vertical tracking angle) than the thickness of the pressing itself.
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
>>SRA, aka VTA or vertical tracking angle<<

This is incorrect and shows a lack of understanding.

VTA (Vertical Tracking Angle) is the angle between the record surface and the cantilever.

SRA (Stylus Rake Angle) also called Scanning Rake Angle is the angle between the centerline of the stylus and a plane that is perpendicular to the record surface.

In simpler terms, SRA describes the angle of the stylus and VTA describes the angle of the cantilever

I hope that helps.
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