Should I avoid thick vinyl?


My TT arm does not have adjustabe VTA. Should I avoid 200 gram (ie thick) lps?
tbromgard
I don't think you should avoid 200gm records; if something you want only comes in that format buy it. I just don't prefer thick records because of the VTA issue and because many suffer from dish warping because of improper pressing practices (thick vinyl needs a longer pressing cycle). Still, a lot of desirable records happen to be made available in 200-220 gm recordings so you have to accept them. I enjoy them even though I know I can get slightly better sound by raising the arm (too much trouble to do on a regular basis, though I have confirmed this by doing VTA changes).
I suspect that your Grado cartridge has an elliptical stylus. FWIW, keep in mind that vta/sra is less critical with elliptical styli than with line contact and other more exotic types.

Regards,
-- Al
IMHO, thickness has little to do with the quality of a LP. I have many great
sounding 200gm, as well as 120gm and any weight in between. I also have
many poor sounding LPs in all weights and thicknesses.

If a LP is carefully mastered, it will sound great even VTA is a little off. On the
other hand, if a LP is poorly mastered, no VTA adjustment can fix that.