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What is virgin vinyl? Is it better

What is "virgin vinyl"? Is it better? And what are 180g records? Are 180g records always virgin vinyl? Are these good predictors of whether the used LP I just brought home will have crackles and pops or not?
matt8268
timo's avatar
timo
610 posts
 
Virgin vinyl is the highest grade, pure vinyl with very low impurities used in making vinyl records. It usually sounds quieter with less clicks and pops than standard vinyl. A 180g record is one that has 180 grams of vinyl used for its pressing. Usually 180g records are pressed with high quality virgin vinyl and are thicker than standard LP pressings.
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,823 posts
 
Record companies used to (still?) recycle product that didn't sell. They'd get records back from their distributors, stores, wherever, punchout the label area and melt them down for reuse. Sometimes the labels aren't perfectly centered and paper gets into the mix (I've seen paper in records I've bought). Needless to say, paper doesn't have a very wide frquency response or dynamic range... Long live CD's !!!!
newbee
4,793 posts
 
Matt, Audiophile pressings are often 180 gram but most typical used records are not. Whether or not the 180 gram record will sound better on your rig depends on how you set the VTA on your arm/cartridge. If most of your collection is on typical vinyl, the kind of records you are most likely going to find in the used bins, you will want you VTA set for that thickness - but then when you play a 180 gram disc it won't sound up to its potential without resetting the VTA. If the VTA setting is unimportant to you, or resetting the VTA is too much of a problem (it usually is) then it is likely the difference gained in 180 gram records will not be important either.
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