A vinyl question

jonahpwlljonahpwll
edited November 2011 in General
I have a (potentially) stupid question about vinyl albums.

The Chris Schlarb "Psychic Temple" vinyl album description says this...
Limited Edition 180-gram Vinyl
Includes 2-color hand silkscreened 12" gatefold cover. High quality 3 mil Polyethylene sleeve. Printed and pressed in the USA. Also includes immediate download.

Is there anything in that vinyl description about the 180 gram stuff that I need to be concerned about? We have a nice little turntable, but does weight measure have any bearing on the needle we use or anything?

I just don't want a situation where we buy it, then have to adjust things with our player then, too. Want to be able to take it out of the package and begin playing it.

Anyone?

Comments

  • ScissorManScissorMan
    No, that won't hurt your turntable or needle one little bit. The weight is actually an indication of purity - lighter vinyl contains more PVC, is slightly less likely to warp, and is somewhat more durable (though of course you can still scratch it fairly easily).
  • jonahpwlljonahpwll
    Thank you.

    As a teen, growing up, all I had was vinyl and the occasional cassette tape (cds were out then, but I didn't bother). I never paid attention to things like quality turntables and types of needles and album weights... just made sure the used albums didn't have many scratches and hit play. Having grown up vinyl, I sure know next to nothing about it. Yeesh.
  • Dr. MutexDr. Mutex
    edited November 2012
    Back in the early '60s albums weighed about 160 grams. I don't have any older ones handy to weigh but I wouldn't be surprised if they were heavier. By the time we got out of the '70s the weight was down to 120 grams, possibly less. So the 180 gram record isn't much heavier than what an LP ought to weigh, if the record companies hadn't been cutting corners for half a century. If the CD hadn't come along to relegate the LP to a premium collector item, popular music would probably be on flexi disc by now, and the record companies would be extolling their compact size.
  • GermanprofGermanprof
    edited November 2011
    One problem with using the thinner vinyl was that the stylus's weight, combined with the flexi disc's low mass, would sometimes cause the disc to stop spinning on the turntable and become held in place by the stylus.
    I remember this!! They used to come on the front of magazines and then on my parents' old gramophone with its heavy stylus arm the stylus would just pin them down and the turntable would grind away under them.
  • Dr. MutexDr. Mutex
    edited November 2011
    Yes. You sometimes have to tape them to a junk LP to play them.
  • Plong42Plong42
    Behind the tech that makes vinyl so special

    "In terms of uncompressed digital audio vs vinyl, I can only repeat what has been said before: with digital audio the resolution is more limited than with analogue audio. The same goes for frequency range. But the real thing is what you hear. With vinyl you get a certain kind of saturation and added harmonics that you don’t have with digital. The sound has a ‘body’; it’s just more physical."

    Interesting article.
  • Dr. MutexDr. Mutex
    edited November 2012
    Where I come from we call "saturation and added harmonics" distortion, as do all reputable vendors of audio equipment and LPs. Distortion is the antithesis of fidelity. It's one thing if Pete Townshend turns it up to 11 to make an interesting sound. It's quite another if a senseless slab of plastic or some bits of metal sitting near a glowing filament are adding it. I'm not giving solid state a free pass either. When solid state amps overload it sounds horrible. I consider that somewhat a benefit because if you're clipping a solid state amp, you're going to hear it. (Side note: many teenagers appear to be unable to perceive this blatant distortion).

    While it is true that a carefully (end-to-end) made Vinyl disc can reproduce frequencies beyond the 22KHz cutoff of CDs, unless your ears are a recent model and your cartridge costs more than most folk's entire system, you won't hear them. (Dr. Mutex uses such a cartridge. Sadly newer ears for his head are not available.) The sad, sad truth is that the way 98% of non-orchestral music is produced and mastered, you might as well listen to a high bitrate MP3.

    Also, I can't let a blanket statement like "uncompressed digital audio" just go by. Speaking of digital audio quality without mentioning the sample rate is as speaking of car engine performance without mentioning the horsepower. Perhaps TFA provides context.
  • ScissorManScissorMan
    edited November 2012
    ...unless your ears are a recent model and your cartridge costs more than most folk's entire system, you won't hear them. (Dr. Mutex uses such a cartridge....

    I had occasion to see this today:

    http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CLGOLDFV2

    ...and for some reason, I checked another site that's known for handling this sort of product, and lo and behold, it's $3,000 less there:

    http://www.needledoctor.com/Clearaudio-Goldfinger-Statement-Phono-Cartridge?sc=7&category=12255

    So what does that tell us? I guess this is chump-change to the people who are actually in a position to buy this, but I'm not sure... it still looks fishy to me. I can't help but be reminded of the Anjou Speaker Cable from PearAudio or the better-known Denon AKDL1 Dedicated Link Cable on Amazon.com, for which people are still posting new reviews to this day.
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