Is heavy vinyl worth it?

Onhwy61, do you actually think that warped records are a positive side of vinyl? I have heard of the hairshirt sect of audio, but your answer, posed as a sort of challenge to the worthy, is arrogant and ill conceived.

Pbb, where did I say warped records were a positive aspect of vinyl? You said you had problems with a warped record purchase and I said you have to determine if the hassle is worth it. Clearly I'm saying that warped records are a hassle. It has been my experience that when buying new you will run across alot more defective vinyl purchases than CDs. It's just the way it is with vinyl. It's a hassle. Is it worth it to you?

Not necessarily. Generally, the best recording I have are originals pressed on normal vinyl, not the heavy weight reissues. While some quality reissue companies do use heavy vinyl, often heavy vinyl is just a gimmick to attract audiophile purchasers. I find that the majority of the heavy records I get are warped, probably because the pressing cycle duration was not increased as it should be for thicker records. I particularly hate 180-220 gm records since they require VTA adjustment to be played optimally. Easy if you have a Wheaton or a VPI arm, not too bad if you have a Graham, a real pain with the Vector (which I have) and impossible for some.

Best records, in terms of pressing quality, that I have are Japanese or German in origin, and they are all quite thin, but meticulously pressed.

Like Larry, I too have bought an inordinate number of warped heavy vinyl LPs. The only company that seems to be able to produce warp-free heavy vinyl is Blue Note (e.g., heavy vinyl reissue of Kenny Dorham's "Whistle Stop" is excellent). Never had one problem with BN. That being said, I don't consistently find an audible improvement, so I simply buy the cleanest LPs I can find, regardless.

Like I said before, I doubt that any improvements audible with heavy pressings are actually attributable to the vinyl weight itself, which I regard as mostly a marketing hook.

However, I'm inclined agree (from limited experience) with those implying that heavy vinyl may actually *cause* a higher incidence of warps in new records. Whether this is due to greater difficulty of the manufacturing process or is the result of heavy pressings being less able to flex and recover well afterwards I don't know. I've even speculated that thicker records will suffer more from a side-to-side temperature differential when subjected to heat or sunlight that could promote warping vs. a thinner record.

Whatever the reason, when it comes to extra-heavy pressings it's indisputable that once warped they're tougher for clamping-out the warp on the platter, so even if the incidence of new warpage were the same for all weights of vinyl, it would still be more problematic with the heavyweight disks.

P.S. - Pbb, when one is out trolling, methinks it unseemly for a mere mortal to attempt the creation of one's own fish. It's much better to wait to exagerate until one has returned safely to the dock.