Is heavy vinyl worth it?

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.

Zaikesman, just read your post and your P.S.: I have no idea what you are talking about in that P.S. of yours. Someone once walked this earth, multiplied fishes, and talked in parables. Seems he made a lot more sense than what I can make out of what I take as being some kind of garbled insinuations. Speak up my man. Use plain language. Thanks.

Plain language: It seems to me as if you were trying to 'get a rise' among the vinyl crowd with your first post (commonly called 'trolling' - and this is a subject area in which you've been known to enjoy ruffling some feathers before), and when none was forthcoming, you manufactured one that didn't exist. Where the heck did you come up with that unprovoked attack on Onhwy61? Your response to his answer to your original post seemingly bears no relation to his actual words or perceived intent, IMO. I thought he handled it like a gentleman though. Let me be clear, I have no problem with your original post (despite what I see as your intent more to provoke than to illuminate), just your uncalled-for and out-of-left-field followup. As I've said in the past, I actually value your playing the devil's advocate around here (a custom I practice myself), but to do so effectively, something stronger and more relevant than what was offered this time is required. Or maybe your history of inviting audiophile fire has left you a bit too thin-skinned for your own rhetorical good? Whatever, I hope you recover your fair combative touch my man, because we need a few worthwhile naysayers in our midst.

OBVIOUSLY some recording sound better than others, however, years ago, using the best Linn LP 12, then the Sota, with the Zeta Arm and a Koetsu cartridge; in a one to one listening session of Ella, new, and an old (three times heavier pressing) it was shocking. The heavier sounded much better; to the point of almost being a different mix, though it wasn't.
It was at that time that I concluded that the energy put onto the vinyl, by the cartridge, (friction etc) was absorbed, and lessened with the heavier piece of vinyl. Shortly thereafter, vacuum tables, which sucked the vinyl on to the surface of the 11 lb platter of the Sota, became very popular. These are similar, though seemingly different things. Greater mass, with coupling of the vinyl to the platter, or simply more vinyl for energy dissipation.
Go heavy.