Voiceofvinyl, there have been many approaches to making records mostly adjusting gain, various compression schemes and adjusting the weight of the puck. Wickipedia has a long article on this and it does talk about all of RCA's meanderings. Columbia was another company that tried various approaches in competition with RCA. I have several JVC Super Vinyl records, excuse me they are JVC Direct Discs, the three Lee Ritenour records, Gentle Thoughts, Sugar Loaf Express and Friendship.
They are great records. I terms of quality they used a thicker puck and the Japanese are a lot more fastidious about their pressing technique and cleanliness so their pressings are very quiet. You will notice that all the highest quality discs are done on black plastic. The carbon black does have lead in it and if you have ever handled raw lead it is slippery and feels sort of greasy. Other colored discs are noisier. My own experience backs this up. Having said all this the absolute quietest discs I have are British! Older EMIs , Decca and Mercury pressings are just wonderful. Only Analog Productions comes close to that level of quality. I suspect it is due to things like cleanliness, less or no recycled vinyl and changing the stampers more frequently.
They are great records. I terms of quality they used a thicker puck and the Japanese are a lot more fastidious about their pressing technique and cleanliness so their pressings are very quiet. You will notice that all the highest quality discs are done on black plastic. The carbon black does have lead in it and if you have ever handled raw lead it is slippery and feels sort of greasy. Other colored discs are noisier. My own experience backs this up. Having said all this the absolute quietest discs I have are British! Older EMIs , Decca and Mercury pressings are just wonderful. Only Analog Productions comes close to that level of quality. I suspect it is due to things like cleanliness, less or no recycled vinyl and changing the stampers more frequently.