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180g … It’s All Hype !

I seem to have had an issue with just about every 180g record I’ve purchased… Either warped, surface scuffs or just plan ole doesn’t sound as good as the original.

I’ve noticed on re-masters / re-mixes many times it’s just somebody else’s idea of how the music should sound, adding in a few leads or something and certainly not what I expect or want. 

I actually have one I swear they just took the CD as the master and pressed it on to vinyl… Seriously I’ll stick to a decent cartridge, my ultrasonic record cleaner and the bargain bins for my vinyl purchases and listening. I’ve been able to build quite a substantial collection, granted the outer covers may show some wear, but being I’ve been in this for sometime I know by looking at a used record weather it will clean up or not and after cleaning I always replace the inner sleeves with static free high quality sleeves. As for the outer covers… I buy records to listen to so as long as the cover is in tact I’m ok with that. 

I’d rather see ‘em re-release stuff if they do on un doctored up original weight vinyl with the same quality control they had back in the day… 

Heck, stuff in the dollar bins, after having been played over and over through many a folks’ adolescence then stored for years in basements and attics, then sold at garage sales, flea markets or ending up in bargain bins seem to have made the journey just fine… 

I’m tried of the hype and seriously, 180g is nothing but marketing BS to part you with your money.

Need proof of how good older records from the back in the day can sound?….. Check out any of these….

WAR - The World Is A Ghetto

King Curtis & Champion Dupree - Blues At Montreux

John Mayall - Blues Jazz Fusion

Led Zeppelin- Led Zep II

Any LP from James Cotton 

Any LP from The Alan Parsons Project

Any LP from Steely Dan

Any LP The Yellowjackets 

Most LP’s from Savoy Brown

Most LP’s on The Blue Note Label

just to name a few…

I’ve got of tons of ‘em and if you have any Artists or specific Titles you’d like to suggest feel free to respond

128x128flasd
sryeager
125 posts
 

+1 on War “The World is a Ghetto.”  $5 and that’s one I would put on to show off my speakers.  Cisco Kid is a friend of mine too.

jsbail
368 posts
 

I agree. I don't buy expensive records. I get great satisfaction from finding great sounding, quiet playing records for $3.

A 180 gram record will sound different if you don't adjust VTA. 

pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 

I think they‘re mainly for the “use LP‘s to listen to sounds and their systems crowd“

drastically changing the timbre of Cat Stevens’ plastic-bodied Ovation acoustic guitar (and the drummer’s cymbals, which I always found severely lacking in shimmer).

in which case the music doesn‘t really matter anyway…

tonywinga's avatar
tonywinga
844 posts
 

One example is the new pressing of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album. It is a 2016 pressing dist by Sony Music. Not sure it’s 180 gram but it is heavy. It is way better than the Columbia pressing that I bought in the 1970s. It is not just quieter but also sounds better.

I have a special edition Mobile Fidelity 200 gram version of Alan Parson’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination. It is clearly superior in sound to my original copy that I bought in 1977. I picked up this special edition at a stereo store in Las Vegas in 1994. This is one of my favorite stories to tell. I worked for Bosch at the time and was on a hot fuel test trip with Ford at their Arizona Proving Grounds. The work was done and I was back in Las Vegas with the afternoon and evening to kill before taking the redeye back to Detroit. I was wearing a golf shirt that had the Ford and Bosch logos stitched onto it. These were some team shirts that we had made for the trip. I had been wearing this shirt all day. I found a stereo store in Las Vegas and walked in to take a look around. That was my first encounter with Apogee speakers. Anyway, the store owner said that he liked my shirt because he liked Fords and he also sold Blaupunkt Radios (owned by Bosch). I spotted the Tales of Mystery and Imagination MFSL version on his record rack and said I would trade him my shirt for that record. He agreed so I went to the car and got out another shirt to wear and handed him my smelly sweaty Bosch/Ford shirt for the record. It was awesome and I recall that event every time I play it. btw- tried streaming the online newer version. The first song and mix are completely different from my albums. Don’t know what that is all about but I clearly prefer the version of my albums.

flasd's avatar
flasd OP
89 posts
 

 

Check out the pressing issues on the record he received and in today’s offerings it’s an issue that happens all too often and really needs to be addressed by the record manufacturers.

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