[keanej6]

i bought a record a while back and was curious about the little sticky the manufacture had on the cover saying something along the lines that it was cut at 45rpm instead of 33rpm for a better sound. i'd never heard that claim before and was curious if there's any validity to it?

 

[Duggeh]

More vinyl passes under the needle per second of audio at any point of the album (LPs play at constant angular velocity (CDs and DVDs and SACDs and RTR tape play at constant linear velocity).

This means that 45rpm records, all other things being equal, will sound a bit better than 33 & 1/3 RPM records. The tradeoff is that you can't fit as much on each side.

Laserdisc had both constant linear and constant angular rotation specifications.


Constant angular velocity (the 33 or 45 or 78rpm measurement) also means that the outside grooves sound better than the inner ones. This is partially behind the phenomenon of "inner groove distortion" and also why on the really premium pressings, the side of a record stops into the end groove much further from the centre of the disc.)

 

[keanej6]

very interesting. thanks, duggeh.