[whaleyboy]

Morning folks - this past weekend my wife and I decided to start the journey into using vinyl as a source. We snagged a Music Hall MMF 5.1 and have it all set up and running. As an aside my wife (who is a budding audio enthusiast) was really enjoying how textured vocals sound (both from vinyl and from my headphone rig).

Anyway, I bought some re-releases of albums on 180g platters. In many cases these releases are double albums with three or four songs on one side as opposed to being half an album per side.

What is the purpose of putting less information onto an album side? Is there some physical property of records that makes them sound better when the grooves are less, uh, compressed or tight?

I get why they would be on higher density "virgin" vinyl (the 180g) part but not why they have less information per side. Also, one of the albums that I bought (HAIL TO THE THIEF by Radiohead) is in this format but has 12 inch records that play at 45 rpm. There must be a good reason but, as a noob, I just don't get it.

If this has been covered before please excuse me - my 10 thumbs couldn't find it via the search mechanism.

 

[hypoicon]

You already have typed the answer-- the audio is "less compressed" (more dynamic). Compression was invented to allow more playing time per side by having the grooves spaced closer together with fewer extremes of amplitude. You can check it out yourself by looking at the grooves (naked eye is fine) at the quiet parts of songs vs. the loud parts-- you can see the difference in width in the grooves.

The same thing is true, for different reasons, about the speed of the record. More speed means more information (detail) and the potential for more dynamic range-- that's why the craze for "dance mixes" in the 80s lead to the remixing of many songs with thumpingly loud rhythm sections released as 12" 45s. Many of these "singles" were only 5-10 minutes long per side with positively cavernous grooves (both physically and musically).

 

[Moontan13]

Do the 12" 45s use a different stylus?

 

[whaleyboy]

Thank you. That makes perfect sense.

 

[whaleyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moontan13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do the 12" 45s use a different stylus?

No. Exactly the same everything except for changing the platter speed.

 

[Moontan13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by whaleyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif No. Exactly the same everything except for changing the platter speed.

Hmmm... Good to know, thanks.