Do you use a different tonearm for 180gm LPs?

I've done quite a few comparisons lately and on my Victor-81 TT pretty much all 180 gm LPs sound a bit flat and not quite dynamic compared to the older pressings. I know this could be the question of mastering but even some highly acclaimed modern vinyl like Five Years Bowie set or Rhino Sabbath still sound inferior. Is it because the tonearm is adjusted for the thiner old vinyl and I need a different set-up for the new 180gm pressings? A double tonearm TT maybe?

 

The only thing that could possibly be changing from playing thicker vinyl is your vertical tracking angle - the angle of the cantilever as it goes down to the stylus needle (the end of which is bent to hold the needle parallel to the surface of the record). You can eliminate such effect by raising the tonearm to match the thicker vinyl (maybe 0.5mm?), or removing the platter mat or replace with a thinner one. The actual tracking angle difference change would be inconsequential though - you could change the angle just as much with 0.1g less tracking weight.

It is much more likely that what is being put on newer discs is "remastered" - digitally captured from (30 year older) master tape, restored and EQ'd to new tastes, then processed with compression the same way that remastered CDs are for loudness, and then sent off to the Czech Republic for mastering on 50 year old Neumann lathes, by computers instead of CBS Records engineers, then pressed on 40+ year old presses in small productions in overworked factories.

 

A 180gm record is only 0.73mm thicker than a standard issue vinyl. That's .028 " or less than 1/32 of an inch.
A 0.73mm rise over a 10" tonearm = 0.16 degrees.
A zero point one six degree change in SRA / VTA should not be audible.

 

Harby nailed it. Digital sources pressed into heavy vinyl don't magically benefit from being pressed. Source is everything.

 

I have all 3 thickness rekkids.......Standard 120g, 180g and 200g. Most of what I have is 180g so I set VTA and arc protractor using a 180g rekkid, when I spin the others I don't adjust for anything....Let it ride baby!
Everything sounds brilliant, so I am good.

 

Nope.

 

What hardy said. And if you read carefully you'll notice that very few forum members if any say those Bowie or Sabbath reissues sound better than originals even if they like them. A quality reissue is nice to have if you can't find a clean original at a reasonable price, but if you've got a good original buying a reissue is not usually money well spent.

 

Yep Curbach. Reissues are a last resort to me these days, after getting burned on poor quality records over and over. That latest Sneaker Pimps 180g 45rpm set really burned me. DMM repress, but the source is overboosted and distorted despite the record quality itself being excellent. It is quite literally a waste of a good pressing.

Side by side, my 1978 Pink Floyd Pro-Use Japan copy of DSotM smokes the recent 180g reissue in dynamics and overall sound quality. However, originals aren't growing on trees and the ones that are valuable are, well, valuable, which puts them out of my range on occasion.

I'll only pick up reissues from now on of stuff that is known to come from a proper source (not a CD someone had lying around the studio) and pressed at the right place (RTI for one). The Led Zeppelin reissues from the analog masters is a good example of reissues done right. You can hear the squeak from the kick drum hinge and the sound stage is perfect; on top of that, the pressings are nice as well. Haven't compared them to a first pressing or original of any of their albums, but what is there sounds great.