Vinyl Record Weights: Simple Spreadsheet

Introduction – Vinyl Record Weights

Recently I had to move some records around. For this I needed to estimate how much my collection weighed. Instead of weighing every single one of them I though I’d only have to weigh one of each size and then multiply that with the amount of records.

That estimation got me close enough, but I noticed I couldn’t find a simple overview of how much LP records weigh. I also noticed that each record weight varies. That’s probably depending on how much the label wanted to spend during production. So I’ve also specified the range of weight per vinyl size. That did make me think though: Are heavier records better?

I’ll answer that question later on in this article. So if you’re interested you can check that out. But if you’re just here for the vinyl record weight spreadsheet shown above you can just use that of course.

Sadly, I haven’t been able to get a good overview of RPM and weight. Since some 12″ records are played at 33 1/3 RPM and some at 45 RPM. Some 7″ are okayed at both. Because of this the relation between rotational speed & weight isn’t as clear, but the size and rotational speed relationship is. That’s why I went with the current overview.

Heavyweight Vinyl Records

So heavyweight vinyl records will generally weigh between 180 – 220 gram. The 180 Gram Vinyl is very popular and many fans get excited when an album is announced to get an 180 gram edition.

Why are they excited? Is heavyweight audio quality actually better? Well I’ll cover that in the next section of this article, but what I can say about heavyweight vinyl already is this: The extra weight feels great in my hands. Now this is a personal opinion, but I’ve seen more people on the web agreeing with me than disagreeing.

Are Heavier Records Better?

Let’s start with saying that heavier records are more expensive. That’s obiously mainly because more material is used. If it costs more then surely there should be added benefits right? Well there are, but maybe not what you think.

A heavier vinyl disc is more robust and durable. This durability doesn’t really mean less groove damage though. The groove degradation will be the same as the lighter variant. What I mean with robust and durable is that it’s much harder to warp, which is great! Next to that it’s less likely to get damaged by accidents like dropping them.

So if grooves are still degrading is the audio actually any better? Well no, not really. The depth of the grooves are exactly the same. However the audio quality can be indirectly improved because of a sturdier platter. This can for example decrease issues with skipping, which is a quality improvement.

Conclusion – Vinyl Record Weights

So the weight of a record is different for each record, but there is a general weight range for eacht record size. This is what I’m showing in the simple spreadsheet in this article. Next to that we talked about the effect of extra weight on audio quality and found there’s only an indirect effect, which is actually pretty geat. Next to that there are more benefits like a better feel and more durability.

Hopefully this was useful to you. I’d also love it if you checked out my educational articles like this one. Or if you’re interested in buying a new record player then you can check out my reviews & top lists.

References

1. “10-inch LP (1948 – 1980s) – Museum Of Obsolete Media”. www.obsoletemedia.org. 2013-11-23.