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Colour of Vinyl. black is best

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lfc jon View Drop Down
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    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 8:40pm
I was reading about how the colour of Vinyl records affects the sound and that some will only buy Black vinyl because it gives better sound quality. Anyone agree with that out there?  I can't see why it will
 That said I do have  a picture disc record and the black vinyl copy, the black has the better sound quality But it did say that picture discs were the worst of the lot.
GO FOR IT 

Jonathan

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote patientot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 9:11pm
Picture disks are not regular vinyl. They are made entirely differently. Google search for a video. 

Re: colored vinyl it depends how it is done. The biggest potential issue with it are contaminants getting into the mix, especially with multi-colored splatter vinyl that is popular now. I've had some of those with all sorts of crap mixed it. Then there are plants that use regrind/scrap to make those pressings, or at least a portion of regrind/scrap. 

Now, a well done colored vinyl pressing has never given me any sound quality problems. I have a number of these, including some that go back to the 70s and 80s. 

One other potential issue is that black vinyl has material added to it to make it more durable. This might make a very small amount of difference over a very long period of time and many plays of a single record. 
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lfc jon View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lfc jon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 11:49pm
Thanks David
that's giving me more in sight, as for picture disks thanks for reminding me, I think I did look that up before it rings a bell I'll google it again 
I am sure all vinyl is clear so even black vinyl has to have the black added to it I'll look that up too.
It just makes me think why some think black is best, It may just be what you said, to make it more durable over time it makes sense when you are buying second hand vinyl 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote patientot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 11:57pm
Originally posted by lfc jon lfc jon wrote:

Thanks David
that's giving me more in sight, as for picture disks thanks for reminding me, I think I did look that up before it rings a bell I'll google it again 
I am sure all vinyl is clear so even black vinyl has to have the black added to it I'll look that up too.
It just makes me think why some think black is best, It may just be what you said, to make it more durable over time it makes sense when you are buying second hand vinyl 

Right, it's clear, and color is added to it when it gets made into pellets. Those pellets are then heated into a "biscuit" which goes into the pressing machine. 

People that avoid colored vinyl usually do so because they had a bad experience with it. I don't blame them. There are loads of shoddy colored vinyl pressings on the market that are simply a gimmick cash-in. However, I have some colored vinyl that sounds amazing. Just depends how it is done. Oh, avoid glow in the dark vinyl. That stuff will almost always sound nasty. 

FWIW the best sounding and lowest surface noise vinyl formulation I have seen/heard are semi-translucent formulas from the 70s and 80s that look black but light will shine through when held up to a lamp. Not to be confused with styrene which is something else. These formulas were developed in Japan IIRC and a few companies are bringing something similar back (slightly different formula I believe), though I haven't tried those new formulas. 


Edited by patientot - 28 Jun 2020 at 11:58pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 1:04pm
I have had great experience with red-colored vinyl, on average. Both "solid" and transparent. But I have found great pressings with green, blue, yellow, orange, pink, grey and crystal clear too.

Only color that I have often found to be problematic in terms of noise is white.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote lfc jon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 3:45pm
Hi Luca
I have a album by DD Dumbo that's white with only bits of other colour in the vinyl and in terms of noise I have the same problem. But I think it only came out in that colour and it's his only album so far. 
But as I said it's the picture disk that's by far the worst any other colour not a problem.
So I can't think why some will only buy vinyl if it's black other than they had a bad experience with colour ones. So far on this forum most only have a small problem with colour vinyl, and as it's been said the colour is added to the vinyl as it's clear in the 1st place

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote BackinBlack Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 4:22pm
IIRC one of the first, if not first Long Play picture discs using coloured vinyl was Curved Air's "Air Conditioning". Unfortunately in some pressings the different coloured vinyls were inclined to separate from each other, leading to the worst sounding vinyl ever! No doubt they're now collectors items fetching silly money.
Otherwise, I have some coloured LPs which sound quite excellent eg "Drones" by Muse on red vinyl.
Just listen, if it sounds good to you, enjoy it.
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