Is 45 RPM Really Better?
45 RPM gives the cutting engineer more room to work with — and a 33 LP gives the listener more music. Both are real advantages, and they pull in opposite directions.
The differences between 45 and 33 RPM at the same source and same mastering are genuinely audible, but they live mostly in places that don't always matter as much as we tell ourselves they do.
The argument for 45 is mechanical. At a faster rotational speed, the linear velocity of the groove past the stylus is greater. That means more high-frequency information can be cut into the groove without the modulation getting too steep for the cartridge to track cleanly. It also means less distortion in the last few minutes of each side, where groove velocity drops because the radius is smaller. On a 33 the inner grooves are working harder than the outer ones, and you can sometimes hear the difference if you listen for it.
The argument against 45 is practical. A 33 holds twenty-plus minutes per side. A 45 holds maybe twelve. So an album that fits on one 33 LP needs two 45 LPs, more sides, more flipping, more lifting and lowering the stylus. That's not nothing for those of us who actually sit down and listen to whole albums in single sittings.
A great 45 cut from the original analog master at the same plant will edge out the 33 in resolution and inner-groove smoothness, especially on dynamically demanding music where the extra headroom actually gets used.
That said, a well mastered 33 can trounce a mediocre mastered 45. So, like anything else in our crazy passion, specs don't always tell the story.
Speed matters.
Mastering matters more.
And the album you actually sit and listen to all the way through matters most of all.
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