Mono VS Stereo


Hello,

For the last few years I stopped listening to my system in stereo mode and now only listen in mono. As soon as I started listening in mono my listening enjoyment went up about 300%. No longer did I become fatigued by the (Man made) stereo (Effects) created by the engineers in the studio. I grew to hate following these effects from the left speaker to the right speaker and back again with some recordings. When you attend a live performance be it Rock, Jazz, synphony or whatever, the sound comes at you in mono not stereo (Unless of course the sound man has other ideas. But as far as the band and the actual instruments are concerned there is no such thing as "Playing" in stereo. Give it a try, listen to your records or CD's in mono ( I hope you all have a mono selector on your preamps) it will be hard going back to stereo listening plus the soundstage and the way the "Band" comes across will be really cool.
nocaster
Apparently you don't attend many live acoustic concerts, or(if you do) pay for very good seating. Anyone seated in the better seats can even "hear" the hole in the middle of the orchestral seating arrangement. That's given a decent acoustic to start with. In any decent smaller venue, say an acoustic jazz/blues club; there's also no problem with hearing instrument or vocal placement within the live soundfield, as well as the venue's ambience(what stereo seeks to replicate). When we set up(amplified) sound in a live venue: we have to consider that over a third of the audience will be seated in front of the left speaker and over a third in front of the other. There will be less than a third seated in what would be considered a "sweet spot", and able to appreciate "stereo". So- most amplified venues are run in mono. I'm certain there are many that still enjoy mono, and some of the early works that were recorded that way are excellent listens. As long as you're enjoying whatever you listen to.........
Don't know what a true mono system is and I've never listened to one. I'm happy with the state of my system and I like to listen in mono as Rodman99999 pointed out, to each his own! This passion of ours gives us great joy, in the end it's about passion and joy. Some people obtain perfect sonic enjoyment from a set of headphones (Those people are lucky because they get off cheap!), others need a system where thousands are invested. In any case the one thing all of us have in common is that we all love music, for surely without music there would be no stereo or mono!
Hi Nocaster, if you have vinyl, you really owe it to yourself to get a mono cartridge. You will totally be surprised by how different it is if you have mono recordings. Look at Art Dudley's column on his musings and joys of mono. To hear a mono recording with a mono cartridge is a wonderful ear opening experience that I could certainly get behind. Just flipping the mono switch?, no....
Sorry to confuse you. Why don't you just go with a single loudspeaker system. That would be a real mono system. I personally think mono playback can be wonderful, but you got to go all the way.
No longer did I become fatigued by the (Man made) stereo (Effects) created by the engineers in the studio. I grew to hate following these effects from the left speaker to the right speaker and back again with some recordings. When you attend a live performance be it Rock, Jazz, synphony or whatever, the sound comes at you in mono not stereo

I think this is the key to your preference for mono -- the material you are listening to, and its engineering. The sound of a classical symphony orchestra, or a smaller classical ensemble or soloist, being listened to in a good hall (and unamplified, of course), will be surrounded by a very striking hall ambience. That will be captured to some approximation by a well done stereo recording (especially if it is recorded with a minimal number of microphones, and is subjected to minimal post-processing), but will be mostly lost when you listen in mono mode. The same no doubt holds true for many well-engineered non-classical recordings.

Regards,
-- Al