Vintage MONO Cartridge Question ?

I don't really care if the specs allow for some vertical crosstalk. When I lower the needle of my *stereo* cartridge (using the damped cueing lever), there is a loud THUMP! When I lower the needle with my AT-MONO3/LP, its landing is TOTALLY INAUDIBLE. If it's inaudible during a severe vertical modulation with no horizontal modulation to obscure it, then it's not going to contribute anything of note when all the groove modulations are in the horizontal plane.  

It's a really good cartridge for a ridiculous price, and the AT33MONO is even better, as it should be.

In theory, the noise generated by vertical motion of the stylus in a mono cartridge is cancelled by adding the positive and negative signals from each channel, in a mono cartridge that was created from a stereo cartridge.  As I think Fleib is trying to say, since the two channels are never a perfect match, the cancellation effect also can never be absolutely perfect.  The same applies to using the mono switch, if your preamplifier has such.  I don't own any mono cartridge, but I do use a mono switch when playing mono LPs, and the improvement vs playing mono LPs in stereo is enormous, most notably in the area of reduced noise and an increase in the width of the soundstage.  From this I conclude that faux mono cartridges might also work pretty well to generate a mono experience, albeit not perfectly.  Anyway, the OP is not asking us to debate this issue.  He knows what he wants.

A true mono cartridge, which has only one coil, can have vertical compliance without generating any noise as a result, if there is no mechanism to transduce vertical movement into an audio signal.

Another issue, I much prefer 2-channel mono over the idea of using only one of two speakers when listening to mono.  Old habits die hard, I guess.  But this is why I personally have no interest in ancient true mono, 2-pin cartridges from the 50s.  (While I am a big proponent of vintage stereo cartridges.)

A true mono cartridge, which has only one coil, can have vertical compliance without generating any noise as a result, if there is no mechanism to transduce vertical movement into an audio signal.

My point exactly. Vertical compliance by itself does not disqualify a cartridge from being "true mono."

Another issue, I much prefer 2-channel mono over the idea of using only one of two speakers when listening to mono. Old habits die hard, I guess. But this is why I personally have no interest in ancient true mono, 2-pin cartridges from the 50s. (While I am a big proponent of vintage stereo cartridges.)

No argument here! I *love* mono played through two speakers, esp. with my Maggie dipoles which energize the entire room. It's also a great way for tuning the system. If your mono signal is dead center between the speakers and you get a sense of depth, you're on the right track.

An answer to my original question ?    Buelller........Bueller.......

lopscri wrote:

An answer to my original question ?   Buelller........Bueller.......

Maybe you should write some vintage enthusiasts, such as Art Dudley w/Stereophile. You need someone really familar with old mono carts, which isn't exactly mainstream, even for vinyl enthusiast audiophiles, evidently. I'm a bit of an anachronism myself--big band enthusiast since 1965, grew up in a house with a big tube Zenith radio/78 rpm record player. I'm 63, have been at audio since I was 18. My phono stage and line stage are both PTP hand-wired all-tube units. I have at least 80 mono LPs ranging from the '50s (Belafonte's "Calypso", RCA Ortho-phonics, etc.) to originals from the '60s to Prestige and Riverside mono jazz reissues.

And yet I have absolutely no knowledge of pre-1962 mono cartridges.