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A new player in the quality Mono cartridge game

For awhile there, if you wanted a mono cart to get the most out your new mono Beatles collection, other mono reissues, or vintage mono LPs, there were the budget offerings from Grado, a big price gap, and then the more expensive good stuff. The elliptical mono Grado goes for around $150.

But now the Audio Technica AT MONO3/LP, a HOMC, is available in the US. The link goes to the official importer, LpGear, who prices this $299.99 cart at $189.99. However, I also found that this cart is available from Amazon for $112.65. Worried that the unofficial import puts your purchase at risk? For a mere $12 extra you can buy a 2-year protection warranty.

I ordered mine via Amazon Prime on Sat. Oct. 24 and it arrived today.

This thing is NICE! 1.2mV output, which is plenty, conical stylus (don't know if it's nude or not, but it *sounds* nude), tracking force range 1.5-2.5g. I'm breaking mine in at around 2g.

Even fresh out of the box, this cart's a revelation. I started with "Within You Without You" from the new Beatles Mono vinyl reissue. It's really something when you play a mono record with a cartridge that produces no signal in the vertical plane. The noise floor drops down to the indiscernible. In fact, even cueing the needle makes very little sound thru the speakers.

Everything on Sgt. Pepper's sounded richer, lusher, more distinct, more dynamic, with great treble extension and no hint of sibilance. I followed it with Analogue Productions' 3-LP 45 rpm remaster of Nat King Cole's "After Midnight." Fan-TASTIC! I thought Nat was in the room before, but the dynamics, transparency, and truth-in-timbre reached a height I hadn't heard on my rig up to now.

I finished my mini-audition with a *real* mono record, an original mono Columbia Masterworks pressing of "Grand Canyon Suite" performed by Eugene Ormandy and The Phily Phil. Again, smoother, quieter, more dynamics. It showed its age a little bit, but I think I could bring this 55-yr-old record close to the reissues with a steam cleaning. Even without it it was very satisfying.

Folks, if you have nothing but the new Beatles mono reissues and have an easy way to switch cartridges or set up a mono rig, this cart is so worth it.

Right now I have around 13 Beatles mono LPs, two Beach Boys reissues, the Nat King Cole, some old Columbia Masterworks and shaded dog Orthophonics, mono reissues of Prestige and Miles Davis LPs, and some mono pressings of '60s pop.

I'm thinking of separating all my mono vinyl into its own shelf so--when I mount the AT Mono3 LP--I don't have to sort through my entire collection to play the compatible LPs.

BTW, if you decide to go after this cartridge, make sure you get the AT MONO3/LP cartridge, which is for mono LPS, and *NOT* the AT MONO3/SP cartridge, which is for 78s.
johnnyb53
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 
A great discussion, Lewm and Johnnyb. There is one playback scenario not mentioned, the one I use. I have a fair number of 50's and early-to-mid 60's mono LP's, and in addition to my main pre-amp I have been using one (ARC LS-1) with a mode switch having the following settings: Stereo, (Stereo) Reverse, Mono, Left (channel only), and Right (ditto). Using a stereo cartridge, a mono LP can be played with the mode switch set to not only Mono, but also to Left or Right, whereupon that channel's input signal will be fed to both the left and right outputs of the pre. Switching between them allows one to compare the two groove walls! The best sounding wall can then be the one listened to.

I also listen to early stereo LP's (particularly Beach Boys and Beatles) via the Left and Right inputs separately, to hear the extreme left/right panning on those records, with the instruments in one channel and vocals in the other. Many of the early Beach Boys albums were not offered in true stereo, but in Duosonic (mono reprocessed fake stereo). The two channels of Duosonic LP's can be compared, to hear the processing (frequency and phase differences added to the original dual mono channels).

A cartridge of particular interest for the playing of mono LP's, I believe, is the Decca/London, because of it's sum-and-difference design. The cartridge produces a L+R signal and a L-R one, to attain stereo. How that can be exploited for mono LP's I don't know.
rnm4
308 posts
 
If I'm not mistaken (and I may be), the AT33MONO for around 300 bucks has only coil for picking up horizontal vibration, unlike the AT MONO3, which only generates signal from the horizontal movement, presumably canceling the vertical component.

Here is how AT describes the former:

"The AT33Mono is made specifically for use on mono systems. It has a horizontal coil, and so in principle only generates electricity horizontally."

And here the latter:

"Made specifically for mono recordings on vinyl records, the cartridge only generates signal with horizontal movement. However to produce a minimal wear on the groove, the AT-MONO3/LP also has an adapted vertical compliance."

Is that how you would interpret the difference here?
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa
4,867 posts
 
I have a mono switch on the ARC PH8. Virtually all mono records sound best on my system in mono mode. Here's the kicker though ... can anyone explain why some stereo recordings sound better in mono mode? Not a lot of stereo records, but some.
rnm4
308 posts
 
Because some stereo mixes, especially early ones with exaggerated separation (Ringo and Paul to the right, George and John to the left!), are god-awful?
lewm
12,562 posts
 
Anecdote re the Decca London. Back when that was the latest rage, I and a close friend both bought one. He and I separately noted that if you removed the cover over the top of the body, you could access the assembly that supported the coils or at least some part of the transducing mechanism. We had enough faith in ourselves to adjust the tiny screws, which moved a platform up and down, so as to get best sound. It was only after a few months of listening that we discovered that we each had turned a stereo cartridge into a mono cartridge; there was no stereo separation at all, when the London sounded best to our ears.

Rnm4, I don't know what to make of the language you quote, describing the difference between the two AT mono cartridges. It's ambiguous, don't you think?

I think I need to purchase a mono cartridge in order to compare the use of a mono switch to using a mono cartridge, but right now I bemoan the fact that many modern preamplifiers have omitted the option of mono switching. I have two vintage units that provide same, an original Quicksilver full function preamplifier and a Klyne 6LX, through which I use an outboard tube phono stage. Some day, I am going to install a mono switch on my Atma-sphere MP1, which is the best sounding of the 3. Or maybe that system will get the mono cartridge.
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