Fleib, I am rather surprised that a person as knowledgable as you are would say this: "That cart tracks at 3.5g (4g max) with a spherical tip and will tear up a stereo groove."
First, if I would ever use the Zero (or whatever mono cartridge I eventually purchase) to play a stereo LP, it would only be by accident. Second, the recommended VTF per se does not tell us much about how the cartridge will "wear" a groove encoding only mono signal. And third, I believe these issues were addressed to my satisfaction in reviews I have read of the Zero. One reviewer, it might have been MF, explicitly said the Zero was safe even for stereo LPs, although I would never intentionally go that route. For one thing, the Zero does have some vertical compliance.
Dave, I am already at the point where I do not play mono LPs except on my basement system, which is equipped with a preamplifier that has a mono switch. I no longer listen to mono LPs in all-stereo mode. There is a phenomenal improvement to be had by switching to mono mode when playing mono LPs with a stereo cartridge, which is what I have been doing for many months, and which is what got me into this thread in the first place. I continue to believe, until I hear otherwise with my own ears, that a mono switch will give you 80% to 90%, at worst, of the improvement you can achieve using a "modern" mono cartridge to play mono LPs. (Here I refer only to post-1950 true "LPs", not 78s or whatever else was available in the late 1940s.)
For my upstairs system, which has no stereo/mono switch, I require a low output Mono cartridge. So, if I were to purchase an AT, it would have to be the MC type. Is that the one you have, Dave? I am certainly also receptive to a Lyra Helikon (but too expensive) or Lyra Kleos or Miyajima Premium Be. All of these, plus the Zero, are known to be internally modified so as to suppress the capacity to respond to vertical modulation. The Miyajima Premium and Zero are said from the get-go to have been designed for mono.
First, if I would ever use the Zero (or whatever mono cartridge I eventually purchase) to play a stereo LP, it would only be by accident. Second, the recommended VTF per se does not tell us much about how the cartridge will "wear" a groove encoding only mono signal. And third, I believe these issues were addressed to my satisfaction in reviews I have read of the Zero. One reviewer, it might have been MF, explicitly said the Zero was safe even for stereo LPs, although I would never intentionally go that route. For one thing, the Zero does have some vertical compliance.
Dave, I am already at the point where I do not play mono LPs except on my basement system, which is equipped with a preamplifier that has a mono switch. I no longer listen to mono LPs in all-stereo mode. There is a phenomenal improvement to be had by switching to mono mode when playing mono LPs with a stereo cartridge, which is what I have been doing for many months, and which is what got me into this thread in the first place. I continue to believe, until I hear otherwise with my own ears, that a mono switch will give you 80% to 90%, at worst, of the improvement you can achieve using a "modern" mono cartridge to play mono LPs. (Here I refer only to post-1950 true "LPs", not 78s or whatever else was available in the late 1940s.)
For my upstairs system, which has no stereo/mono switch, I require a low output Mono cartridge. So, if I were to purchase an AT, it would have to be the MC type. Is that the one you have, Dave? I am certainly also receptive to a Lyra Helikon (but too expensive) or Lyra Kleos or Miyajima Premium Be. All of these, plus the Zero, are known to be internally modified so as to suppress the capacity to respond to vertical modulation. The Miyajima Premium and Zero are said from the get-go to have been designed for mono.