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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
fleib
1,124 posts
 

Lew,

Accidents happen. Go to Miyajima site and read -
The cartridge of the vertical axis concentration method plays only a monaural LP. It cannot play a stereo LP with this cartridge.

When it played a stereo LP with this cartridge, a sound is that a distortion and a needle do not work lengthwise, and there is the thing that a needle injures the ditch of the LP. 

What does injure the ditch of the LP mean?  The reviewer is a dumbass.

I was talking about tip wear. We already know a Zero will tear up a stereo groove.  How many hours will you get from a spherical tracking at 3.5g ?  I guess it depends on diamond quality and polish.

I think any MM/MI type you look at is going to use stereo coils connected in such a way to cancel vertical output.  MCs like the 33MONO  only have a horizontal coil, but vertical compliance. 

I'd think with your mono collection you'd want a tip with a more advanced profile. The Cadenza mono has a fine line and is less expensive than a Zero. Can't say I've heard it, but my MONO3 has a nice presentation but lacks some resolution compared to better stereo carts.

Regards,

johnnyb53 OP
3,510 posts
 
Fleib, I've found that--with the ATMONO/3/LP HOMC--the resolution can vary with the quality of the mono mix. My stereo cart is an AT150MLX--boron cantilever, microline nude stylus. I have both a stereo and a mono copy of "Al Hirt's Greatest Hits," an RCA 1965 recording. The stereo version is in excellent shape; the mono was still sealed and set me back a whopping 25 cents.

Anyway, when I played both records with my stereo cart, the stereo version sounded decidedly better. The mono pressing sounded murkier and the vocal backing was harder to hear.

However, when I swapped to the ATMono3/LP, the mono pressing sounded as if someone flipped a resolution switch. The mix was deep, spacious, and very well separated. As good as the background vocals sounded on the stereo one, the mono cart playing the mono pressing was even better with more inner detail and a bit more overall cohesiveness.

On vintage mono from 1969 backward, I consistently get an inaudible noise floor and a very satisfactory music experience. Come to think of it, I also get that with the modern pressings--Beach Boys from Capitol, the new Beatles MONO release, and an Analogue Productions' 45 rpm pressing of a 1957 Nat Cole album.
fleib
1,124 posts
 

Johnnyb,

No argument. The presentation is definitely better. It's as if you're hearing the recording as it was meant to be heard. Like me, only more so, Lew has a number of acoustic jazz discs in mono. My comments are made with that in mind.

Given our situation and the fact that Lew has some fabulous equipment, do you think a MONO3 or 33 would compete with a Kleos mono or Cadenza mono?  I can't say for sure, but I kind of doubt it.

It seems like all the Japanese companies only use spherical tips on their mono carts. Until recently there probably wasn't much demand for mono carts, but I'd like similar detail as your ML tip affords in stereo. 

When my MONO3 tip wears out I'll have it replaced with a more advanced one. Maybe a HOMC is a good idea here because response can be tailored with load resistance. In the mean time I am enjoying the cart, but I can't help thinking of what it might sound like with an LC or whatever. Perhaps a 33 with another tip would be a killer?

Regards,


johnnyb53 OP
3,510 posts
 
Fleib: Well there's a thought. The ATMono3/LP can be so inexpensive ($112.65) that it might be worth retipping with a microline right away. Like AT's upscale cartridge it's internally wired with PCOCC. I am a big fan of MicroLine. Not only does it sound good, it tracks like a mofo, is easy on the records, and can be good for up to 4,000 hours (according to what I heard from an analog specialty store).

The 0.7 conical stylus of the AT-33MONO and ATMONO3/LP may have its advantages, however. I think that profile may be why that mono cart does so well both on true vintage mono pressings and present-day reissues. A MicroLine might do better on moderns, worse on vintage.
lewm
13,174 posts
 
I know much less about the subject of stylus tip shape than does Fleib, but I don't see a problem using a conical (also known as "spherical") tip to play a mono LP.  The "more advanced" shapes, from elliptical on up, were designed primarily to enhance reproduction from stereo LPs, or in the case of Shibata and related shapes, from quadraphonic LPs.

Fleib, In your quote from the Miyajima website, surely you do not mean to poke fun at the poor English of what must be a translation from Japanese?  First, we don't even know who translated the passage; it might be computer-generated. Second, the paragraph is nevertheless understandable, and in fact the sense of it is that their mono cartridge might indeed damage the grooves of a stereo LP. (Obviously, "ditch" means "groove".) Thus it is not at all fair to dismiss the author as a "dumbass".  The other thing I wonder at is that the author appears to be agreeing with you; you earlier suggested that the Zero could damage a stereo LP, and I cited a reference to the contrary. (I think it was from a review of the Zero by Fremer.)  I also still maintain that it would be a rare event indeed if one accidentally put a mono cartridge down on a stereo LP, a situation that would be quickly sensed and corrected, even if I am incorrect as regards the potential for damage. 

The question regarding tip shape for me more has to do with whether 0.7mil diameter (of a conical) is good for modern era re-pressings of mono LPs.

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