Mono recordings - two questions...

LewM-

Julie's cover of "Laura" is beautiful. As mentioned in an earlier post, I repeatedly fall in love with Julie when I play the album.

I have to agree with an article  I read about her. Julie's voice and delivery say...come hither.  Va-va-voom!

I have to say jjss49 you started with one of the best albums
to listen to in mono,  This is Julie and Lonely Girl 
are highly recommended as confirmed by several posts .
You might also try Duke Ellington at Newport ,
I've been very happy with most of the At Newport jazz
recordings form the 50's.
For something different try Jefferson Airplanes Takes Off
or the Beatles Sargent Pepper, If you have it in stereo you will really hear 
how different the two sound .

A well recorded mono recording can't give a sound stage
but you should be able to differentiate between front and back.
On the Duke Ellington the recording you can pick up instruments
coming from the left or right side mic .

If we're talking great mono, I also recommend any of the LPs sold via "Sam's Club", which is based in France.  I forget the name on the label of the production company.  All the Chet Baker recordings are to die for, in mono.  (Recorded during Baker's sojourn in Paris, I think.) They've produced maybe 8 or 10 LPs thus far, no losers among them.
Also, the original "Ella and Louis" recordings are sublime.

Back to mono baby !

Well recorded and well reproduced vintage mono recordings sound wonderful.  Many are surprised at the sense of depth and realism possible with a mono LP.   You can hear layering among instruments, space around musicians, and studio ambiance.  While everything happens in the middle, you can hear so much depth that it sounds like the back of the recording reaches all the way to the horizon.

I am a proponent of using true mono cartridges to play pre 1960 mono LPs. There are very few true mono cartridges sold today.  Most described as mono are in fact stereo cartridges modified to output a mono signal. The modifications can be as simple as internal summing of connections, or as complex as reorienting the pair of existing stereo coils.  With either (or both) the cartridge still responds to and generates a signal from vertical content which can potentially affect what is heard by the listener.  A true mono cartridge only responds to horizontal content.

Cost can be less than $100 to several $1000 for a true mono cartridge.  At the low end, many are happy with the venerable GE VRII for which new styli are available.   The Denon 102 is available for less than $300.  Ortofon CG25DI MKII lists for about $900 but is available for much less.  

If your intent is to play pre 1960 LPs, then the investment in a true mono cartridge may be justified (but only you can make that decision).

If you expect to play mono LPs from the mid 60's forward, and current mono reissues, then a new mono (modified stereo) cartridge would be fine.

 The modifications can be as simple as internal summing of connections, or as complex as reorienting the pair of existing stereo coils.  With either (or both) the cartridge still responds to and generates a signal from vertical content which can potentially affect what is heard by the listener.

as for current mono options, I agree that the summing will pick up and attempt to offset any vertical content but if the coils are oriented so they are in the lateral and vertical plane and only the lateral ones are used then I do not see any pickup of the vertical info.  The one big difference found in "vintage" mono pickups is there is little vertical compliance which is the origin of the rumors that playing a stereo record with a mono cartridge will surely destroy it.  I am not aware of any recent manufacture cartridges that fall into the "lateral compliance only" category.

dave