MONO cartridge recommendation

lewm, as I mentioned, the information I provided was based on reading from a number of forums over the years. There are quite a number of discussions of mono recordings on the Steve Hoffman forums (as there are here) and Steve (who is probably as knowledgeable as anyone on this subject) has made some comments from which I have derived most of this information, so I suggest you do a search of that forum.

folkfreak, thanks for those links. I wasn't aware that ERC used a mono cutter, nor was I aware that Coup d'archet use a stereo cutter, even though I own the Johanna Martzy set from Coup d'archet that is the subject of the review. It therefore makes sense to listen to this reissue with a stereo cartridge.

It's interesting that although discussions of mono cartridges and mono recordings come up frequently, they almost inevitably lead to more confusion than clarity. I don't claim to be an expert, so if anyone has any better information, I for one would certainly appreciate it. 

@rossb I also own all the Coup Martzy’s (I’m not so rich that I can justify ERC prices) and love how they sound with my Zero. They also sound good with my Palladian but somehow there’s more vim with the Zero which suits the material. Have you tried them both ways and liked the stereo set up best?

Some other works, such as the recent 45rpm Pet Sounds, seem to work better with the stereo cartridge. I have two arms and so can make comparisons easily. Still great to have the dedicated mono for the older stuff in any case.

folkfreak, I am a little embarrassed to say that I have hardly listened to the Martzy set, even though it is the most expensive LP set I own! I haven't done a serious mono/stereo comparison, so I will make some time this afternoon to do that, with the Shelter 501 mono against the Etna SL.

Actually, it would make more sense to compare the LPs using a Shelter 501 mono vs a Shelter 501 Stereo with the same phono stage. The only variable then would be mono vs stereo version of the same cartridge. Fortunately, I have both versions of the Shelter 501 and my EAR 912 preamp has two phono  inputs. But that comparison will unfortunately have to wait until my new arm arrives in a few weeks.

That’s the problem in most of these comparisons. The basic cartridge is different. Not surprising that a cart costing 5 times as much (as in my Palladian vs the Zero) can drag out some more detail, but often the cheaper Zero is more sympatico. Anyway the 501 comparisons are just the way to go, would love to hear your results