advice for mono cartridge


Hi,

I have a Garrard 401 with a Magnepan Unitrac and an SME 3009 Mk II Improved.

I’m thinking about turning one of the tonearms into a dedicated mono setup, probably on the SME 3009 Mk II Improved, as the Magnepan is my main arm and I really like the sound of it for stereo. The SME has a detachable headshell, making it easy to switch back and forth if necessary and I’m used to the sound of the Magnepan, so I don’t really want to change anything there.

I run MM only right now (although I guess I could pick up a step up transformer) and the SME has an effective mass of 9.5g. It also tracks only to 1.5g (although I bought the additional counterweight, which might help with that). It seems like my choice of mono cartridges is thus pretty limited. It seems the Ortofon 2M Mono Special Edition could be a good choice.

At the same time, I’m reading all sorts of contradictory info about whether vertical compliance, which the Ortofon seems to have (as opposed to Miyajima), is a good thing or not and whether a 1 mil or 0.7 mil stylus is best. Some also say a more modern line contact profile (the Ortofon has that) is actually preferable, even for older records, etc. Ortofon seems to say just that in their literature and Michael Fremer seems to agree. Also the Ortofon seems to have internally strapped output, which is somewhat controversial.

I actually heard recently a couple of very high end systems that used Miyajima mono cartridges and they sounded fantastic, huge soundstage, very realistic … but they were also clearly out of my price range, and only fit much heavier tone arms.

I have a mix of older mono pressings and reissues, presumably cut with a stereo cutter head.

I'm looking for advice from people with direct experience.

Considering the above,would the Ortofon 2M mono SE be a good choice? Does anyone see anything else more or less in that price range that might better it? Or should perhaps just wait and switch to a tone arm that would give me better options for mono down the line, perhaps a Fidelity Research FR-24, FR-54 or FR-14, which contrary to the FR-64 and FR-66, can be had for cheap. Budget is a concern overall.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Jerome Sabbagh
128x128saxman73
On the Miyajima website there is some useful information on stylus tip dimensions vis the vintage of a mono LP.  I don't remember it well enough to go out on a limb here, but I think I concluded that for "late" mono LPs, which is mostly what I own (no 78s at all, usually jazz from the mid- to late 50s), 0.7 mil is to be preferred over 1.0 mil.  But in theory, there is nothing wrong with using a modern exotic stylus shape.

As to the question of vertical compliance, I would not get hung up on that.  What might matter is whether the cartridge is designed and constructed as a "true mono" or whether it was built for stereo and achieves a mono output by bridging the two channels, internally.  The latter group of cartridges are by far in the majority.  The act of bridging cancels the signal that distinguishes between stereo and mono output. Only a few companies make true mono cartridges these days, Miyajima being one of them. EMT and maybe Ortofon also make true mono, and maybe also Lyra.  I say "maybe" because the makers are very ambiguous in describing the construction of their mono cartridges.  The Ortofon that you mentioned, for example, is almost surely created by bridging the two channels of their stereo equivalent.  But if you read their ad copy, you wouldn't be sure.  One benefit of the bridged stereo type is that you get two channels of mono output; I prefer that for driving my stereo speakers in mono.  With a true mono, sometimes you only get one pair of output pins, hot and ground.  This makes it awkward to drive a stereo pair of speakers in mono.  On the other hand, if you are a purist, you might want true mono, which would have no way of leaking high frequency groove noise into the phono stage. (Mono is in the lateral plane whereas stereo information is derived from vertical motion of the stylus.  If there is no stereo signal, as on a mono LP, then vertical motion of the stylus only generates noise from whatever dirt is in the groove.  You want to cancel that signal, which is effectively achieved by bridging but it is possible that a true mono cartridge might be superior at rejecting that source of noise. (I can't say, because I have no true mono cartridges.)

Finally, there is the question whether using a mono cartridge, especially the ones derived by bridging, is any better than using the mono switch that you may have on your linestage or phono stage.  There are varying opinions on that.  I don't hear any difference.
I use my stereo cartridge to play mono records with no problems at all.  No increase in noise, distortion,tracking ability, etc.
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I don't have much mono records, but my MONO are all from the 60's/70s.

What i've learned with is that modern High-End MONO cartridges comes with the best diamond profiles, not with the oldschool profiles designed for mono. I've checked Lyra mono cartridges and information about it. 

I also niticed that true mono MM cartridges have only 2 pins (not 4) and this is a true mono design, but stereo stylus with advanced profile is always a good bonus. My Grace F14 MONO designed with stereo stylus, but internally the cartridge is true mono with only 2 pins. 

More about Grace F-14 MONO in this thread