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Mono Cartridge Question

You chaps have watched me struggle with the issue of my London Decca Reference being irreplaceable, and then joyfully learning that John Wright has a successor after all. You have seen me buy and test three other MI designs (Nagaoka MP-500, Grado Statement3, Soundsmith Sussurro MkII) along with my older MC cartridges (Ortofon Kontrapunkt C and Benz Micro Ruby 3). Since those struggles have led me to owning two SME turntables and four tonearms, I am now torturing myself with the question of whether one of those four should be home to a dedicated mono cartridge. Remember, I only have one ear and cannot hear stereo at the best of times. A mono cartridge for my few dozen mono recordings would be a matter of reduced surface noise and possibly some improvement in dynamics.

I can get hold of an Ortofon Cadenza Mono (two voice coils so not true mono) for about 1600CDN, and a Miyajima Zero for 3450CDN. So the question is this: am I mad to even think about it? Money is not what it once was before I retired. There is no opportunity to go and hear these before purchase, without spending much more than purchase price on travel.

Shall I "make do" with my rather good stereo carts for my mono LPs or is there something better waiting for me when I get out those Parlophone Beatles LPs?

 

dogberry
pryso
1,933 posts
 

Similar to what Mike was recommending, one issue seldom mentioned is stylus tip size.  That may come down to the mono records you intend to play.  Are they original monos from the '50s and early '60s, or reissues produced within the past 20 years?

Early monos were cut with a larger tip, 0.7 to 1.0 mil for LPs.  Nearly all mono reissues were made with stereo cutter heads with smaller size. I don't believe few if any mono cutter heads survive.  

I assume from this mono reissues may be OK with current stereo cartridges, although a mono switch (per Lew) may still help sonics.  But with original mono releases a mono cartridge with appropriate tip size should optimize the enjoyment.

dullgrin
15 posts
 

I'll be curious to hear where you land on this question, dogberry. I've been wrestling with the same question, and just purchased a mono cartridge to begin my investigations. I'll be happy to report findings if anyone is interested.

I purchased a zyx mono cartridge. zyx options weren't necessarily on my radar but I got a good deal on the cartridge bundled with a tonearm. The zyx carts are all 1.0 mil, spherical stylus. I'm good with that as an option for now. I have plenty of old mono classical records that I suspect will be best served with the 1.0 mil option. For modern mono reissues, I'll try the mono cartridge and my stereo cartridge to see which I prefer.

None of my phono preamps have a mono switch. And the comparison between the mono and stereo carts won't exactly be scientific - they will be on slightly different tonearms and the stereo cart is from a different maker altogether. Still. Fun is about to happen.

 

dogberry OP
672 posts
 

Peter replied and I'm waiting for him to call for a discussion. I may be getting somewhere!

Chris

dogberry OP
672 posts
 

Well Peter said I'm crazy. Also a few things about Deccas in general "that I wouldn't say out loud in public." He's not a fan.

All I can do at this point is to hope that londondecca.com eventually get back to me.

lewm
13,110 posts
 

"Peter" is Peter Ledermann?

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