How are you playing your precious MONO Vinyl?

@faustuss  mono records have been cut with stereo heads since the mid-60s, but they are reconfigured to cut a mono signal, so it's not the same thing. Using a true mono cartridge makes a big difference even with the reissues. They are cut true mono, with the signal in the horizontal grove and nothing but noise/distortion in the vertical part. A true mono cartridge ignores that vertical part to improve signal/noise ratio.

It works fine to use a stereo cartridge with the mono switch engaged, but it still isn't the same as using a mono cartridge, even for modern reissues.

anyone like the idea of MC at33 mono rebuilt with new boron cantilever/new microridge stylus?

here's one on Yahoo Auctions, 20 hours left, with OEM used conical on aluminum. (I bought mine with a broken cantilever)

https://yahoo.aleado.com/lot?auctionID=v1184076322

Allow about +$65. extra for Yahoo Auction costs  

have VAS put a new microridge on boron cantilever for +$400.

A totally unique and unavailable combo that sounds awesome!

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If you don't know how Yahoo Auctions work:

Aleado is a bidding agent, you open an account with them and pre-deposit enough money ahead of time for them to bid on your behalf.

Like eBay, you put in your maximum, it only bids enough to win, up to your maximum.

Seller ships to Aleado who verifies that it is what the seller says it is. Aleado gives you several shipping options to choose from, with time estimates.

You confirm which shipping method/cost, they ship, it does not take that long, even surface these days.

Aleado takes a fee

Bank transfer fee

In-Japan Shipping to Aleado by seller

Aleado ships to you.

I have won several auctions, the one mistake I made was fearing long shipping time during covid and choosing $30. airmail, surface would have gotten here eventually. A complete bargain may only be achieved with patience.

Oh yeah, the small print: they might end early, or they might extend the auction by a day or two, just put your max in and let it happen.

faustuss

"The only mono’s I have are reissues which are all lacquered with modern stereo heads these days. I simply use my stereo micro line cartridge and throw the mono switch on my phono preamp and I’m golden. No muss no fuss!" 

Exactly what I did for years, I used to feel sorry for people who didn’t have a MONO switch.

Until, I read here what dwette and I and others who know are saying:

A True Mono Cartridge is BETTER. I clarify that by saying, a little, some, a lot, a whole heck of a lot better (depends on each LP content, engineering, condition).

Many things Phono, I emphasize the difference between ’prefer’ and ’better’. I prefer my mx110z's MM Phono RIAA EQ to any other I have heard in my system, I would not claim it is better, your ears/your system ....

In this case, notice I said BETTER! (In anyone's system)

To @dwette ​​​​@elliottbnewcombjr point, if you are going through the trouble of maintaining analog setup, buying mono vinyl, then why settle for stereo cart with mono switch. That’s like investing in a classic car, detailing it every weekend, then filling it with 87-octane and calling it “close enough….LOL! 

I am committed to the full analog ritual—cleaning vinyl, precision tonearms, chasing dead-quiet backgrounds. I am not going to cheat myself out of the magic of true mono playback. 

What I gather after reading here and online, a mono cartridge isn’t just about collapsing channels; its about, reduced noise (no vertical modulation pickup) and matching proper stylus profile for mono grooves. 

Once installed, I am hoping for a fuller, more centered imaging that feels solid and alive, not smeared in any possible context.

And what about honoring the original intent of the recording?  

Thank you all for your valuable input! 

https://dgmono.com/mono-cartridge-database/

Those of you who play mono records cut back in the hey day when that was the only format but today reissue producers don’t want to try and sell records that customers have to jump through hoops to play them back properly. Mono reissues are at a marketing disadvantage already just because they’re mono.

The only reconfiguring they might do is and probably electronically, is to limit the cutting head’s movements lateral only to reduce noise and keep in check out of phase anomalies if they were to occur, its the same stylus profile, geometry etc.

The advantage to using your preamps mono switch is to cancel the surface noise picked by your stereo cartridges vertical motion (the opposite stereo channel) and most reissue vinyl is so meticulously pressed these days that it’s free of surface noise most of the time anyway and can be played just fine with systems that lack the ability to combine the channels. Oh, don’t tell me about that $20 repress you bought that was mastered from a dubiously disclosed source mastered and pressed who knows where! Believe what you want though if it makes you feel better.