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Mono Cartridge Stylus

So a while back there was a thread about mono cartridges like the Miyajima. There was some confusion about stylus size and what should be used for mono re-pressings versus the original mono pressings.

So Miyajima claims that their 0.7 stylus is optimal for modern mono re-pressings and that their 1.0 stylus is for those earlier mono pressings that began in 1950. Columbia introduced the Microgroove pressing in 1948. The Microgroove pressing offers 300-400 grooves per inch and AI claims that the correct stylus for these pressings is 0.7. I will say that I don't believe Miyajima to be entirely wrong, as there were labels that still used wider grooves however, I believe nearly all of the major labels eventually adopted the Microgroove band width thus making it the norm by the early to mid 1950's.

goofyfoot
goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot OP
1,455 posts
 

@dogberry I recently had them all replaced but had failure after just a few weeks. The tech who did the work is now history and I think I've found someone who's better qualified.

billstevenson
628 posts
 

@gooyfoot,

I have an AT 33 Mono Anniversary that I have had for years, but used sparingly.  It sounds just fine for Baroque and Early Music, but is not a great tracking cartridge.  So it sits a lot as I jump around.  I will spend a year listening to just jazz, but for the past few months have spent 2-3 hours listening to J.S. Bach and then anything goes for the rest of the day.  Let me know your thoughts on the Hana if you go that way. 

lewm
13,782 posts
 

Bach's work is in my mind the forerunner of modern jazz piano music (Brubeck, Peterson, Powell, Monk, Walton, Evans, etc).  Which is to say that any cartridge that does well with Bach ought also to sound good with piano jazz LPs. Don'tcha think?

goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot OP
1,455 posts
 

@lewm Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, from then on everything changed. As far as Jazz is strictly concerned, augmenting and diminishing chord patterns created a departure from traditional harmonic structures and the resurrection of modal harmony that preceded Bach, allowed room for greater improvisation overall. Anyway, the wow and flutter that I get from playing Glenn Gould’s Beethoven Sonatas on Columbia has steered me in the direction of getting a better tonearm. I would say the same is true for records of Bach piano pieces. I’m just not 100% on whether tracking accuracy relies more on the tonearm or more on the cartridge?

kennyc
2,059 posts
 

Seems to be a lot more “mono” cart choices nowadays compared to 5-10yrs ago.  

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