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How good can a mono cartridge be...?

Can a modest mono cartridge better the performance of a top-of-the-line stereo cartridge?

I am wondering if anyone has practical, first-hand experience with this matter as I am deciding whether or not to invest some money in it. The situation:

1) I am luck to have a top-end tonearm and stereo cartridge
2) I have many mono LPs that sound great on the stereo setup (stereo cart, phono stage, 2 speakers)
3) My turntable will support a 2nd armboard, but my budget would not support a 2nd arm of the quality of my current arm -- nor would I be able to afford a top-of-the-line mono cartridge.

Question: Could a modest arm/mono cartridge actually perform better on mono source material than my top arm/stereo cartridge, all else equal? (No mono switches on the preamp, no mono amp, no single-speaker setup.)

What I'm assuming: If I could mount a top-of-the-line mono cartridge on a 2nd arm of the caliber of my first, then I would assume that it would perform better than my stereo cart on the mono source. Unfortunately, I could not afford to duplicate that setup, so I need to add that "practical" element to the question.

Said another way, on mono LPs...
a) Top arm + top mono cart > Top arm + top stereo cart
b) moderate arm + moderate mono cart > moderate arm + moderate stereo cart
c) moderate arm + moderate mono cart ? ( ?) top arm + top stereo cart

Has anyone experimented with this? Is it worth pursuing for me? I would have to get a 2nd armboard, in addition to the arm + cart.

Thank you!
ebalog
hevac1
812 posts
 
Hello Ebalog
I have a Basis TT with a Graham 2.2. I have two wands for the Graham arm. 1 for a Stereo Koetsu Urushi and 1 for a Lyra Helikon Mono. IMHO, this is one of the best investment I have made. I have found that this allows me to purchase used records I would normally pass over if they were stereo. As Eldartford stated in and earlier reply, a mono true cartridge does not send any vertical groove modulation information. This where most of the damage you here on stereo records happens. A stereo cartridge will send the vertical groove info to your preamp even it is in mono mode. The Lyra does sound better than the Koetsu for mono recordings even with my preamp in mono mode because of the missing vertical info. There are a lot of very great recordings out there in mono like the Beatles records, all of them up to the White Album were recorded in mono then channeled or remixed into stereo. IMHO they sound best in mono not stereo.
I would try the extra TT if I were you, that way you can get it used then sell it off. Then add the second tone arm to your current setup if you are happy with it. If you do the extra arm I would get the RB300 with the rewired upgrade and a Shelter 501. I heard it with my setup and it sounded great. Then I purchase the extra wand to complete my setup, I went with the Lyra because I wanted even better sound quality.
Do not use these mono cartridges on 78’s as this will destroy both the record and cartridge.
ebalog OP
31 posts
 
thank you, hevac1!

if you had to live with the rb300 + shelter 501, would you still elect to play all your mono records with it (on the same TT) instead of using your graham/koetsu combo (again, on the same basis TT)?

or would you use the koetsu for "clean" monos?

great info!
belyin
61 posts
 
I think you can get good performance for not too much money. I use a Denon DL-102 mono cartridge on an Audio Technica ATP-12 arm; total cost of about $350. There is much info on line about the Denon cartridge (and as always a variety of opinions); the arm is a high quality, no frills broadcast arm; its relatively heavy mass is a good match for the Denon (much better than the SME 3012SeriesII arm I have, but then I think it is a better arm all the way around than the over-rated SME.) With some careful shopping, you should be able to try something like this, and if you don't like you can sell the cartridge and arm very easily.
hevac1
812 posts
 
I do prefer my Lyra over my Koetsu for mono records and would prefer the shelter 501 if that was what I had. Mono needles do so much more correctly on mono recordings than stereo cartridges ever could IMHO. by the way records you buy that are mono, that look like crap and you would never purchase stereo could and will sound phenomenal. The only issue when purchasing used mono records is if they put the nickele trick on tonearm headshell for weight you can get groove damage that will sound like shit on mono or stereo records, but they do sound better on a mono cartridge, so watch out when buying mono records
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