Why mono?

Would each of you state if your experience with variability in mono playbacks happens with newer mono reissues, with older original monos, or with both?

as far as early 50's to mid-60's Classical and Jazz, and a few pop/rock; they are simply better in detail, dynamics, and natural ambience than a stereo cartridge playing the same Lp. in my system; when i use the 'mono' button on my darTZeel preamp with a stereo cartridge playing a mono Lp i cannot hear any difference (or have not so far).

even very good stereo cartridges tend to sound a bit bound up and bunched together in the middle. the Mono cartridge presents the musical components in a more natural space from speaker to speaker. there is an openness and freedom to the music. i don't want to go overboard in representing the overall presentation; 'better' in this case does not approach what the best stereo recordings can do in terms of space; but the music is well communicated.

i have quite a few mono reissues including all the 45rpm AP and Music Matters reissues. those are also mostly better on the mono cartridge in the same way. i have a bunch of the mono Super Analog Disc Decca reissues which are uniformily better with the mono cartridge.

i am in the early stages of my relationship with mono Lps and so i expect to attain further truths about this subject. will more expensive mono cartridges take me significantly further in performance? will i still be loving monos a year or two from now? or will it be a passing phase?

those are still questions.

stay tuned.

Zaikesman,

Sorry I missed your earlier question.

I have played mono albums as follows:

a. Stereo cartridges with stereo setting on phono & line preamp

b. Stereo cartridges through summed mono setting on phono & line preamp

c. Mono cartridge

I strongly prefer the sound of (c) with the vast majority of mono recordings.

OK, now we're getting somewhere guys: Mike and Jazdoc both categorically stated (paraphrasing here) that to their ears in their systems, a mono cart really does play a mono record better than a stereo cart with the channels summed. I'd still like to know the mechanism behind this finding (and of course it's always possible that they just prefer the sound of those carts, irrespective of the fact that they happen to be mono carts), but at least now I know there's some subjective basis for looking into the subject more, rather than wondering if all the hype could merely be the result of audiophiles whose preamps simply lack mono buttons. (And yes, I find, like Mike does, that engaging the Mono button with a stereo cart playing a mono record usually doesn't change the sound all that much, save for a slight reduction in noise and a slight tightening of the central image -- not surprising. But if a mono cart somehow proves to be much better than this, I certainly will be surprised, pleasantly so.)

Hi Pryso: Actually my own linestage (a Levinson 380S) and my current phonostage (a PSA GCPH) both feature remote-controllable mono and polarity functions, which I think is wonderful. More should.

But what I was referring to above was the Left or Right Channel to Left + Right Channels switch that Jrtrent mentions, which you only find on some older (usually full-function) preamps or receivers. That's a feature we probably won't be seeing again, but I'd still like to see some audiophile phonostages incorporate it. (Also I can't understand why more don't offer a defeatable rumble filter. Other than the polarity switch, which many DACs have, these functions are exclusively for vinyl replay and should be located in phonostages since most linestages omit them.)

Hey Jazzdoc,

Have you tried putting the coils of a stereo cartridge in series to sum for mono?

dave

Much of the benefit form a true mono cartridge or a mono wired stereo cartridge comes from the idea that only lateral movement of the stylus generates sound. A true stereo cartridge generates information in both the lateral and vertical direction and since mono recordings have no musical information in the vertical plane any vertical movement shows up as noise.

In theory the various ways of summing the signal outside the cartridge should also cancel any information in the vertical plane but in reality these all come with their own sets of compromises and never seem to sound as good (quiet?) as a cartridge set up for mono.

The easiest experiment to do to see if a dedicated mono cartridge is for you is to wire a stereo cartridge in series and use a single channel of your phono to see how things sound.

dave