Need recommendation on mono cartridge please

Thanks for all the information. For now, I settled for Miyajima Zero and should have it sometimes next month.
I would love to get Lyra Titan Mono but not sure if it justifies my current state of mono collections. However, it does have the appeal of not having to worry about mono or stereo cutting of mono recordings and such. Miyajima does warn about not using it's cartridge with stereo LP (so presumably mono LP with stereo track cutting). Not sure if it has anything to do with vertical axis stiffness like some older mono cartridge or other reasons. Since Miyajima did say that mono Beatles will sound great with its cartridge so it is probably not microgroove issue.
If I end up accumulating more mono LPs eventually Titan may make sense.

I am the North American importer of Miyajima Labs. I can tell you any true mono cartridge should not be used on stereo LP's as they have no vertical or up and down compliance! It is painfully obvious if it is a stereo LP when you play it with a mono cartridge. A good example is the re-issue Peggy Lee Black Coffee LP that has both mono and stereo tracks!
The Miyajima Mono cartridges play both original and re issue mono LP's sublimely. I suggest you read Michael Fremer's new review of the Zero he kept after the review (like the Premium Mono BE he used to use), and now uses on his vast mono collection. Nice thing is they have a 7 day money back trial. Arm matching used to be trickery but the Zero and Kansui make it way easier and now, even uni-pivots, like VPI are good! Harry Weisfield at VPI makes custom arm wands for the Miyajima's! He loves them!

.. new review of the Zero he kept after the review (like the Premium Mono BE he used to use), and now uses on his vast mono collection

Can you offer us that cartridges for the same price MF paid for?
Would be nice.

Roby:

>any true mono cartridge should not be used on stereo LP's as they have no vertical or up and down compliance!

I've designed mono cartridge both with and without vertical compliance, and can confidently state that the hallmark of a true mono cartridge is not in whether it has vertical compliance or not, but whether there is electrical sensitivity to vertical stylus motion or not (vertical stylus motion should result in no electrical signal output).

And if what you say is true, a true mono cartridge shouldn't be used on a mono LP either, as both stereo and mono LPs are made of the same PVC material, and the included groove wall angle is also about the same (88~90) degrees on both stereo and mono LPs.

The only meaningful difference is that the left-right wall shapes are the same for mono LPs, and different for stereo LPs. The groove may sometimes (but not always) be a little shallower on the mono LP. Although it is sometimes pointed out that a mono LP groove may be somewhat wider than a stereo LP groove, my experiments have shown that as long as the included groove wall angle remains at 88~90 degrees for both stereo and mono LPs, the groove width is a non-issue that does not affect the design of stylii for mono LPs.

hth

Robyatt, thanks for your information. I wonder if you ever try modern mono reissue from Speaker Corners or Testament with Miyajima? The whole issue of using stereo system to cut LP instead of mono left me a bit confused and I am not sure how signifiant that is. Reading review of a mono record made by Classic Record that made a big fuss about using mono system instead of stereo system only made the picture murkier. I am not quite clear about what you said regarding Peggy Lee's reissue? I have some 1960's LP that said on the jacket that it can be played on both stereo and mono system. I assume that it is just a regular mono LP.
Look like it will have to be trial and error on some LPs. Hopefully the LP won't be too easily destroyed with one brief playing! Also thanks for information regarding VPI armwand for Miyajima, will check that out.

Jonathan, love your Atlas cartridge. Now I only have a handful of mono recordings. I have not looked much into earlier mono recordings but recently acquired some that sounded excelent, even with stereo cartridge which prompt me to explore other mono recordings more. Once I have enough LPs, I will definitely revisit Lyra's option.

Now I wonder how neccessary it is to consider phono with non-RIAA curve? It never ends :(