A Special custom Grado Labs EPOCH phono cartridge IN MONO is here. What albums can be played on it?

I run a Ortofon 2m se on my MMF-5 for Mono Playback.

Also, super exciting waiting for a new toy like that.

I have been getting upgrades delivered for about a week now...New Phono Pre set to arrive tomorrow.

Looking forward to hearing your impressions. Hopefully there will be more setup advice / tips, too.

 

I like it a lot. Came from the Classifieds, here.

And yeah, with those Sounsmith Speed Posts it took no time at all to set up.

 

I have a VPI HW-19 Mk.4 turntable with Zeta tonearm that I have dedicated for playing mono records, having installed a Benz-Micro Ebony-LP-Mono. This cart was $5000 about 10 years ago, but has been new-in-the-box until just about 3 months ago.

 

When I bought it here I looked on eBay and they were going around $525 or so. NIB from Euro Dealers.

 

I'm running a Miyajima Zero A, (1 mil), mounted on a SME M2-12R on a fully restored 1954 Garrard 301, I plan on getting a Zero B, (0.7 mil), to use with my Garrard 401 and perhaps get even better performance out of sixties mono LPs, although the Zero A does a fantastic job regardless of any consensus that a 0.7 mil stylus is the correct choice for later monos.

 

When I started collecting Jazz I would instinctively buy both the mono and stereo versions, assuming I came across both, but in the UK the monos for Jazz, Soul and popular music are generally more common than the stereos, I think mono LPs were cheaper, in the UK records were still something of a luxury item, with price maintenance and sales taxes and most UK buyers didn't have stereo capable decks until some years after 1958. I have no idea how the actual sales figures broke down, but for reasonably big selling LPs issued between '58 and '65 where I've handled a lot of copies over the years monos can outnumber stereos by anywhere from 5 to 1 to 10 to 1 or even greater amounts so I have a lot of mono LPs on HMV, London Atlantic, Esquire, Tamla Motown etc., it just took me a long time to get a dedicated mono deck to rival my stereo playback. If I was a serious Classical buyer I'd be very tempted to pick up some of the monos that can be had for £1 or £2 while the stereos fetch three or four figures, it's the same performance after all.

 

OK, I'll bite. How many do you own? Can you find them easily? Are they all in great condition?

 

I do, for my '50s and '60s records, though. I've played some reissues of '50s mono material pressed in the early '70s and it didn't make any difference. With something like my 1966 UK Columbia press of The Most Of The Animals, huge difference, well beyond anything my preamp mono button or a double-y could produce. In fact, when I first heard that title with one of my mono Lyras, my reaction was similar to the reaction you said Bob Levi had. Not only did those old records sound new and fascinating, they revealed soundstage qualities I didn't know were possible in a mono recording.

 

The body looks beautiful.

 

Congratulations, I'm sure it's an amazing cartridge! I'd be interested to compare with a stereo cartridge in the same price range. I still have too few mono records for this to be a relevant option.

 

I run a Miyajima Zero on a second arm and have found the experience to be revelatory. One of the biggest shocks to me was how much quieter a given record is when played with a mono cart vs. a stereo cart. It has also encouraged me to seek out more mono records. I only have a couple hundred at this point but for my education and better hunting experience I have a couple of questions regarding the comment, "true mono cut records......not mono music cut on a stereo lathe in 1978". How do you know if they are true mono cut records? Is it time related, as in prior to 1978 or is there some other way to tell? Does that mean that any mono LP made AFTER 1978 is NOT true mono? What about post 1978 reissues/remasters of older records? Are they "true mono"?

 

Has that ME+ replaced the Shure M44 that I believe you preferred for mono use?

I have a mono "Way Out West," but my copy looks like Tanya Harding skated all over it and then wacked it with a club. It's still the best-sounding mono record I've ever heard!

 

Many thanks Steve. I'm understanding it better than I was, but still curious about something. What about mono originals well prior to 1968 but reissued and/or remastered much more recently. For example something like Miles Davis "Bag's Groove", I assume the original 1954 mono would be "true mono cut". But what about the Kevin Gray AP Prestige Mono Series version of it?

I wish it were easier for me to "check first on your stereo needle". Based on how my gear and rack are situated it's a real PITA to get to where I could connect a double Y cord.

 

I totally agree that based on your assumptions that would be the way to go. Hope I'm not being a PITA, and most likely my questions are due to not understanding the process better, but does that mean that one of these newly mastered old monos would be better played with:
a) Dedicated mono cart
b) Double Y summed to one channel played with a stereo cart
c) Stereo cart (not summed)
d) Doesn't matter