Do You Own And Use A Mono Phono Cartridge?

I posted on The Beatles mono box thread my guess is that very few people actually do, and we're a collection of obsessives here...so, still, I'd like a rough view of how many people actually have and use mono carts.

 

My vote's in. I actually have two.

 

No, I just use the mono switch on my preamp.

 

Which is fine for most cases.

My guess is 5 % or fewer own and use mono carts. Pretty close to that now.

Just to note: I have and use mono carts because many of my all time favorite recordings originated on 1950s and 1960s mono records and true mono carts make them sound better. If that were not the case, I wouldn't have bothered. Both my preamps have mono buttons, I know how to double-Y, I have a switch box to go in a tape loop and give me mono, all kinds of options that everyone can avail themselves of.

 

A mono switch on my Parasound JC3 suffices.

I'm sure it's less than 1% even among the enlightened posters on SH.tv.

And don't count on this poll to be an accurate judge. How many of the posters in the music forum never make it into this one?

It's plain expensive and often a supreme pain in the ass to change phono cartridges for one record.

 

True. I probably have 100+ mono LPs and hundreds of mono 45 rpm singles. I change carts to go into mono mode or mono dubbing projects. Not for one record.

 

So, what mono cart(s) do you use and recommend?

 

I have a Lyra Helikon mono and a Lyra Kleos mono and love them both. They're expensive, though. At the same time, I think either is well worth it if you have a significant (and I'd put that at 100+ lps) mono collection and can devote that kind of money to a cartridge.

I had a mid-priced Shelter 501 mono some years back, but that was my entry to mono carts and it was pointless waste of time and money. All that Shelter is is a regular 501 internally wired for mono. Something I later found out with plenty of buyers remorse. Those internally-wired-for-mono carts are the cartridge equivalent of pressing a digital remaster to vinyl. On the fakey side. You could just double-Y or get a mono switch in your tape loop and achieve the same results as with an internally wired for mono cartridge.

I should add that while the Shelter 501 mono was pointless, the Shelter 501 regular stereo cart is a good value and a good sounding mid-level cart.

 

I'm running a Kleos Sl and have a mono switch on my pre, but I have a cherry Blonde on Blonde, some nice Them, and NM revolver/rubber/pepper Monos that I would love hear in all of their "natural " glory. I don't want to make a 501 mistake, so I'd be curious what you would recommend. Most carts are not very clear about whether they ignore all vertical modulations. The new 2M SE Mono does cancel all vertical modulations in cart, and has a shibata stylus, but I can help but feeling the Kleos and the mono button will smoke it. I really don't want to spend Kleos money , but I will go to like 1500 if necessary.

 

I use a Shure M44e with N44-3 mono stylus for my 78s... can I play with the cool kids?

 

Just on a cursory glance the Ortophon looks good for the money, but, yeah, I think as a guess a Kleos mono would smoke it. My Kleos stereo and monos are my regular 'go to' carts. They do a lot right.

 

What are you asking?

What can you tell me about that mono stylus? What makes the stylus mono? Larger profile? If so, I'd double check and make sure that's OK for regular microgroove lps.

 

Is the Kleos Mono really that much better than your mono button and the Kleos Stereo Cart? I imagine less noise, but could you characterize the differences.

 

It's more than less noise.

It's imaging and soundstage more than anything else. On really good mono recordings, the vocals on things you've heard a million times can sort of 'lift' off the instrumental background and come forward. Stuff like that. Presence emerges that wasn't there so much before and becomes apparent and you get, for lack of better terms to articulate it, 'depth of field.' I'm not a technical expert, so I cannot explain why that is, but it's something I notice and flat out dig.

 

First off, I envy you for having that cartridge! Fremer went on and on about how awesome it is, and I tend to trust his opinions.

I think I know what you're saying re: the presence and depth of field. My only experience with a true mono cart was an ancient GE VR-II (which many love), but I didn't have an arm that was suited for it, so I sold it. I did briefly use it on an ailing Garrard RC80, which gave me a taste of the magic that the GE was capable of.

Some day I'd like to acquire an old Gray or Fairchild arm and mount it on my TD-124 with a mono cart, like this:

 

It's specifically for 78s. For micro groove mono I'm quite happy with my mono button.

 

Could you post some sound samples? I get exactly what you describe using a mono switch and the right conical styli.

 

That Ortofon 2M.... wouldn't a Shibata stylus cause more problems than it solves in a mono cart? I always understood that you were much better off with a wider stylus profile for mono microgrooves...

 

Wouldn't what you're saying have more to do with the fact that these are mega-bucks carts rather than simply mono carts? Would two similar carts from the 60's, one mono and one stereo being summed via a mono switch sound all that different from one another?

 

That's my experience. A 1mil conical tip on a clean mono LP sounds better than my AT150MLX. And I would imagine that if my Ortofon Concorde was of a build quality on par with the AT150MLX it would absolutely smoke it.

 

No mono cart. I have a McIntosh C29 preamp with the mono options of L+R, L+R to L, or L+R to R. For a mono records I use a Dual 1229Q with a Shure V-15 III DU and a .3x.7 elliptical stylus and for stereo records a Dual 701 with a Shure V-15 III DU and a Jico SAS stylus. One of these days maybe I'll get motivated and try a mono cart on the 1229Q.

 

It's not something I can do right away. Changing cartridges is a job with my turntable and doing the samples and everything will take more time than I have right now (and I don't have a account to upload to). But I'll work on it and see what I can do.

 

I have a pair of turntables wired for mono in two different rooms, both with GE RPX series mono cartridges from the 50s. I also have a "spare" GE VRII mono cartridge in a drawer if one of the RPX's craps out. All three cartridges have 1.0 mil styli for mono LPs and 45s, and 3 mil styli to play 78 rpm records. IMHO, mono records played with these cartridges never sounded as good played with stereo cartridges, even if wired for mono. I also occasionally play used stereo records with these cartridges if they're too noisy played with stereo cartridges, or if the grooves look like the record had previously been played with the wrong stylus or cartridge. While I tend to buy a lot of used records, what they were previously played with is often under suspicion, especially after the demise of parallel stereo and mono pressings. In the occasional situation, reproduction in mono provides the more satisfactory listening experience. The GEs, BTW, were the industry standard for evaluating mono test pressings until the Shure M3D appeared.

 

Wow...18 percent of respondents have mono cartridges. Twice what I expected!

I'm thinking of how best to get some samples up for people to evaluate.

So far I've decided

*three 60 second or 90 second samples of the same record using a Lyra Kleos stereo cart, Lyra Kleos stereo cart with channels summed (using my preamp mono button) and a Lyra Kleos mono cart. One uncontrollable variable is the Kleos stereo has got a lot of use on it, lots more than the mono. So the mono stylus is very likely in much better shape. Another is my DAC/ADC. It's been making a high pitched hum that's not very audible on lower resolution files, but is on higher rez. Don't know what the problem is. Have the device grounded...oh well.

*the samples will be recorded to 24/96

I haven't decided a few things yet.

First is the source material -- early to mid-60s US or UK mono 45 or LP track? 70s US or UK reissue mono LP track? 80s US or UK mono lp track?
Well engineered recording, mid level recording, poorly engineered recording? Something well known, not so well known, or obscure?

Second: playback software and file format. I'm going to strongly recommend people avoid iTunes, VLC and the like for the simple reason that the playback SQ is not very good in my experience. Obviously, people can use what they want, but I doubt I'd give much credibility to comments from people who do their evaluation with iTunes, based on my experience with it.

I've played identical files through iTunes, VLC, Amadeus Pro and Audacity. Amadeus and Audacity do a far better sounding job, for whatever reason. I'll let computer experts explain t if they know.

Audacity is free, so I recommend that.

I'm open to suggestion for format. I suppose FLAC files are perhaps easiest to deal with.

Suggestions?

 

Another GE VRII user here it sounds beautiful in a Musicmaster SD-12 arm (a Japanese clone of the Gray arm) I have the turnaround cartridge version so have one 0.7mm stylus and a 1.0mm in the other part which allows me to find the right diameter to minimize any damage on any of the old LP's I play.

Previously had a Denon DL102 mono cart and the GE is so much better sounding & reduces the amount of surface noise over the Denon.