Do You Own And Use A Mono Phono Cartridge?

I use a Grado M+ cartridge when listening to and needledropping my vinyl on my Technics SL-3300. I think it makes a huge difference on most of the records I have played with it. Better signal and soundstage, plus greater sonic detail.

 

You mention "soundstage" which may raise some eyebrows and questions. Does mono present a soundstage? My opinion on this, yes, a truly great mono speaker (or cartridge) can image front to back. The reflections of listening room may add a sense of spaciousness, but peripheral to mono and soundstaging.

 

I think mono-recorded audio can have soundstage when recorded properly (eg: Nat King Cole's "After Midnight" from 1956). What I was trying to say was that mono has better soundstage reproduction using a mono cartridge/stylus as opposed to using a stereo cartridge to play back the same audio. The best way I can put it is that mono records played with a stereo cartridge tend (to me at least) sound like panned mono to two speakers with surface noise coming from the center.

 

I hear ya Ken, was pointing out.. only a minor point that the better term may be "depth" vs "soundstage" where mono is concerned. Absolutely a mono cartridge has the edge over stereo to mono strapped. When playing a mono record, a mono coil aligned with the lateral groove is more efficient vs two 45/45 degree coils strapped to mono.

 

A single coil mono cartridge is preferable to a strapped cartridge for many reasons. A well recorded mono record will possess a remarkable sense of depth. I have often noted how the soundstage, while firmly anchored in to the center, seems to recede all the way to horizon. You can hear air and space around performers and perceive where musicians are relative to each other. Some feel that mono is a better medium for the reproduction of solo instruments and voices.

 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone use their mono cart to play some STEREO records that weren't especially well mixed?
Any interesting results, or is it just all shut in, compressed and mushy??

 

What I've never been able to get a satisfying answer to is: what is the difference between the dedicated mono phono cartridge and just pressing the mono button on a vintage receiver. My Beatles mono records sound fine that way. What have I been missing?

 

Yesterday I was listening to Wanda Jackson's "Lovin' Country Style" original Decca stone MINT mono original. SL1200MKII and an AT70 stereo cart w/conical tip. Summed on the Lafayette receiver with a mono switch. It sounded breath-taking. Everything was clear and defined. Hard to imagine a dedicated mono cart could do better unless it is simply a much better cart regardless of being dedicated mono or not.

 

I would say to not play a stereo record on any mono cartridge without knowing if it's stereo compatible.
Perhaps another member familiar with modern mono carts could provide some info on this ...
Vintage mono cartridges have almost no vertical compliance, so these will wipe out a stereo record on the first play.
To play a stereo record in mono, just simply hit the "mono" button, or use a double Y connecting cable as Steve Hoffman describes.
Some stereo records do not fold well to mono, may sound constrained and phasey. Some others fold acceptably well. Most mono pressings will sound better than a stereo record folded to mono.

If only it was that simple, it seems in the world of high fidelity, there is often not a simple, elegant answer. My short answer, a true mono cartridge has its coil in line with the laterally cut mono groove. The stereo cartridge has a 45/45 degree alignment. I have read the mono cartridge produces a more robust sound, more dynamic from a mono record. Certainly a stereo cartridge can play mono. Stereo records contain a "mono component" (L+R sum signal) which must be reproduced faithfully by a stereo cartridge. So, in this regard, a stereo cartridge is designed to reproduce mono. (the L+R sum on a stereo record)

But does a stereo cart perform at peak efficiency in playing a mono record?

However again, a true mono transfers mechanical energy of the magnet (or moving coil) laterally and therefore more efficiently into an electrical signal. Some owners say the true mono sounds more robust, more lively, more dynamic, more nuanced, greater sense of depth, and are hearing mono records as they have never heard them before.

 

I just added a second arm and Miyajima Zero mono cart. The difference between that and using a stereo cartridge (Miyajima Shilabe) and mono switch is nothing less than staggering IMHO.

 

No mono button on my phono pre or integrated and no experience with a true mono cartridge but using a decent stereo cartridge (rebuilt Ortofon MC 20 Super with a boron cantilever and microridge stylus or an aluminum bodied Denon 103R with a ruby cantilever and line contact stylus) strapped for mono that is exactly how I would describe the difference playing mono records vs. playing those same mono records with the cartridge in stereo mode.

I'm not a technical person but this explanation on Audiokarma would seem to indicate that much of the same performance can be achieved that way:

"When a stereo cartridge plays a mono record (actually any record, but for the sake of this conversation), the left and right channels are out of phase, i.e. when the right channel produces a positive signal the left channel produces a negative signal. We switch the phase electrically at the cartridge terminals to produce a sum (L+R) for horizontal movement, which means that with vertical movement the channels are now out of phase and adding them results in L-R, the difference channel. So what a mono cartridge does mechanically, physically adding the two channels, a stereo cartridge can accomplish electrically. The vertical rejection on a summed good quality stereo cartridge can be 30dB, which is about the same as the vertical rejection of a mono cartridge. Think of two batteries in a flashlight. In phase they produce ~3 volts and light the lamp (L+R). Out of phase they produce 0 volts and produce no light (L-R).

It is an interesting experiment to switch the phase of one channel of a stereo cartridge and then play a mono record with the mono switch engaged. You will soon see the level of rejection that is possible with a stereo cartridge."

This has worked out very well for me; the fact that I had the extra cartridge(s) already around allowed me to avoid the expense of purchasing a true mono and I don't feel the need to at this time as the performance is very good.

 

Hello Blakep,
The battery example is correct. This article is off the track. Reverse the polarity of one channel on a stereo cartridge, then strap to mono, you get zero mono signal and 100% difference signal (noise) The author has this confused.

 

That's what I thought until I went with a mono cart. Just to make the hobby more fun I bought a 2nd tonearm which is easy to change out (30 seconds) on a VPI Classic 3.

I use a Dynavector xx2 MC stereo cart on one arm. I bought the Ortofon Quintet Mono for the 2nd arm. Wow - what a treat this has been. The mono cart is one third the price of the stereo cart and mono LPs sound more engaging on the mono cart. The only way I can descrobe it is the music sounds live, right in front of you like at a concert in a small venue with good sonics (by the way, concerts in general sound like mono, not stereo). This is one of the more satisfying "tweaks" I have ever tried.

Using the mono button with the stereo cart is no where near as good sounding.

Once you go mono, you can't go back.

 

From Ortofon's website for this cart;

Doesn't this just mean that what would normally be accomplished by hitting the mono switch is instead done internally inside the cart? How is that different?

"both sets of pole pins".......I thought proper mono carts had only two pins?

 

Believe what you want to believe.

 

Perhaps. But maybe not. If the point he was trying to make was about noise and the noise rejection achieved/eliminated in the vertical domain by strapping a high quality stereo cartridge and achieving 100% noise in the situation described, would you conversely not get 100% signal (or very close to it) and no vertically induced noise by reversing the process?

Maybe that was his point.

All I can say is that strapping here has the effect of improving sonics considerably while at the same point reducing noise. Combine that with the fact that I can play all mono records (mid to late 50's monos through modern mono reissues cut on a stereo cutter head) with one cartridge with radically improved performance and no risk of damage on the modern reissues and I'm content with what I have.

 

These aren't faith based questions. I'd really like to get to the bottom of this. It's my understanding that there are two types of "mono" carts. One that performs the function of a mono switch inside the cart body and genuine, two pinned mono carts.

 

Understand. I really don't know which is correct. I only know what I hear. Search the web and you can join in on the never ending debate on this issue. I gave my opinion above.

 

Yes, strapping reduces background noise dramatically, and also aids in reducing distortion from a worn mono groove.

Very much confusion, Here is where the author of the original article went technically wrong:

"When a stereo cartridge plays a mono record (actually any record, but for the sake of this conversation), the left and right channels are out of phase"
This is wrong

"i.e. when the right channel produces a positive signal the left channel produces a negative signal."
This is correct

"We switch the phase electrically at the cartridge terminals to produce a sum (L+R) for horizontal movement, which means that with vertical movement the channels are now out of phase and adding them results in L-R, the difference channel."
No! The premise is wrong,

All conclusions based on this are wrong! The internal electrical connections of a stereo cartridge are IN phase. The result of a (-) signal on the L channel, combined with a (+) signal on the Rt, will result in a SUM. Conversely, (+) and (+) will produce no signal. Think of a car batt (-) post and the (+) post produce DC voltage, which ultimately is the SUM of the cascaded cells. In a SUM signal, it is like the car battery except the voltage is AC, which is alternating according to the cut groove of the record, and mechanical movement of the electro-magnetic element in the cartridge.

Author says he's not technically astute, (ok to not be) The author has confused electrical polarity (electrical pressure that produces voltage) with the stereo channel polarity of the posts on the cartridge. We should dismiss this article or be forever confused!

For the sake of simplicity, and what I think the original author meant to say... is what we already know
L+R is the SUM
L-R is the DIFFERENCE signal

The stereo cartridge will produce Mono and Stereo (difference) with the pin connections in phase. The cartridge internal connections are also in phase.

Steve VK

 

continued.... If this hasn't been confusing enough....

To play a VERTICALLY cut record such as the Edison Recreation 78's we can REVERSE polarity on the RT channel pins of a stereo cartridge... this will produce a SUM signal on the vertical vector.

If for any reason should anyone want to hear only the difference signal on a stereo record, this can be done by reversing the cartridge pin connection of the RT channel. If we play a laterally cut MONO record with the polarity reversed, we get theoretically no sound, in reality almost no sound (except noise).

From a stereo record, an isolated difference signal will be reproduced the SAME in both speakers... not real stereo in itself.

To have an actual stereo field, the DIFFERENCE signal must be mixed with the SUM signal to achieve STEREO. It's almost a magical thing!

Stereo as reproduced from a vinyl record or two channel digital recording is the complex, and intricate interaction of the sum and difference matrix.
We must have both to produce stereo.

Therefore if we choose for any reason to extract the sum or difference, and play either the mono component or the difference component ... each played independently are simply mono... just to confuse us more .... The MATRIX of SUM and DIFFERENCE produce stereo.. (in a two channel recording) They are interactive!

Just keepin em spinnin...
Steve VK

 

Just to clarify: I said that I was not technically astute , not the author of that post, which I quoted from a thread at Audiokarma.

 

uh oh ... my bad !

 

No problem!

 

I have a dedicated mono 'table (Dual 1229 with Grado M and 78 carts on their own headshells) for original mono LPs/45s and 78s. For new monos, I use my regular 'table and a mono switch. For originals, it's a pretty amazing difference.
In fact, I'm listening to Miles' 'Round About Midnight in glorious mono right this minute.

 

Technics 1100 with SME 3090 improved and mono Ortifon 2m works for my mono records just fine.