Trying to wire a stereo cartridge for mono playback. I have seemed to wired it correctly now the surface noise has been reduced but i am worried about the phase of the signal. If I put it through my dolby prologic decoder (not that i want to listen to it this way) I would expect the signal to be mono and come out of the centre speaker but it doesnt. it comes out of the rear speakers ? have i wired the cartridge wrong ?
Just wire it normally and then combine the interconnects with a some y cables (stereo to mono and then mono back to stereo and into your phono input).
Another method that worked for me is to wrap a fine copper wire around the two sets of L/R hot pins, and another wire around the L/R ground pins, on the cartridge itself, effectively bridging the channels. I did this to both a Stanton 500 and Pickering NP/AC, and it works great.
Im thinking my signal is 180 deg out of phase is this normal and does it have an effect on the bass performance ? I have tried swapping the connections but it still does the same thing.
Hi action pact: did you do this on the cartridge side or the arm side? do you leave both cables still in place between cart and arm when you do this? pics? thanks!
Yep. Stanton years ago gave me some copper "straps" with holes which fit over the cart pins and do exactly the same thing.
Do you still, after installing those jumpers, run cables from the cart to the arm pins per the regular stereo configuration?
Yes, it just sends the same mono signal to both channels. When played back over a stereo system, the "image" should appear near dead center. If the sound is out of phase, just reversing the + and the - cartridge leads should flip it. -Bill
I can't imagine tying a thin copper wire around these tiny pins. I'm all thumbs and have a hard enough time connecting the proper pins when replacing a cart. Would just buying a mono cart save some time and frustration?
You'd be better of strapping them with a pair of Y-adapters. That way it's not permanent, and you can undo it if you want stereo back real quick. Note that strapping the coils will change the eletrical characteristics of the cartridge, which is one advantage to mono carts. I have found the difference to be negligible,
It's very simple, really. Remove the cartridge from the headshell. Wrap one very thin bare wire around the red and white pins a few rotations, and wrap another wire around the green and blue pins. (Make sure the two wires do not touch each other, or you will short the circuit.) Put the headshell leads onto the pins in the usual fashion - they will also hold the strap wires firmly in place. Voila! Dual mono output! Shure does basically the same thing with their M78S 78RPM cartridge, which is actually a stereo cartridge bridged for mono output. Here's a view of the pins on the M78S: Regards, Glenn
I prefer to use the Y cables method, and only because i don't have a "mono" switch on my receiver. It makes for much better needledrops of mono LP's when you can choose either one of the two channels, sum them, or even remove the differences from the left and right channels to get only whats in the "center" (the clean, unadulterated signal) just make sure your phase is all proper.
Thanks for the guidance. Once I got down to it, this trial run (on an older AT cart) took all of twenty minutes. I stripped one side of some thin-gauge speaker wire, twisted it, and wrapped it figure-eight around red/white and green/blue pins, viz: Then pushed the leads back on. None of the strands are touching across where they shouldn't, but when I do this on my Ortofon cartridges to be devoted to early microgroove and 78s, I'll use a single strand of wider gauge or, possibly, thin copper foil. The problem is some cartridges sold as "mono" are actually stereo without any bridging (like the Ortofon D25M), others are stereo carts that are bridged internally (like the Grado MC+ Mono), and true mono carts at audiophile grade are like hen's teeth and as expensive. Then, also, one has to contend with the different stylus widths, and what is best for mono groove widths of different eras. My plan going forward is to take the Ortofon Pro S (1 mil) and 78S (2.5) mil styli off of the (stereo) Concorde cartridges I have already from KAB, and fit them to regular Ortofon cartridges bridged to mono. Then I'll be able to play early microgroove and 78s, respectively, at the correct stylus width and in mono from as close to the grooves as I can get them. For mono pressings after 1967 or where stereo cuttings were made contemporaneously (many great 1950s/early 1960s Capitol titles), I'll just use cartridges with .7 mil stereo styli and engage the mono button on the receiver.
Thanks to both of you guys! I'm starting a new DJ gig playing all mono 45s, and instead of buying new mono carts, I just bridged the outputs of my Shure M44-7 carts as you explained. It sounds great and the act of winding the coils actually only took a few minutes per cart. This is an extremely ideal solution since none of the mono carts on the market are really ideal for DJing. Thanks again, guys! PS: A couple years ago I tried the double Y-cable solution that has often been mentioned in this forum. I found it to be noise-inducing. This solution, on the other hand, is sounding great.
Guessing you didn't read my post, a mono switch is not an option for my particular application. Also, I tried a mono switch a couple years back and it was noisy.
You're right. I was responding to the OP, not having paid attention to the fact it was an almost decade-old post! My mistake for not reading more carefully. A real mono switch isn't noisy and wouldn't involve Y cables of any kind. I own one made by our very own @xmas111 and highly recommend you give his a shot. There is a switch which allows the signal to pass through without converting it to mono, hence the lack of Y cables. https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/stereo-mono-switch.386061/page-18#post-21151665
Hi, sorry to re-open an old discussion. I was trying to bridge connectors on a Stanton 500 for vertical cut records. I’ve obviously screwed up the connections, since as soon as I turned the amp on I got a very loud buzz. Problem is, when I disconnected the Stanton and put in another cartridge (previously working flawlessly), I still got the buzz. What could have happened, and which could be, if any, the fixing? Thank you
Another person with a hum, when I either bridge a stereo cartridge to mono, or use a Y adapter. At first I thought my Y adapter cables might be the problem, but now that I still have the hum, bridging the L/R live and ground plugs on the cartridge, I am not sure what the issue is. Dual 1009SKII, there was no hum before I bridged, Rega Bias cartridge (green), into a NAD 3140 phonostage - the Rega Planar 3 plugged into the second phono input does not hum). Any ideas? Should I try taking off the ground bridge?
You don't need to bridge the grounds, since they'll end up bridged when they get to your amplifier, anyway. A carefully placed small paper clip can do the trick of bridging the + terminals.
Thanks all of you. I've not many mono records. But just brought a mono (how does that grab you? By nancy sinatra). Now got 7 or 8 mono records. Looked at the mono carts £200+ for 8 LP's. No tah. The stock cart i got with my deck DN-105ST is conical i believe. Usually never use this. Did your little wiring trick on the back of this and will now use this as my mono cart as interchangeable headshell tone arm. All i can say to this little trick is WOW. Can't begin to describe it other than louder, more central more airy and the vocals softer, higher. Surface noise, what surface noise. Won't bother with the fiff faff what size resistor? Stereo to mono switch idea nor the mono cart. This'll do nicely for my ears and very small mono collection. Mostly bought in error lol. Stumbled across this thread on my search and truely glad i did.
It seems line you were making a parallel connection, which is normally good for 78 records. However, vertically modulated records (eg Edison Diamond Disk) require the stereo cart to be wired in series. I have not idea why you have the "buzz" problem. I've copied this from the The Talking Machine Forum discussion on this subject (with my bolding) - Playing Edison Diamonds (or other vertical cut) with cont... - The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings (this forum is an excellent resource for anyone interested in grammophones and Edison cylinders). I will add that I haven't tried wiring a stereo cart for vertically-modulated records, as I don't have any vertically-cut records yet. Am looking forward to trying it when I do acquire one. __________________________ gregbogantz - A stereo cartridge is designed to respond to both lateral and vertical modulation. If you play an Edison DD or other vertical modulation recording with a stereo cartridge and listen thru a full stereo playback system, you will hear the recording but the sound will be out of phase between the two speakers. This will sound strange with sound coming from the two speakers but no image seeming to come from the space between the speakers. If you play a lateral mono recording such as other typical 78rpm records on this same stereo system, you will hear the recording and the sound will be in phase and sound natural from the two speakers. This may be adequate if you are only casually interested in listening to the vertical recordings. In order to hear the sound of a vertical recording with minimum surface noise from the record, you need to combine the two signals coming from the cartridge into one signal. If you parallel- or series-connect the cartridge outputs, you will transform the cartridge into either lateral-only or vertical-only responding, depending on the particular connection. This will reduce the unwanted surface noise from the modulation direction that you don't want to hear. Parallel connection of the cartridge outputs such that you hook the + or 'hot' connections together and the - or 'ground' connections together will result in the cartridge becoming lateral-only responding which is correct for most 78rpm records. To make the cartridge vertical-only responding, connect the 'hot' terminal of one cartridge output to the 'ground' terminal of the other channel. Similarly, connect the other two cartridge pins together. Then use only one cable (not the original two) to carry the signal from the cartridge to the amplifier. If your cartridge has only three output pins, connect one side of the output cable to one of the 'hot' pins and the other side of the cable to the other 'hot' pin and remove any cable connection from the third pin. This will allow you to play vertical modulated records such as Edison DDs and Pathé Sapphire records with minimum surface noise created by the lateral direction. VintageTechnologies - Here is a simple diagram to wire the stereo cartridge properly for vertical recordings. The output is mono of course. You could use a "Y" adapter to feed a mono signal to both channels of your pre-amplifier. ________________________
Hi, When I was looking into this a couple of years ago, the is the best way I found. Also most advise was to wire for vertical compliance. (Well I would post the image if it was a normal site!!) Cheers
