SH Spotlight QUESTION: Vintage Van Gelder BLUE NOTE LPs, stereo or mono titles. Which are better?

Sorry, Stereo carts were used generally on mono systems with the channels combined. 99% of purely mono cartridges then had NO vertical compliance whatsover. Therefore, damaged Stereo LP discs very quickly. And they tracked often over 6 grams.

There's two vintage mono cartridges I know of which could safely play Stereo LP discs without damage, the Weathers FM integrated tonearm/cartridge system with FM demodulator box (manual turntables only) and the Shure M1 Studio Dynetic integrated tonearm/magnetic cartridge system (again manual turntables only). Both of these tracked at extremely light tracking forces then (Weathers at 1 gram) and (Shure at 2 grams).

This held true until Denon released the DL-102 mono HOMC cartridge in 1963. (which was designed for the Japanese NHK Radio to safely play Stereo discs in mono, and mono discs equally well).

 

Many Jazz fans prefer the Mono Blue Notes because as Kevin Gray and Joe Harley noted in one of the YouTube interviews they sound more coherent in mono. Sonically and musically.