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The task of playback of a monaural LP would seem to be a simple one. But anyone who has read the many posts here on VA and other sites may realize than not to be true.
* Can I simply listen with my stereo cartridge?
* Is a "mono" switch or rewiring my stereo cartridge adequate?
* Is that mono cartridge a true mono (no vertical compliance) or simply summed internally?
* Is there an "ideal" tip shape/size with a mono cartridge?
* What EQ was utilized when my LP was mastered? (RIAA may have been approved in 1955 but it was not immediately adapted by all record companies.)
* Was my mono LP cut with a mono cutter head or stereo cutter head?
I've wondered about the last question since reading a quote from Jonathan Carr (Lyra) that they found modern profile, stereo cut styli to sound best with mono playback. But wondering about how many mono cutter heads were utilized for all the mono LP reissues over the past 10 years or so, I suspected his judgement was based on playing reissues, not older original monos. This is a consideration for me since I have a few hundred original monos in my collection.
Now with Art Dudley's comments I suspect I may need two mono cartridges, one with a wider conical tip for original mono LPs and another with a modern profile tip for reissues. That is if I want to better optimize their playback. Whoever said this was going to be easy?
"You can't know what the "best" is unless you have heard everything, and keep in mind that given individual tastes, there really isn't any such thing." HP
Follow Ups:
My intent was to focus on stylus tips based on types of cutter heads. The initial list of questions was offered as a basic summary of the many questions posted regarding mono playback. I should have separated those to isolate my question.
So for myself, I'm comfortable up to the point of preferred stylus (styli?) for original and reissue mono LPs. Reading Dudley's article suggested one size does not fit all so I was hoping to get comments from other Inmates who do have experience with both generations of mono LPs.
Thanks
PS - Cactus your summary is appreciated but the 78 info has little application for me. I have one 78 album of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars (RCA) with sentimental value and will find an inexpensive 78 cartridge for that. But otherwise I won't begin exploring for treasures in that vein.
"You can't know what the "best" is unless you have heard everything, and keep in mind that given individual tastes, there really isn't any such thing." HP
To me, Dudley's review was a bit confusing. If you read it all, you can get pretty discouraged about the number of mono cartridges one might "need" to optimize playback of all the different genera of mono LPs. But then at the end, he seems to say that for guys (like me), get a Miyajima and forget about it. This in a review of the Ortofon cartridge. He also fails to take note of the fact that even Miyajima offers options (last time I looked) regarding stylus radii. But the article itself was informative. I am concerned with mono LPs almost always from the mid-50s and later, not 78s ever. Seems one might wish for two mono cartridges, one for original pressings made between say 1952 and 1965 and one for latter day re-issues. But I am only willing to buy one.
I can only admire Cactus' obsession with getting it right.
Yes, you can simply listen with a stereo cartridge. A mono switch on your phono preamp or simply summing the channels with jumpers on your stereo cartridge will noticeably improve the sound as you're in effect nulling any vertical signal, which is unwanted noise on a mono lateral-cut record. I would not get hung up on what is or isn't a "true" mono cartridge, there seem to be a good deal of conflicting views on this definition. I use both conical and elliptical styli for playing my mono records. Both have merit, no easy answer here. A variable EQ phono preamp is advantageous with early mono 45s & LPs, even more so if you're spinning 78s. You'll need to study commonly used EQ curves (there are published charts) and more importantly trust your own ears. It's a certainty that any mono record made prior to the late '50s was cut with a "mono head." Beyond that, it's a guess. It's a pretty safe bet that all modern mono reissues utilize stereo cutting heads.
I hope that helps answer your questions.
I own 15,000 or more 78/45/33 mono records. Here's the gear I use to play them and I would recommend any of these cartridges as a good choice to get started in further exploring mono playback:
Grado ME+ Mono cartridge with 1.0 elliptical stylus. For 33/45 microgroove.
Ortofon Concorde or OM body with D25M stylus, which has a 1.1 mil conical tip. This is a stereo cartridge, and I sum the signal to mono. As with the Grado, it's used for 33/45 microgroove.
Stanton 500 with eight different styli. Again a stereo cartridge, with signal summed to mono. Used for 78 playback.
Audio Technica AT-MONO3-SP. This is a high output MC cartridge with 3.0 mil stylus, for 78 playback.
Hagerman Bugle Pro Variable EQ Phono Preamp. Excellent for early microgroove and 78 playback.
Hope this helps! Have fun with mono.
M3,Real mono records have an angle of 60 degree's between left and right groovewalls. Because of this you can play with a 15 mil needle, it sits higher in the groove.
Mono recorded on platters after +/- mid sixties when stereo cutters became the norm, have 90 degree's between L/R groovewalls, these can also be played with a normal stereo needle.
Mono wired means left / right channel connected. My solution if you don't have a mono switch: put a 2 way cinch adapter in each phono entrance. The 2 leftover cinches : connect them with shielded wire and a switch.
A mono cartridge has a lateral and vertical compliance just like a stereo cartridge. Only a low compliance is necessary for mono, but here also goes, the better lateral AND VERTICAL compliance is the best. (the pinch effect needs compliance vertical, a very low vertical compliance damages the platter be it mono or stereo.)
Worn out platters sometimes benefit from a smaller or larger needle, depending were the damage is positioned Worn out real 60 degr. mono's benefit from a 15 mil stereo needle because the damage is above where the 15 mil needle sits. Some 45's with large grooves can even benefit from a 75 mil 78 needle. Just trial and error. Don't believe everything you read on the internet, it's so simple, not space age science.
Edits: 03/26/15
Hi Huubdas,Are those metric numbers which you posted? We use a system based on king's toes and barley corns in the US so they threw me for a bit.
Phil
Edits: 03/26/15
Coffee phil,I live in a metric country.
For 78 needle radius is 75 micron
33 and 45 mono 25 micron. (real mono 60 degree groovewalls)
33 and 45 stereo or mono it is 15 to 18 micron.(90 degree groovewalls)
Some cartridges have a 12 micron needleradius, but are expensive, a little wear and it is bottoming or tracks in the dustplaque.1 micron is 0,000001 meter. So a 78 needle is 0,000075 micron (micrometer) i.e. the needle radius. For elliptical or other shapes see the manual of the cartridge manuacturer for the lateral shape and radius of the edges.
However the smaller the contactadius with the grooves the faster the needle wears, expensive hobby those special needles.
Edits: 03/26/15
At some point I plan to get a mono cartage. I have a Brociner preamp with every EQ setting I have ever heard of, and selectable turnover frequencies for any curve it doesn't have, but it needs a rebuild (this is much more important for 78's than it is for LP's). My long-term plans are to have a true mono system, including a single speaker. But that hasn't stopped me for paying my many mono LP's on my stock Shure M97xe with the mono switch on my preamp, and enjoying the hell out of them. Even my many older true mono's that should be played with the larger stylus sound fine to me through the Shure. So my advice is acquire, play and enjoy your mono records. Upgrade as you see fit. It is the software that is most important for the enjoyment.
dave
As you point out as are playing early mono LPs with your wider stylus you also need a phonostage with EQ curves other than RIAA as the discs will pre-date the adoption of this standard.Furthermore it is not necessarily the case that the current accepted SRA angle of 92 degrees will apply to discs made with cutting lathes of that period.
Of course none of the above applies when you play modern mono discs.
So for each disc you want to hear you need to select the correct cartridge, then fit the correct stylus, then adjust SRA , then find the correct phono EQ to apply. With any luck, having done this, your evening will be over and it's time to go to bed :-)
Edits: 03/26/15
at that point, my wife appears in my listening room to inform me that SHE wants to go to sleep and will I please cease to play music. Then I get up and go down to my beloved lifesaving second system, in our basement.
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