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OK, I tried the experiement ...

Hey Sam,

I was really intrigued by this idea so I went to my local Radio Shack and picked up the necessary adapters for about $7. As SH mentioned, I got the cheap-y stuff and didn’t worry about gold plating etc.

I plugged the Y-adapter right into the back of my TT. Then I connected my phono cable to the Y-adapter, leaving everything else connected as it had been. Just to make sure it was really working I played a stereo LP and, sure enough, it summed everything to the center.

The sound is interesting.

I played 2 jazz monos I have, Sonny Rollins on Blue Note (an early ‘80s DMM reissue) and Gone With the Wind by Brubeck and Co., a 6-eye original from ’59. Both LPs sounded good with my regular stereo cart, I thought. But both sounded better to my ear with the mono adapter. While the top end was a bit rolled off, the music seemed to flow much more easily with the mono adapter. It felt like it was "home," if that makes any sense. There was a kind of reverence to the sound of both LPs; though less explosive it just sounded more "right."

Then I played a couple of rock monos I have; an original US pressing of Sgt. Pepper and a late ‘70s green label reissue of Pet Sounds.

On Pepper, I played ‘A Day in the Life’ only so as to do a quick comparison, with and without the mono adapter. Again, with the mono adapter the sound was a bit rolled off on top and the bass sounded a bit bloated. Just a bit. But the rolling off of the top really affected the sound of the vocals. Lennon sounded a little far back in the mix and McCartney, on the bridge, sounded positively muffled. The drums, though, were spectacular, with the tom-tom fills throughout the song really exploding. Without the mono adapter, the sound was crisper if less well focused and the bass didn’t have nearly the impact. So I can’t say the mono adapter made as big or impressive an improvement here as it did with the jazz LPs.

Pet Sounds was weird. Even with the mono adapter the sound seemed bass heavy in the left channel. The vocals were particularly shrill and the bass was really flabby and boomy. Without the mono adapter, the sound appeared to come directly from both speakers, meaning no illusion of a center "fill" was created. It was very strange. But without the mono adapter it still sounded shrill and flabby, though maybe not as flabby. Maybe it's my pressing of the LP.

Anyway, it was a great suggestion and I’ll continue to experiment with the mono adapter. I’ve never owned or really even heard a mono cart so I’m not sure how different an actual mono cart would be. Maybe one day I’ll find out.

Thanks for the post.

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