Am I totally nuts or just a bit off?

Good mono recordings can be a very special audio treat.

The OHM Walsh speakers I use have no match when it comes to delivering the goods with mono recordings. It's like they are there playing/singing in your room. Gotta hear it to believe it. Its about as good as it can get.

Good mono recordings are also very useful as a reference standard to help get things set up well for stereo. If you get a solid and full nicely centered and focused image with good mono recordings, chances are the speaker setup will be pretty well optimized for stereo at that point as well. Its much harder to use stereo recordings as a reference in that there is so much variability in how the stereo channels are utilized from recording to recording.

Schubert,

Just wanted to point out that OHM Walsh speaker sound quality has been refined considerably over the last 20 years or so since the Walsh 2s and 2XOs, keeping up with overall "higher end" speaker technology and sound quality quite well in general and for very attractive cost. All models sound similar and size and cost needed depends mainly on room size and need/desire for full extended bass accordingly. Definitely something to keep in mind for anyone looking for good full range sound on a modest budget. And those mono recordings to die for.....

I wonder if anyone out there has what could be considered a true mono high end system? Mono source, 1 amp 1 speaker, etc? Stereo gear should not be needed if the source is mono, right?

Also I wonder if there are any digital front ends that do a good job of taking a digital stereo source and producing one or two channels of mono output effectively?

Yes, stereo has all the advantages on paper. But its how its used recording by recording in each case that matters. Other than with the rare (these days) simple two or three microphone recording techniques what goes into the stereo mix is a product of what the production crew decides to mix in. It may or may not resemble anything like you might hear live.

Mono on the other hand takes that variable out of the equation. In certain setups in certain rooms with the right acoustics, it can sound very much like what a live performance in the same space would sound like with all the stereo mixing and mastering out of the picture. At least that has been my experience.

" The very best stereo classical recordings are almost invariably those which have been recorded using a minimal number of microphones, perhaps just two or three, well placed in a good hall. And with minimal or no subsequent mixing, equalization, limiting, compression, or other processing."

No doubt!

Stereo rules in this case. Many early stereo classical recordings were done exactly this way in order to show of the medium's capabilities and are still hard to beat.

The mono recordings I tend to like best are from the 50s and early 60s and of smaller rock, blues and jazz ensembles. Recent digital remasters of most any mono recording on Sun, Chess or even Stax labels are outstanding.

Just the other day I was marveling at how good the original "Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry was sounding.