Just play a mono LP with your stereo cartridge. For a long time, I used a stereo cartridge for everything. One time I was playing a mono Prestige repress of a Miles Davis album. I was sitting in the sweet spot, and the soundstage was emerging from the left wall, 90 deg. left of the speakers.
My headshell has azimuth alignment, so I got out a bubble level and set it. Sure enough, the mono image returned to the phantom center channel where it belonged.
I also used a mono version of Sgt Pepper's "A Little Help from my Friends" to adjust the phase and crossover settings on my dual subwoofers. Paul's melodic bass line on that song dances back and forth above and below my 50 Hz crossover point, and having the same signal go to each subwoofer (one at a time) dialed in a seamless response that also eliminated a 100-200 Hz "hump".
Mono albums played w/stereo carts can be great tools for dialing in stereo image and phase issues.
My headshell has azimuth alignment, so I got out a bubble level and set it. Sure enough, the mono image returned to the phantom center channel where it belonged.
I also used a mono version of Sgt Pepper's "A Little Help from my Friends" to adjust the phase and crossover settings on my dual subwoofers. Paul's melodic bass line on that song dances back and forth above and below my 50 Hz crossover point, and having the same signal go to each subwoofer (one at a time) dialed in a seamless response that also eliminated a 100-200 Hz "hump".
Mono albums played w/stereo carts can be great tools for dialing in stereo image and phase issues.