How are you playing your precious MONO Vinyl?

btw, IF you use different cartridges on different arms, Arm Height Adjustment becomes very important. I am loving my restored JVC Victor UA-7082 and Acos Lustre GST-801, both of which I learned about here.

Here's my simple fix of the UA-7082 arm

JVC Victor Tonearm Sag Repair

I had my Sumiko Talisman S on it, switched to my AT160ml a few days ago, and the arm would not lower onto the LP, the height difference of those 2 cartridges is measurable. I simply free the arm post lock, adjust the height with a turn, lock the height. (very small level on the arm)

@elliottbnewcombjr 

 

• True Mono vs. Stereo Cartridges:

  It's important to note that a "true mono" cartridge has only two pins, while a stereo cartridge has four. Using a stereo cartridge on a mono LP can cause damage to the record. 

That's not always true. My Lyra has four pins but it's a true mono. See my earlier posts. Here's what Lyra says about it:

Two totally separate monaural coils are used in the Atlas Mono, since most monaural cartridges are used with stereo amplifiers and stereo speakers. The separate coils also help avoid possible ground loops and hum problems that could otherwise be caused if a single coil is fed into a stereo two-channel amplification system, thereby tying the two channels together electrically.

In addition to parallel mono connection to a stereo system (two amplifiers and two speakers), it is also possible to leave one set of connections unattached for pure mono playback with a single amplifier and a single speaker. However, it is also possible to connect the two mono channels in series for additional output when used in a pure mono system

Using a stereo cartridge on a mono LP is not going to harm the LP.  No way. You won’t get the best possible SQ, but there is no harm done.  However, many stereo LPs marketed at the dawn of the stereo era do say on the back of the cover, usually in small print, not to use a mono cartridge, for the reason mentioned already, the lack of vertical compliance of most mono cartridges of that era might damage the groove walls that carry stereo information.

For the umpteenth time, using a mono switch when playing a mono LP with a stereo cartridge is not per se going to increase noise because of "sum"-ing. Phase cancellation takes care of that, and reduction, not summing, of common mode noise is the principle benefit of using the mono switch.

lewm, “early” LP’s in my collection with non-RIAA EQs are from 1948-mid 50’s.  Sometimes the jacket notes will say “AES playback curve recommended” or similar.  However, often there are no notes.  There are a number of resources online to help identify the proper EQ.  My understanding is that RIAA was universally adopted by about 1960.

I’ve read that the EQ used by RCA in the early 50s became the RIAA standard.

I believe most records from 1955 on use RIAA. My phono-stage has additional equalization settings for EMI, Columbia and FFRR (Decca) but I don't have any records (mono or otherwise) that were mastered with those curves. The 1950s OGs I have already use RIAA.