How are you playing your precious MONO Vinyl?

@goofyfoot 

You’re absolutely justified in treating your earlier mono LPs differently from your later ones—and your eyes and ears are picking up what most overlook. 

@lalitk My relative pitch is all right I suppose. I can usually tell if a piano is off. I get a lot of pitch fluctuation because of the original Thorens tonearm I’m using. The AT 33 mono isn’t the greatest tracker either. Next for me is an Audiomods Classic 7 tonearm and then a cartridge upgrade. I’ve been modifying this Thorens TD 160 MK 1 for a while and it’s a dedicated mono turntable. But I was thinking, if I had a turntable with three tonearms, I’d put on three different mono cartridges, considering I had the budget for it. Anyway, I wish there was more in-depth online discussion about the progression of mono, including cylinders and shellac. 

I use an AT33MONO cartridge that I had retipped with a boron cantilever and a micro ridge stylus by Joseph Long. This cost more than the cartridge, but it was well worth the investment - this cartridge is a giant killer. I only connect the right channel cartridge leads and I use only the right channel of my amplifier (Decware Torii.) I also use only the right speaker, placed in the middle of my system. This replicates the mono experience of the pre-1960 era. 

“Microgroove” was likely a patented trade name, which is probably why you don’t see that exact word on all mono LPs dating from 1948 or later. Perhaps not all labels were licensed to use that term. 

@lewm You’re correct but the statement behind the trade name is that it fits more music per side than the ordinary record.

@mambacfa Interesting, do you have Joseph Long’s contact?