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How good can a mono cartridge be...?

Can a modest mono cartridge better the performance of a top-of-the-line stereo cartridge?

I am wondering if anyone has practical, first-hand experience with this matter as I am deciding whether or not to invest some money in it. The situation:

1) I am luck to have a top-end tonearm and stereo cartridge
2) I have many mono LPs that sound great on the stereo setup (stereo cart, phono stage, 2 speakers)
3) My turntable will support a 2nd armboard, but my budget would not support a 2nd arm of the quality of my current arm -- nor would I be able to afford a top-of-the-line mono cartridge.

Question: Could a modest arm/mono cartridge actually perform better on mono source material than my top arm/stereo cartridge, all else equal? (No mono switches on the preamp, no mono amp, no single-speaker setup.)

What I'm assuming: If I could mount a top-of-the-line mono cartridge on a 2nd arm of the caliber of my first, then I would assume that it would perform better than my stereo cart on the mono source. Unfortunately, I could not afford to duplicate that setup, so I need to add that "practical" element to the question.

Said another way, on mono LPs...
a) Top arm + top mono cart > Top arm + top stereo cart
b) moderate arm + moderate mono cart > moderate arm + moderate stereo cart
c) moderate arm + moderate mono cart ? ( ?) top arm + top stereo cart

Has anyone experimented with this? Is it worth pursuing for me? I would have to get a 2nd armboard, in addition to the arm + cart.

Thank you!
ebalog

Showing 4 responses by ebalog

ebalog OP
31 posts
 
thanks for the responses so far. i am fully aware that there are many mono cartridges *AVAILABLE* (including $4K models), but i am wondering this specifically:

will a modest tonearm (say a rega) + a modest mono cartridge (say in the $500-700 range) perform BETTER on mono recordings than my (top-of-the-line) tonearm + (top-of-the-line) stereo cartridge?

i cannot afford to own 2 top-of-the-line tonearms and 2 top cartridge, but i am wondering if the modest mono combination would actually sound better on mono records.

can anyone help?

thank you!
ebalog OP
31 posts
 
hi tomasheig:
thanks -- i do believe that the modest mono cartridge will likely exceed the performance/satisfaction of the top stereo cartridge on a mono source ... but the problem is that the tonearm will also be lower quality and that could really affect things.

the match is the real question, as the tonearm & cartridge are a "system".

winegasman:
thanks much for the info. i was hoping to avoid any loss, but it may be that i have to go that route. if people threw up all over the idea, then i would want to avoid it.

the problem is that i have to buy a new armboard for my tonearm (~$2-300 -- pretty pricey!), so that kind of stinks. that definitely adds alot to the cost of the experiment and that is cost that cannot be recovered.

i could buy a mono cartridge to try on my current tonearm, BUT.... i wind up in the same position as when i started this conversation -- confirming what i already suspect (a good mono cartrdige can be better than a great stereo cartridge) but getting no practical info to help answer my real question about modest arm + mono cartridge.

I love my tonearm, but it does not allow for easy switching of cartridges. If that was the case, I'd probably purchase a 2nd armwand/headshell.

thank you!
ebalog OP
31 posts
 
i really don't have the space for a 2nd table, but your suggestion is an interesting one as it certainly does minimize the potential loss and allow me to do a test in my own system.

my current table is very high performance, so i could expect that the mono cart + arm would do even better on my primary setup.

interesting though. many thanks!!
ebalog OP
31 posts
 
thank you, hevac1!

if you had to live with the rb300 + shelter 501, would you still elect to play all your mono records with it (on the same TT) instead of using your graham/koetsu combo (again, on the same basis TT)?

or would you use the koetsu for "clean" monos?

great info!
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