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Mono Cartridge Question

You chaps have watched me struggle with the issue of my London Decca Reference being irreplaceable, and then joyfully learning that John Wright has a successor after all. You have seen me buy and test three other MI designs (Nagaoka MP-500, Grado Statement3, Soundsmith Sussurro MkII) along with my older MC cartridges (Ortofon Kontrapunkt C and Benz Micro Ruby 3). Since those struggles have led me to owning two SME turntables and four tonearms, I am now torturing myself with the question of whether one of those four should be home to a dedicated mono cartridge. Remember, I only have one ear and cannot hear stereo at the best of times. A mono cartridge for my few dozen mono recordings would be a matter of reduced surface noise and possibly some improvement in dynamics.

I can get hold of an Ortofon Cadenza Mono (two voice coils so not true mono) for about 1600CDN, and a Miyajima Zero for 3450CDN. So the question is this: am I mad to even think about it? Money is not what it once was before I retired. There is no opportunity to go and hear these before purchase, without spending much more than purchase price on travel.

Shall I "make do" with my rather good stereo carts for my mono LPs or is there something better waiting for me when I get out those Parlophone Beatles LPs?

 

dogberry

Showing 9 responses by lewm

lewm
13,476 posts
 

I know I knew that at some point.  Thanks, Dave.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

My policy is if the performance is old enough to have been recorded in mono, and if neither the jacket nor the label proclaim it’s stereo, then I flip the mono switch. But that doesn’t answer my own question. However as a result I’m playing all mono LPs with modern stereo styli, and I don’t notice any problem related to groove width. It may be that I own very few mono LPs that are old enough to require 1.0mil.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

The problem is: Define "old mono" vs "new mono".  Definition to be used in deciding whether to use the 0.7mil stylus vs a 1.0mil stylus.  I have read many different opinions on that score, and it may vary by label as well as year of manufacture.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

"Peter" is Peter Ledermann?

lewm
13,476 posts
 

I am sure one can convert a Jubilee to mono, if its internal works are like those of the London.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

Ortofon mono cartridges are usually stereo cartridges where the two channels are internally bridged, but their verbiage is typically ambiguous enough to allow the reader to believe the cartridge is true mono. So “coils” (plural) is probably accurate.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

I respect your opinion, because you’ve tried it both ways.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

Which is why I asked the question. The difference between using a mono cartridge vs a mono switch is that in the first case the mono signal is derived before loading, RIAA correction, and amplification. Whereas using a mono switch on a linestage operates after those processes. Could make a difference.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

All of you guys who extoll the virtues of using a mono cartridge on a mono LP, do you have a mono switch on your linestage?  And if so, do you hear a difference between the mono switch used with a stereo cartridge vs a mono cartridge?  My opinion is I get a large fraction of the benefit by just using a mono switch, and the trade-off with a mono cartridge is that the cartridge must compete against your stereo cartridge for overall SQ.  Thus with an inferior mono cartridge, you might taking two steps forward and one step backward.  (Or something like that.)

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