I have a London Decca Maroon which I ordered from John Wright as a mono cartridge and on most mono discs it beats my stereo cartridge and mono switch despite the latter’s Replicant 100 stylus and much more sophisticated phono stage, however, I have a few mono records where it doesn’t, I think those are the older wide groove LPs and the Replicant is just a better fit in the groove.
It’s reputed to be a simple matter to convert a Decca to mono but I don’t know the details.
Beware a true mono cartridge on a stereo LP, you want some vertical compliance.
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Hmm. There must be life at londondecca,com. The 'Service' button now opens a web message form rather than an e-mail link to service@londondecca.com.
So I filled it in. Also asked the old UK distributor at Presence Audio if he knows what's going on.
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"Peter" is Peter Ledermann?
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Well Peter said I'm crazy. Also a few things about Deccas in general "that I wouldn't say out loud in public." He's not a fan.
All I can do at this point is to hope that londondecca.com eventually get back to me.
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Peter replied and I'm waiting for him to call for a discussion. I may be getting somewhere!
Chris
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I'll be curious to hear where you land on this question, dogberry. I've been wrestling with the same question, and just purchased a mono cartridge to begin my investigations. I'll be happy to report findings if anyone is interested.
I purchased a zyx mono cartridge. zyx options weren't necessarily on my radar but I got a good deal on the cartridge bundled with a tonearm. The zyx carts are all 1.0 mil, spherical stylus. I'm good with that as an option for now. I have plenty of old mono classical records that I suspect will be best served with the 1.0 mil option. For modern mono reissues, I'll try the mono cartridge and my stereo cartridge to see which I prefer.
None of my phono preamps have a mono switch. And the comparison between the mono and stereo carts won't exactly be scientific - they will be on slightly different tonearms and the stereo cart is from a different maker altogether. Still. Fun is about to happen.
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Similar to what Mike was recommending, one issue seldom mentioned is stylus tip size. That may come down to the mono records you intend to play. Are they original monos from the '50s and early '60s, or reissues produced within the past 20 years?
Early monos were cut with a larger tip, 0.7 to 1.0 mil for LPs. Nearly all mono reissues were made with stereo cutter heads with smaller size. I don't believe few if any mono cutter heads survive.
I assume from this mono reissues may be OK with current stereo cartridges, although a mono switch (per Lew) may still help sonics. But with original mono releases a mono cartridge with appropriate tip size should optimize the enjoyment.
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No reply from the new owners of the London Decca name and business. Also enquired of Steve Leung (doesn't think it can be done) and Peter Ledermann (no reply yet).
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My 1 mil Zero is so much better than the mono switch with stereo cartridges costing 3-5 times the Zero. I have two arms and can switch back and forth while the same record is playing. No comparison! Granted these are with mono albums from the 50-60's where the 1 mil diamond is correct. I cannot comment on new/newer mono albums.
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I am sure one can convert a Jubilee to mono, if its internal works are like those of the London.
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Given my love of Decca cartridges, and a little knowledge of the way their coils are arranged around the armature, it seems to me it would be relatively simple to re-wire one so that only the coil responsible for lateral movement gets fed into both channels. I may have to ask about a mono conversion of my spare Jubilee.
Later: I just sent an enquiry to the new owner of the London Decca name, and CC’d it to John Wright as he is continuing to provide technical and training support.
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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.
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Yes, I read the Ortofon page before. I was confused by this remark on the Cadenza MC Mono (one of the "True Mono" cartridges):
The coils are made from 6NX (99.9999 %) pure silver wire. An improved winding process on the armature allows a better channel balance.
"Coils"? Is it just lifted from the stereo Cadenza blurb, which has the same wording for the Red and Blue models? Or do they put two coils on the cantilever as usual but only have fixed magnets arranged to pick up lateral movement only? This isn't, or shouldn't, be complicated, but it is hard to find proper information.
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for the straight skinny on mono pressings and cartridges; scroll down to the bottom on this website; it’s the best explanation of the benefits of mono i have seen. based on the facts. and why i have two 'true' mono cartridges; one with a 1.0mil stylus, and one with a 0.7mil stylus.
https://www.ortofon.com/hifi/cartridges-ranges/true-mono/
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This is good information. It's beginning to look like the question is whether a single coil (assuming that is how the Miyajima Zero works) is so much better than the 'neutered' stereo type like an AT33-Mono. The former is about six times more expensive.
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I respect your opinion, because you’ve tried it both ways.
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Lewm,
I have owned many preamps with mono switches and of course many cartridges, both mono and stereo over the years. In my experience a mono cartridge always sounds better. With that said, a mono switch used with a high grade stereo cartridge should beat a cheap mono cartridge. But it doesn't. I first discovered this years ago comparing Shure M44 mono vs. Shure V15 Type II (McIntosh C28 at that time). I have a not overly expensive AT33 Mono today that outperforms all of my best stereo cartridges including a favorite Experion on mono records. This still astounds me. But invariably mono cartridges are quieter and have greater presence. And higher end mono cartridges are just flat awesome.
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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.
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I may be in error here, but my understanding is that mono cartridges on mono records tend to reproduce far less surface noise. If this is because surface noise results from vertical movements of the stylus, it makes sense as the vertical movements are ignored. IF any of that is true, there is then the complication that a cartridge for modern mono recordings must have some vertical compliance so as to avoid damage to a stereo record played inadvertently. This may be why I see some mono cartridges (eg from AT) labelled as dual moving coil cartridges. I assume the innards are the same as in stereo versions, but the coils are connected to sum the output to both channels. Now if we have the 45° arrangement of stereo coils, but wired to output mono, surely that just does the same job as a mono switch on the pre-amp?
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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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Mono cartridges simply work better on mono records. Quieter, more presence. The Miyajima is a true mono and would be the best choice of those you are considering.
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I have 1mil Miyayima Zero and it is amazing! So much better than stero carrridges on mono.
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Btw Tedeska Mono is in same price range as Miyajima Infinity, hand made for you :)
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I like both mono and stereo recordings, to be sure, but hearing a great mono record on a good system does make one wonder how far we have come ,;)
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sure love both my Miyajima Infinity Mono’s; the 0.7mil stylus and 1.0mil stylus models. my friend Audiogon member jazdoc owns the Zero and loves it. i’ve heard it in his system many times and it always delivers.
get the mono cartridge. it takes things further with mono pressings.
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No dealer options available out here in the boonies!
The distributor has already replied to me on this Sunday night that he can give a discount for Black Friday. Evidently there is a massive markup he is willing to decrease somewhat. I have asked how much the discount would be.
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I recently had this same endeavor in mind for a second TT that entered my system. Originally looked at the Ortofon Cadenza but it did not get along with my DSA Phono2 being a dual mono phono preamp design. Set up ground loops that I could not eliminate. It went away and just received the Miyajima Zero which has not yet been mounted. I have listened to both the Cadenza and the Zero in other systems and found each to have excellent possibilities. Discuss with your dealer the interaction of the cartridges with the design of your preamp.
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Get a mono cart!
If you like classical you can double your mono collection for very small money :)
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