Mono recordings and my new respect for them

Are you playing mono sources though a 2 channel stereo? I have two mono setups using a single speaker, lots of depth but not much width. Still sounds very good.

@larryi 

Some reissues offered both original stereo and mono versions, like the Cream recordings I have.  The monos actually sound better in many respects. 

Agreed. I have the MofI Gold version of Disraeli Gears and have always preferred the mono tracks. 

Have a few vintage mono along with stereo versions of a few records. Also have a mono switch on my pre-amp, but no mono cartridge. 

They do sound very different, in different ways. Mono can sound very full, more kind of sound everywhere. Stereo has more depth, image, and layers. 

It's fun to do back to back listening. 

Love the Zombies mono recordings.

Many mono recordings are completely different mixes from the stereo version and not a simple fold down of the stereo mix to mono.  For people listening in mono to a stereo record, that is the equivalent of a simple fold down and the result may not be as good as a dedicated mono mix. 

I know people who actually have extremely high end mono systems.  For stereo recordings, they do have to listen to a simple combination of the two channels where there is no dedicated mono mix, which leads to some less than ideal results.  Also, I have clearly heard advantages to doing that combination of left and right as more than a simple summing circuit or by software from a streaming service.  I like when a transformer is used to do the summing, the sound is less dry and I don't care if the altered sound is an artifact of phase shifting or whatever; it always sounds better.