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Mono VS Stereo

Hello,

For the last few years I stopped listening to my system in stereo mode and now only listen in mono. As soon as I started listening in mono my listening enjoyment went up about 300%. No longer did I become fatigued by the (Man made) stereo (Effects) created by the engineers in the studio. I grew to hate following these effects from the left speaker to the right speaker and back again with some recordings. When you attend a live performance be it Rock, Jazz, synphony or whatever, the sound comes at you in mono not stereo (Unless of course the sound man has other ideas. But as far as the band and the actual instruments are concerned there is no such thing as "Playing" in stereo. Give it a try, listen to your records or CD's in mono ( I hope you all have a mono selector on your preamps) it will be hard going back to stereo listening plus the soundstage and the way the "Band" comes across will be really cool.
nocaster

Showing 3 responses by onhwy61

onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,150 posts
 
Sorry to confuse you. Why don't you just go with a single loudspeaker system. That would be a real mono system. I personally think mono playback can be wonderful, but you got to go all the way.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,150 posts
 
Then why not go with a true mono system?
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,150 posts
 
Nocaster, you do realize that the people responding here are being really gentle on you? Much of what you say makes no sense at all!

In a perfect world I guess all our systems should image and create a soundstage as it were like headphones.
the depth of field does indeed improve when in mono

You've repeatedly said your system sounds fantastic with a wonderful stereo spread, yet you prefer listening in mono. That's a really bizarre conclusion. That's no just a little out of left field type statement -- it's from two counties over from where the ballpark is. Reasonable audiophiles can only conclude that something is seriously wrong with your setup. It would help if you were to post your system with pictures of your listening space.

It's not just a case of "to each his own". There is a question of fidelity. Mono recordings are best heard in mono, but to limit stereo recordings to mono is to purposely distort them. It would be like going to a museum housing impressionist paintings and wearing infra-red night vision goggles because I don't like the vibrant color "effect". I'd quickly be in a small room explaining my "preference" to security personnel.
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