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Playing mono records properly without breaking the bank - a phono pre-amp question.

Hi there.. I can use some suggestions for playing mono records properly.I'm about to put together my vinyl system and trying to figure out how to best play mono records without having to either buy a separate TT, have a turntable with two tone arms or have a switchable head-shell, all of which are not an option at the moment.  Someday, I think having two tone arms will be the way, but now I need the most economical way to have a nice experience.
I will have at a minimum, a nice stereo stylus/cartridge, but I'm wondering if I should be focusing my phono-preamp search to those with a dedicated mono switch?  I have a Hegel integrated and there's no mono option. 
Are there  simple ways (contraptions)  other than a phono-preamp with a mono switch, to achieve high quality mono playback with a stereo stylus? My search for the right phono preamp would be much easier if I knew I didn't need to make sure it had mono.

Appreciate any suggestion or direction - would love to hear your person experience playing mono on a generally "stereo" rig.

hrabieh

Showing 2 responses by mijostyn

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Uberwaltz, who stands to gain from you buying a cartridge, Ortofon and Grado or me. For as many Mono records as most people have it is not worth the money or hassle to have a separate system for playing them. Oh but I forgot. You are concerned about the Imaging. My mistake. 
Hrabieh, try playing the records. I have several new mono records, new pressings of old material and they sound just fine using any stereo cartridge I own. If you have old mono records you might want to clean them before you try playing them. If they play fine, end of story. If they sound noisy then a larger stylus might help, might not. 
I assume they are not 78s. 78's do need a larger stylus.
Uberwaltz, you need to switch to digital. This vinyl sh-t is going to drive you crazy.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Just play the darn record! Forget about all that garbage about needing a special set up for Mono records. Just another way to get your money.
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