The question that has often nagged me as I cautiously collect mono vinyl in hopes of landing a decent cart one of these days is how far back do I take this? If as some contend that the breakthrough year for high fidelity was 1953 with Mercurys Living Presence and that it took a couple more years for RCA to follow suit (over-driven, at first), then are we looking at a half-decade window in the 50s, or does the Golden Aural Age stretch further back?
Vinyl lovers--in case you haven't tried this yet
One advantage to being home sick with the flu, is that I get to spend time with recent purchases. This week I have finally installed my Lyra Helikon Mono cartridge, cleaned a bunch of old mono recordings and WOW, I am shocked at the warmth, clarity, natural, intimate sound. Perhaps many of you know this already (I bought the cartridge slightly used from a friend, after reading a glowing review by Fremer), but folks this is shockingly good sound. I put on some old Shaded Dogs, mono Archiv recordings of Bach, and frankly, I don't understand this: how can there be a wide, deep soundstage with mono recordings? I'm not missing whatever Stereo does (don't get me wrong, I'm not dumping that side of things), but would someone explain to me how a good mono recording, played with a good mono cartridge, can sound so alive, natural, and present. (As I write this I'm listening to a wonderful Alicia de la Laroccha which I picked up for a buck at Amoeba. ) If you haven't tried this yet, it's worth a listen.
Joe
Joe