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Mono Cartridge Question

You chaps have watched me struggle with the issue of my London Decca Reference being irreplaceable, and then joyfully learning that John Wright has a successor after all. You have seen me buy and test three other MI designs (Nagaoka MP-500, Grado Statement3, Soundsmith Sussurro MkII) along with my older MC cartridges (Ortofon Kontrapunkt C and Benz Micro Ruby 3). Since those struggles have led me to owning two SME turntables and four tonearms, I am now torturing myself with the question of whether one of those four should be home to a dedicated mono cartridge. Remember, I only have one ear and cannot hear stereo at the best of times. A mono cartridge for my few dozen mono recordings would be a matter of reduced surface noise and possibly some improvement in dynamics.

I can get hold of an Ortofon Cadenza Mono (two voice coils so not true mono) for about 1600CDN, and a Miyajima Zero for 3450CDN. So the question is this: am I mad to even think about it? Money is not what it once was before I retired. There is no opportunity to go and hear these before purchase, without spending much more than purchase price on travel.

Shall I "make do" with my rather good stereo carts for my mono LPs or is there something better waiting for me when I get out those Parlophone Beatles LPs?

 

dogberry
intactaudio
293 posts
 

@solypsa 

absolutely....  as long as the cartridge has vertical compliance I'll take an advanced profile every time.

dave

lewm
12,551 posts
 

I know I knew that at some point.  Thanks, Dave.

yeti42's avatar
yeti42
287 posts
 

Ortofon give the tip diameters of their mono cartridges with spherical tips as either 18μm, 25μm and 65μm for late mono, early mono and 78s respectively. I presume mil is US for thousandth of an inch. That would be called thou’ in the UK and possibly the rest of Europe where they’ve heard of an inch but mil is rather confusingly used for millimetres here.
 

Of the stereo cartridges I’ve used on mono disks the Proteus Ogura PA wasn’t very happy, the microridge of a Dynavector 17D3 nearly as bad but the Replicant 100 and Gyger S felt at home, barring the slight loss from the mono button, on both late and early mono LPs. The 18μm spherical on my Decca with a £350 phono stage had the replicant on my stereo SPU Royal N with an £8k phonostage beaten on late monos but was hopeless on early ones.

goofyfoot
1,326 posts
 

Lots of good advice here. My understanding is that a true mono cartridge can have two coils but that each coil is designed as an independent mono coil, one for the left channel and one for the right channel.

There are many cartridges who entered the mono cartridges market in the past twenty or so years like Miyajima and Hana but other designers have been offering mono designs for decades. DECCA/London, Ortofon SPU and EMT have been at it for a very long time.

Personally I’m still modifying my Thorens TD 160 and it is a dedicated mono table with an AT 33 Anniversary mono cartridge. After upgrading my tonearm, I’ll probably replace my AT 33 with an EMT mono.

So I recommend at least looking at the EMT. It is considered as being in the same league as the Miyajima Zero but it costs a bit less.

Also, you may benefit from reading an older post of mine regarding mono cartridges. Jonathan Carr shared some his insights about his Lyra mono designs.

Finally, the stylus size and the groove width is a very real thing. I can hear the differences myself though it isn’t drastic. Hana offers a shibata stylus on their mono cartridge for those who play both micro groove and stereo lathe cut mono pressings.

 

 

dogberry OP
574 posts
 

I find myself running out of patience with the new owners of the London Decca brand. Five weeks ago they promised to call their tech and ask if he knew how JW wired the cartridges for mono. Ten days ago I asked again if anything had been heard. Nothing since. So today:

Repeat send: still nothing? I don't want to be a pain. If the answer is no, please tell me and I'll run out and buy a mono cartridge.
 
Just let me know, and I'll still wish you well and be in touch next time my Reference or Jubilee needs a rebuild!
 
Chris
If there's nothing in another ten days or so, I'll assume my enquiry is unwelcome. Then I'll have to decide whether to splash out 2kCDN on an Ortofon Cadenza Mono, or just cobble some Y-connectors together and make a spare moving iron cartridge (Grado Statement3 or Soundsmith Sussurro II?) into a dedicated mono pickup.
 
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