Vinyl lovers--in case you haven't tried this yet

Zaikesman...
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1..When playing a mono recording a different stylus may be better...not the large diameter one for old 78s but perhaps not line contact either.

2..Really old mono cartriges did have low compliance for vertical modulation, and we were warned not to play stereo LPs with them as damage to the LP would occur. We were told to buy a stereo pickup immediately even if we didn't buy the rest of the stereo outfit. I don't know if having vertical compliance might affect horizontal modulation performance. It's not too far fetched.

3..I think that some cartriges being sold as mono are actually stereo models with appropriate jumpers. Certainly this is less expensive to produce than different coils.

4..In the case of a mono CD, the ones and zeros for the two channels are identical (same A/D from the original master) so engaging a MONO switch on the preamp will have only a slight gain effect.
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Zaikesman...Another thought. Playing a Mono LP without engaging the MONO switch on the preamp is foolish. Here is a little experiment for you.

Bridge your power amps with a speaker. (You may want to disconnect the regular speakers to avoid too low an impedance load on the power amps). Now play a mono LP without using the MONO switch. What you will hear is the vertical groove modulation which ought to be silence. You will hear noise. Do you want to mix this noise into the music?
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Yes, I am puzzled too why a mono cartridge is better than a stereo cartridge on a mono record. Perhaps someone can enlighten us, before I spend another 1 or 2 grand on a cartridge.;)

Rudy

Drubin and Eldartford: Yes, your point about stylus profile could be reasonable, but again none of us seems to know if it's actually the case in these products, just as with the suspension question, or Eldee's suspicion (shared by me until I'm told otherwise) that they may simply be no different than the corresponding stereo carts mechanically, just with two fewer output pins. Drubin gets my point about mono CD's -- that mono reproduction of CD's is essentially perfect *from that standpoint* (meaning the "mono-ness" of the reproduction), yet I don't recall any audiophiles jumping up and down and yelling about what a revelation experiencing *that* kind of mono was in relation to playing mono LP's with a benighted stereo cartridge.

Eldee: As I said, I usually find the *audible* consequences of choosing either position for the mono switch when playing good-condition mono LP's to not greatly favor one or the other, but assuming there is no cancellation from misalignment with either the cartridge coils or the way a disk was cut, then it seems reasonable that some of the compartively greater sense of "air" heard when playing a mono LP witout engaging the mono switch would be the result of spurious noise. I'm willing to run your proposed experiment as a learning tool, if you'd be kind enough to spell out for me the connection method you have in mind. (I have available normally-configured speaker cables, and a pair of conventional tube monoblock amps or one conventional solid-state stereo amp, none of which are themselves bridged designs or fitted with a bridging switch. I guess using the stereo SS amp would be easier, and that I don't risk harming it?)

assuming there is no cancellation from misalignment with either the cartridge coils or the way a disk was cut, then it seems reasonable that some of the compartively greater sense of "air" heard when playing a mono LP witout engaging the mono switch would be the result of spurious noise.

This happens with mono CD reissues, too. Those RCA Latin Classics on CD are KILLER mono recordings--and so are the Ansonia label reissues....

WPPAPI,