Is mono a fad or here to stay

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Garth

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I have less than 20 mono Lps mostly beatles.

The releases of mono records has had some buying mono Cartridge and arm to put it on. Will their ever be enough mono releases to make this a common thing.

Is it worth time and expense and does a mono cartridge sound better than a stereo cartridge on a mono record I presume it does.

Or will this fade like CD4 cartridge and other quad records did. A few years back people were throwing away turntables they could not find a needle for their words not mine.

Jut wondering what you thing of the mono back from the dead will get up and walk or fall back in the grave.
 
There are only like 127 mono records in the world, so the fad will die once people realize there are no mono records to purchase. :P

Purchasing, collecting and playing mono records isn't going to die or fade away unless those of us with fair sums of mono records decide to just shit can them for no reason.

There is no, "mono back from the dead" if it never died to begin with.
 
imo, its here to stay. some of the very best jazz music was recorded prior to the stereo era and its driving the resurgence of mono reissues. other genres like pop/rock reissues are beneficiaries of that trend.
 
I think that Garth did ask a million dollar question that no one has answered so far, and that is do mono LPs sound better if played with a mono cartridge vice a stereo cartridge (assuming you have a preamp that has a mono switch)? If so, how much better? I don't have a second tonearm dedicated for mono and a mono cartridge to go with it (yet). As much as I admire some of the things the new mono Beatles LP collection does, if I had to make a choice between my BC-13 collection and the mono collection, it would be bye-bye mono collection. Why? Because the BC-13 collection sounds much more alive. Yeah, I know the early LPs had funky "stereo" sound where instruments are in one channel and vocals in another, but that's the way I grew up hearing them. In terms of capturing the energy of the Beatles, without benefit of having a mono cartridge, I have to say the BC-13 collection is much the better. Would my opinion change if I had a mono cartridge? I don't know and that's the question.
 
mep said:
I think that Garth did ask a million dollar question that no one has answered so far, and that is do mono LPs sound better if played with a mono cartridge vice a stereo cartridge (assuming you have a preamp that has a mono switch)? If so, how much better? I don't have a second tonearm dedicated for mono and a mono cartridge to go with it (yet). As much as I admire some of the things the new mono Beatles LP collection does, if I had to make a choice between my BC-13 collection and the mono collection, it would be bye-bye mono collection. Why? Because the BC-13 collection sounds much more alive. Yeah, I know the early LPs had funky "stereo" sound where instruments are in one channel and vocals in another, but that's the way I grew up hearing them. In terms of capturing the energy of the Beatles, without benefit of having a mono cartridge, I have to say the BC-13 collection is much the better. Would my opinion change if I had a mono cartridge? I don't know and that's the question.
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Mark, there are more to mono records than the new Beatles box set. :) If the Beatles Mono box set are the only mono records you own then it's probably silly to purchase a dedicated mono cart.

To answer Garth's question about the difference of listening to a mono pressing with a mono specific cart vs. stereo cart, yes the mono carts do reproduce better SQ. Perhaps the largest difference between a stereo and mono cart is the lowering of overall groove noise since only lateral movements/signal are translated by the mono tracer and any spurious movements in the vertical plane caused by scratches, grunge, dust, pizza, etc. are dismissed.
 
MikeCh said:
Mark, there are more to mono records than the new Beatles box set. :) If the Beatles Mono box set are the only mono records you own then it's probably silly to purchase a dedicated mono cart.

To answer Garth's question about the difference of listening to a mono pressing with a mono specific cart vs. stereo cart, yes the mono carts do reproduce better SQ. Perhaps the largest difference between a stereo and mono cart is the lowering of overall groove noise since only lateral movements/signal are translated by the mono tracer and anything in the vertical plane (scratches, grunge, dust, pizza, etc.) is dismissed.
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Mike-First of all, the Beatles mono collection is hardly the only mono LPs I own. I have enough mono records to make it worthwhile to own a mono cartridge assuming it's worthwhile to own a mono cartridge. My mono LPs are already plenty quiet when I play them with my XV-1S cartridge. I suspect that more than a few people would be have no idea I was playing a mono LP. So, owning a mono cartridge has to be about much more than reducing noise for me to make the leap.
 
mep said:
Mike-First of all, the Beatles mono collection is hardly the only mono LPs I own. I have enough mono records to make it worthwhile to own a mono cartridge assuming it's worthwhile to own a mono cartridge. My mono LPs are already plenty quiet when I play them with my XV-1S cartridge. I suspect that more than a few people would be have no idea I was playing a mono LP. So, owning a mono cartridge has to be about much more than reducing noise for me to make the leap.
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Mark, there's only one way to find out with your ears and your setup.
 
mep said:
You might if you heard it done correctly. I don't think mono LPs would sound like you think they might sound if played back on your stereo rig.
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Thing is very few will buy a second arm the same or as good as their main arm. For sure the cartridge will be different and likely not as much money as the main cartridge. A direct A B would be hard to do. The main theme I have got so far is a Mono cartridge is quieter maybe better a far amount of coin for the limited amount of records to be had easily . If you have a big collection already you likely already have a cartridge. Is that a fair look at mono.
Thanks for your input some pretty good points of view
 
Garth said:
Thing is very few will buy a second arm the same or as good as their main arm. For sure the cartridge will be different and likely not as much money as the main cartridge. A direct A B would be hard to do. The main theme I have got so far is a Mono cartridge is quieter maybe better a far amount of coin for the limited amount of records to be had easily . If you have a big collection already you likely already have a cartridge. Is that a fair look at mono.
Thanks for your input some pretty good points of view
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Many of us running mono and stereo cartridges seem to have chosen to stay in-house brand wise. E.g., Ortofon stereo and mono, Lyra stereo and mono, Dynavector stereo and mono, etc. Doing so, you get to retain familiarity between cart styles within a house sound signature. In my case I'm running the Ortofon Cadenza Bronze and Mono carts on two different VPI 10.5 arms so swapping them out is pretty painless and quick.

Regarding the mono records themselves: Yes there are lots of new re-issue mono records being pressed currently but they cost the same or more than the top tier audiophile stereo offerings. However, there are plenty of original pressing mono's available and they can sound quite good too and their cost is more manageable. You'll likely pay more in shipping than for the vinyl itself in many cases.

Like ALL records though, buyer beware. Not all older or newer or reissue mono or stereo pressings are good ones. Many are crap recordings or crap pressings or crap sellers that falsify condition quality if buying used records and that's the risk you take.
 
Garth said:
Thing is very few will buy a second arm the same or as good as their main arm. For sure the cartridge will be different and likely not as much money as the main cartridge. A direct A B would be hard to do. The main theme I have got so far is a Mono cartridge is quieter maybe better a far amount of coin for the limited amount of records to be had easily . If you have a big collection already you likely already have a cartridge. Is that a fair look at mono.
Thanks for your input some pretty good points of view
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Garth,

We must know very different audiophiles. Everyone that I knows just buys a second arm wand vis a vis VPI, Graham, etc. and mounts the mono cartridge.
 
Myles B. Astor said:
Garth,

We must know very different audiophiles. Everyone that I knows just buys a second arm wand vis a vis VPI, Graham, etc. and mounts the mono cartridge.
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The two arms I have are a sme V and a tri plannar no swapping arm wands. All the guys I know if they even have a mono is not as good as the stereo cartridge. I can see if you like the stereo brand cartridge you have you would buy a mono of the same brand. A arm that you can switch arm wands on has some good points all right.
 
Garth said:
The two arms I have are a sme V and a tri plannar no swapping arm wands. All the guys I know if they even have a mono is not as good as the stereo cartridge. I can see if you like the stereo brand cartridge you have you would buy a mono of the same brand. A arm that you can switch arm wands on has some good points all right.
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Agreed.
 
If I were buying reissues only or mono records that were cut with a stereo lathes I would not bother buying a mono cartridge. If you have a large collection of older mono records (pre 1960 ish, date is approximate as not all labels had changed for stereo lathe by then) I would certainly consider investing in it.

I have been buying quite a number of older jazz and classical records so to me it was worth the investment. I currently use a Miyajima Zero mono 1 mil cartridge. Now I need to get the proper phono preamp for that rig, currently using an Ayre P-5 but I would like variable EQ (or tone control). Thoress Phono Enhancer is slowly creeping on the radar.
 
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