Mono Cartridge Recommendations

Does anyone know whether the VAS is a true mono design, or a stereo design strapped into mono? I am told that it uses two coils in balanced mode.

Also - I am looking for recommendations as to where to get Miyajima cartidges with some discount to the price.  I believe that the Miyajima cartridges use a single coil, and have read that single-coil cartridges are more likely to have hum issues. Is that true for the Miyajimas?

@folkfreak Thank you for that info.  I do you have A mono switch, made by KAB, and it is well-made, but it is outboard and requires more RCA connections to place in the circuit. I was concerned about loss of dynamics. One Miyajima dealer told me that the hum could be removed by disconnecting one of the ground wires, but it sounds like that is only a partial fix based on your experience. With the equipment that I have, I don’t think I could offset the hum without some loss in performance. Unless there are other ideas or perspectives?

@Clearthink - What's with your tone?  Is there any reason to be anything but helpful here?  You quoted me a little out of context.  I said that "many" mono cartridges have low compliance, not all.  Particularly not stereo adopted mono cartridges.  But all the Miyajimas have compliance of 8, which is on the low side.  And, per Kevin at KAB, vintage mono cartridges were even stiffer - going back far enough the tracking forces were higher. Go back far enough and the vertical compliance was taken up by wearing of the stylus (e.g. cactus stylus on a gramophone).  If you use these really stiff cartridges on a modern vinyl recording, you can get excessive wear.  That may not be relevant to modern offerings.  In that case, I guess the question is whether the relatively low compliance of the Miyajimas is any cause for concern.  Anyhow - let's try to keep the answers helpful.

@bdp24 - Hi Eric.  I'm basing my statement about no vertical compliance on prior discussions here on Agon.  Perhaps I misunderstood.  But take a look at the sketch on the Miyajima Labs mono cartridge page and it shows a simple design where the cantilever is attached at a fixed angle to a vertical rod, that ONLY allows rotation in the lateral plane.  In that case, any vertical compliance becomes solely the material property of the cantilever, and none is provided by how the cantilever attaches.

@jbrainin - Thanks for the information.  Can you elaborate on what was meant by a "3D" arm?  Is a 2D arm a linear tracker?  Aren't most arms 3D?  I would still like to know whether the Nova is a stereo cartridge strapped into mono.

Thanks all.  Looking forward to more insight, and happy to be corrected (that is why I posted).  Peter