My mono cartridges are Lyra Dorian Mono, Audio Technica AT33 mono and Shelter 501 mono. My understanding is that these are "true mono" cartridges in that they only respond to horizontal stylus movement, although the styluses are still vertically compliant. The Shelter is a single coil while the Lyra and AT33 are dual coil, which should reduce the tendency to hum.
I previously owned an Ortofon Quintet mono, which I believe is a strapped stereo cartridge (similarly to the other Ortofon cartridges), although Ortofon do describe all of their cartridges as "true mono".
From information I have gained reading various forums over the years (particularly from Steve Hoffman), it appears that:
- After 1968 most mono issues were pressed from stereo cutting heads and it is virtually certain that this is true for most recent mono reissues (such as the Beatles LPs)
- Using a mono cartridge on LPs cut from stereo cutting heads will generally sound worse than using a stereo cartridge, since there will be some loss of high frequency information. If you have a mono switch (or a Y-cable arrangement) you can tell when an LP was cut from a stereo cutting head since engaging the switch (or Y cable) will result in some loss of HF. If there is no difference, you can use a mono cartridge and there will be the usual benefits of lower noise and wider soundstage.
- The benefits of a mono cartridge will only be heard with pre-1968 mono records, and this will depend also to some extent on the stylus dimensions and the equalisation curve used.
For these reasons I only use my mono carts on older LPs that I know were cut on mono equipment - pre-60s and earlier. For recent mono reissues I use a stereo cartridge.
If I have got any of the above wrong, please feel free to correct me.
I previously owned an Ortofon Quintet mono, which I believe is a strapped stereo cartridge (similarly to the other Ortofon cartridges), although Ortofon do describe all of their cartridges as "true mono".
From information I have gained reading various forums over the years (particularly from Steve Hoffman), it appears that:
- After 1968 most mono issues were pressed from stereo cutting heads and it is virtually certain that this is true for most recent mono reissues (such as the Beatles LPs)
- Using a mono cartridge on LPs cut from stereo cutting heads will generally sound worse than using a stereo cartridge, since there will be some loss of high frequency information. If you have a mono switch (or a Y-cable arrangement) you can tell when an LP was cut from a stereo cutting head since engaging the switch (or Y cable) will result in some loss of HF. If there is no difference, you can use a mono cartridge and there will be the usual benefits of lower noise and wider soundstage.
- The benefits of a mono cartridge will only be heard with pre-1968 mono records, and this will depend also to some extent on the stylus dimensions and the equalisation curve used.
For these reasons I only use my mono carts on older LPs that I know were cut on mono equipment - pre-60s and earlier. For recent mono reissues I use a stereo cartridge.
If I have got any of the above wrong, please feel free to correct me.