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

It's pretty simple - it's much, much, much easier to cut, master, and press a single waveform (mono) onto a physical surface without losing or altering the ultra-subtle information that creates "presence" and timbral accuracy, than it is to cut 2 channels into a compound waveform and then retrieve them simultaneously with a single stylus (stereo). On top of that, even if a stereo pressing was 100%, it's virtually impossible to align a cartridge so precisely that information is not constantly lost or distorted. Not the case with mono. (Tape is very different, of course, since the two stereo tracks are recorded and retrieved independently.)

From the Classic Records (reissues) website:

"We cut a reference disc using the Mono cutting system and then switched over to the Stereo cutting system and repeated the cut holding everything else the same. We could finally compare the cutting systems and were surprised at what we heard. First, they were definitely different. The stereo cut seemed a little more "stereo like" in a spatial sense. The mono cut was more focused by comparison and the bass definition was superior. The real test was to play each against the tape that they were cut from to see which was more authentic. The mono cut was definitely more like the tape than the stereo cut... In the end, it was a unanimous decision to use the Mono cutting system exclusively for mono titles because the sound is more authentic than using a stereo cutting system. It would appear that collectors who go to the ends of the earth to find original mono pressings cut on mono systems do so with good reason...
- Michael Hobson, President - Classic Records Inc."

From the Mono Maven at enjoythemusic.com:
"One of my guilty pleasures is the occasional visit by some audiophile friends, where I drop one of these mono gems on the turntable amidst a program of otherwise big-ass stereos. Observing the enthusiasm of my unsuspecting audience, I turn the knife a little and ask if they observe anything unusual in the recording. Only about one in four or five catches on that they are listening to mono... and this even with orchestral music!
By every audiophiliac measure of performance, save one, mono recordings surprise us: frequency response extension; authority of bass; lack of treble clatter; size and depth of stage; correctness of timbres; and presence (where a good mono is often better than stereo): the palpable illusion of a musician playing right there before you. The harmonic structure from a mono LP is likely to be more coherently presented, resulting in a timbral purity and convincing focus and power that stereo rarely achieves without painstaking setup (which of course you should have anyhow.) Vocals have the opportunity to bloom without strain or electronic resonance. In part, as in early stereo, this is because everything in the recording chain from microphone to tape recorder to disc cutter is tube amplified: the overload and distortion characteristics are more consistent with the dynamic expansiveness of live music. The sense of weight together with micro-dynamic resolution catches your average audiophile completely off guard; it's so unexpected.
The one area where stereo can be counted to improve on mono is instrumental placement, for obvious reasons. Locational cues, however, are not the only means to sort out what's going on; neither are they the best means to understand the musical argument on its own terms. My audiophile visitors puzzle about how it can be easier to follow the inner voices in mono than in the corresponding stereo version.
Full article at: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/music/1104/classical/mono.htm

Not only all this, but the Thrift store and garage sale crowd completely pass these over, leaving them for the more astute of us!

I love this forum. Humour, sickness and knowledge all in the same paragraph. I was unaware why I so enjoyed vintage LP's that were done in mono. Now I feel pretty smug about having a mono switch on my line stage. I certainly cannot add much technical knowledge to this debate but what I can add is (hopefully) some feedback on the rash of recent mono reissues that are presently available. I have the new Who repressing of "My Generation" by Classic Records as well as Hendrix "Axis Bold As Love" also by Classic. Now I am primarily a cheapskate and do not part willingly with our heavily taxed Canadian dollar, but in this case it was a no brainer. Worth EVERY penny. As a natural born cynic who figures that the marketing department is once again trying to manipulate us into rebuying our entire record collection-----all I can say is for once they truly have something to offer us. These two titles would cost a fortune in the used record / collector market.
I was pretty happy with the sonic resuls of my underacheiving Denon cartridge up to this point but that may soon change. Now I am on the search for the Holy Grail of mono cartridges. Oh well, its better than swapping cables or obsessing about which CD format is better. Think I can find the Holy Grail for cheap?

So, sit back, put on a slab of vinyl, watch the rock drag over the grooves and marvel at the state of technological progress.

A hearty thanks to all who responded. Just what the doctor ordered. When I read your responses in this forum, I can usually understand these technical issues--you guys are so good at translating the tech-speak (I have never been able to figure out what John Atkinson is saying with all his graphs and charts!). So I appreciate the time, and this increases my interest in expanding my mono library. And yes,Eldartford, I am listening through two beautiful Genesis speakers.
Joe

When I get the flu, my hearing gets so affected that I don't trust any differences in any sounds that I hear! In other words, when I have the flu, everything is mono and sounds worse - sometimes only one channel works - one ear is blocked. Have you tried your experiment when healthy? You might get different results.
Bob P.

I still haven't seen an explanation for why a "mono cartridge" would be better than simply mono-ing the signal from a stereo cartridge when playing mono disks. Electrically there would seem to be a difference only if a stereo cartridge were enough out of alignment coil-wise to result in incorrect cancellations. The only other parameter I can think of is that possibly the suspension could be tuned a little differently assuming there's no need to track a vertical modulation component, but I'm not sure what such a difference might really be, or if any such differences actually exist in these carts.

I read that Stereophile article, by Art Dudley if I'm remembering right, and I couldn't see where this supposed preference for a mono cart was technically addressed at all, much less explained -- it was just assumed. Is it merely as simple as a case of audiophiles owning modern preamps that lack mono switches? And would rather spend for another cart than insert a pair of Y-cables to mono the stereo signal?

My preamp has a mono switch (I wouldn't own one that didn't) and my carts are stereo, and I own plenty of old mono vinyl and usually choose whether to listen with the mono switch engaged based on whether there's a bothersome degree of surface noise that can reduced in mono. Otherwise, with clean mono disks, there's usually little to choose from between listening in "stereo" or switching to mono, and sometimes what difference does exist is in favor of leaving it set to stereo so there's no slight cancellation that results in a reduction of "air". Where it does favor engaging the mono switch with clean mono disks, the difference is generally only a tiny increase in center image coherency/solidity, nothing to get very excited about, certainly nothing to make me want to spend for another cart in lieu of flipping a switch.

When playing a mono CD, for instance, there is really no difference to be heard between whether the preamp is set to mono or stereo. So I am having a hard time imagining why it would be any kind of revelation to acquire a mono cartridge. Is the real revelation for these guys mostly in acquiring the mono vinyl itself, and the cart companies are just cashing in on that unecessarily? Or am I missing something important here?