What to expect from MONO

You really should not be hearing any sound stage at all. The sound should be perceived as coming from a vertical line between the speakers. No broadening of the image at all. Depth may be present, but no width. Unfortunately, most stereo audio rigs will not get this one right.

To simulate a mono switch and see if this impacts your perceptions, use a male Y connector from Radio Shack to blend the left and right channels and then another Y connector with a female end to split the blended signal to your phonostage

Hello Arch7

Your antiskating could be off. I have the Classic Records mono release and have played it with both a stereo & mono needle. The sound comes from the center. Try a stereo album with a strong singing voice you know should be in the center. If it is not then either your cartridge alignment is off or you are having other issues with your system. Also try near field listening. Move your speakers about 5 feet from your seating location this will eliminate many room issues you do have. I have had issues with my projector screen. It would cause the imaging to move or go to one side or the other no matter what pressings mono or stereo I listened. I found it moved ever so slightly while the music played causing the problem. I now use a tapastry over the screen to solve the problem. So I have learned rooms have a lot to do with imaging of your system and the further you are from your speakers the more it will affect it.

I have a ZYX mono cartridge on my VPI 12.5 arm and about 500 mono LPs. I use two speakers, rather than just one. I have tried it both ways and prefer two speakers, though I can see why some people prefer a single speaker. On my system, with two speakers, I do get a horizontal sound stage with mono, not just a vertical line. The mono horizontal soundstage ranges from 1/4rd to 1/2 of the size of the horizontal soundstage of the stereo version of the same recording played on the same arm with a stereo cartridge, a ZYX UNIverse.

For VPI users, i wonder if the anti-skating could be off. This table requires a twist of the tonearm cable to control anti-skate. I feel pretty confident that it's correct because when I lift the arm at the end of a record it every so slightly bounces back toward the right. I'm told this should be just enough anti-skating force, so I hesitate to adjust it. If I'm mis-informed let me know. Also, is there a good test record out there that can help with sort of thing? One that maybe gives a precise even soundstage with just a tone rather than actual music?