|
|
Post by MartinT on Sept 22, 2014 16:11:11 GMT
Great article by Paul Rigby, he of Record Mart and then Record Buyer, on mono recording, mono playback and Miyajima cartridges. Having heard the stereo Waza, I'm interested in hearing one of their mono offerings. Our very own DC now imports them.
See the article |
|
|
|
Post by Clive on Sept 23, 2014 10:20:07 GMT
The Beatles mono box set is doing it's bit to promote mono, which I think is a great development - if a retro movement can be called a development! I don't profess any great insight into how the vinyl market breaks down but there are clearly a number of people interested in older recordings, for myself I love Bebop, much is from the 50s and therefore clearly mono.
I found the Beatles box set mono LPs show a slight improvement when played via a €400 Ortofon 2M Mono SE...that said my stereo comparison was with a London Reference which costs today £3,000!! This suggests that a more budget stereo cartridge might sound considerably inferior to the 2M Mono SE.
Leaving the Beatles box set aside - it's new and pristine - 50s mono records are another matter. Noise cancelling due to a mono cartridge is much more obvious with older records, a modern take on a mono cartridge is very beneficial here. I say a "modern take" as a real mono cartridge can only be used on pre-60s mono LPs as the tip will be 1 mil, not 0.7 mil - using a "real" (ie vintage) mono cartridge on stereo LP will destroy the LP. What is interesting though is using a modern mono cartridge on a processed (from mono) stereo LP. I'm still playing around with this but I'm finding that LPs processed from mono aside from being guitar left, vocal centre and drums right - sound thin. Playing them with a modern mono cartridge seems to bring the sound back to where it should be, more solid central image and a much more meaty sound. As you can tell I listen to mono with 2 speakers...I've not yet gone back to true mono.
|
|
|
|
Post by MikeMusic on Sept 23, 2014 12:30:34 GMT
2 speakers give more accurate definition of most music with the great width. Not the case with a solo singer of course How about surround sound mono ?  |
|
|
|
Post by Clive on Sept 23, 2014 13:42:29 GMT
I'm starting to doubt the need for stereo, after listing to great music in mono via 2 speakers I find stereo can be a little distracting and gimmicky.
|
|
|
|
Post by John on Sept 23, 2014 13:53:34 GMT
That's a interesting comment Clive I have read mono recordings can be very good Could you explain what the differences are?
|
|
|
|
Post by Clive on Sept 23, 2014 14:09:39 GMT
That's a interesting comment Clive I have read mono recordings can be very good Could you explain what the differences are? Hi John, with mono and 2 speakers I get a very strong focus in the centre for vocals and the area between the speakers is well fleshed out as a soundstage. Of course don't get pin point imaging; you get homogenised soundstage, arguably closer to how most live performances are. Sometimes I believe I'm listening to stereo but then I realise I'm not. Probably it's my brain filling in some spatial information. |
|
