After reviewing the Hana SL Mono cartridge, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss my journey with mono recordings. The word has been around for a while that not only am I a vinyl lover, I also listen to a lot of mono. I haven’t gotten into 78s or a separate single-speaker system, but I do have a second tonearm and a true mono cartridge. The question some ask is why I listen to mono. The answer is quite simple; there is a ton of music I like that is only available on mono. Still, I admit there is more to it than that. So, let’s discuss what that “there” is.
Discovering Mono Recordings
Let me start with how I discovered, or rediscovered, mono. Back in 2000, I made the decision to give SACD a very serious try. I purchased a Sony SCD-777ES player and ordered a bunch of SACDs. I eventually took the Sony all the way up to Vacuum State Electronics Level V modifications. As great as SACDs were, I eventually went back to vinyl mostly because there wasn’t enough of the music I loved on SACD, and most rebook CDs just didn’t sound that good to me. The most rewarding result of this endeavor, however, was that many of those SACDs I ordered turned out to my surprise to be mono recordings. The big surprise though was that those mono records sounded incredible. So, I began to wonder why they sounded so good when most of the mono LPs I had didn’t.
I finally determined that I had never really heard what mono recordings could sound like. Why? Well, the mono recordings I had heard were old, noisy mono LPs and were played back with a stereo cartridge. The resulting sound was sort of phasey, full of ticks, pops and other noises. I had never heard them on a true mono system with a true mono cartridge or even on reel-to-reel tape.
I discovered that if that same recording was played back with a true mono cartridge, it most likely would sound big, bold and much, much quieter. The reason for this is that if you have a cartridge that is designed from the ground up as a mono cartridge, then the coils or magnets will be placed and designed in such a way to only pick up the signals from the horizontal plane on the LP.
It seems that, for obvious reasons, a lot of the physical damage to records occurs in the vertical part of the grove. Thus, since a mono cartridge does not even pick up or amplify this information, you eliminate a lot of the noise from mono records that you hear when played back through a stereo cartridge. This means that you hear a more substantial and more focused sound when you play a mono record with a mono cartridge than when the same recording is played back on a stereo cartridge. In fact, most stereo cartridges have a way of making monaural recordings sound small and wispy. I used to think that’s just the way mono recordings sound, and thus I avoided them.
Strain gauge and the optical cartridge from DS Audio are, however, exceptions. These technologies, unlike traditional moving magnet or moving coil cartridges, do not produce voltage or current. In contrast, they respond to mechanical displacement of the grooves. Both of these technologies do a great job on newer and clean mono records, but they can still have more noise than they do when played with a true mono cartridge.
The “More” to the Story
Now, back to the “more to it than that” part of the story. Truth is, there is something right about the way mono recordings sound. Mike Zivkovic of Teresonic Speakers refers to it as Jack’s “MonoMagic” when he’s over at my place listening. I prefer to listen to mono recordings over two speakers. I should admit, though, that I have never heard a really good system set up for just one channel. I have wondered what an all mono system with a great speaker like a Shindo LaTour or a vintage Altec might sound like. Many of the early stereo recordings were recorded both in mono and stereo. That “just right” sound is seldom on the stereo version, and it’s way too often the stereo versions are panned hard right and left to show off the new stereo technology.
I was visiting with Peter Ledermann, founder and owner of SoundSmith, and I asked him for his opinion on why mono recordings sound so right. He said without a doubt one of the things was that mono recordings were always phased and timed correctly. Another thing is that for most, if not all, mono recordings used only one microphone. I’ll say it again when it comes to nearly everything in audio and most things in life, I’m a firm believer in the KISS (keep it simple stupid) philosophy. So, I think the fact that mono recordings used the very simplest of microphone techniques explains much of why they sound so right. It should come as no surprise that I find that most of the stereo recordings that sound so right also use simple microphone techniques.
Simple microphone techniques probably aren’t the only reason that mono recordings sound so right. I can think of a few others. First, there’s the fact that the whole mono record cutting process is simple right down to the lathes. Then, we shouldn’t underestimate the difference in a more straightforward playback process. There is only one channel of music to track in the groove, and its deep in the center and not on the sides, so it is easier to track. Then, of course, if you are using a true mono playback cartridge, it is built and more straightforward to operate than a stereo cartridge. Lastly, it seems to me that maybe it’s even easier for our brains to process a mono recording; but as you’ve probably already figured, I’m not a brain specialist.
Some Concluding Thoughts
You might be asking, does all this mean that the old Beatnik has given up on stereo? Of course not; I may be quirky, but I’m not crazy. Besides, as I’ve already talked about, a lot of the music I love is on stereo recordings from the late fifties and sixties, and many of them sound nearly, if not just as right, as mono recordings. As an added benefit they also produce what we refer to as a soundstage. This is actually an even greater reason for listening to stereo recordings; and that’s why most of the music I listen to is stereo.
Since I mentioned soundstage in the previous paragraph, I think I should say that it is a mistake to think mono recordings have no soundstage at all. It’s not the same, and of course, it’s not nearly as wide and not quite as deep, but still it’s there. The instruments are closer together but very distinguishable from each other. It’s not at all unusual for someone to be listening with me and when I ask them, “What do you think of mono sound?” They say, “Oh come on, that’s not mono.” You would think they would just assume it’s a stereo recording without a great soundstage, but they usually say, “It sounded so good I hadn’t even thought about it.” I don’t know about you, but I think that speaks volumes.
I know I’m not a recording engineer or any other kind of specialist. No, I’m just the old audio “Beatnik” who had thoughts that I thought you might be interested in. I hope this post makes you think about what it is that allows a recording to sound like music in your room and maybe to give mono a chance.
By the way, if you don’t play vinyl, but you have an SACD player and you like jazz, there are lots of wonderful mono recordings to discover. You won’t even need to buy a mono cartridge to enjoy them.
