mulveling Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 I have the occasional mono vinyl, and they invariably sound like crap on stereo headphones or speakers. You get a wonderful stereo image of all the noise crud on the record's surface, while the music is a lifeless dead-center image. There also may be some sort of smearing from two speakers (that can never be exactly the same) trying to reproduce the same signal. Not long ago I heard a local fellow's pure mono setup, the speaker was a gigantic 50's or 60's Bozak cabinet with multiple drivers. The sound was very surprising, and extremely enjoyable. I'm not sure if you need the same kind of speakers to capture most of the magic, but since then I've been looking at my unused Tannoy TDC center channel ( http://www.tannoy-speakers.com/s.php?product=117&title=Dimension+TDC&s=24 ) in a different light. It's a behemoth monster as far as center channels go. Fairly full range too, spec'd down to 42Hz. It's been sitting in its box for the last several months since I got it as a package deal with the TD10s. I still don't care enough about HT to make a go it and sacrifice 2ch quality in the process. I've been thinking, when I move into the new place - rather than try to combine a 2ch/HT setup, wouldn't it be cool to combine a 2ch/mono setup with the center channel dedicated for mono only? The setup would look like the front 3 for a surround rig, but it wouldn't be I'd need to setup a 2nd turntable with a mono cart - that should be the only expense. I've plenty of amp options - both the McIntosh and Eico can bridge to mono, or I could just use one of the Heathkit monos. I can use just 1 ch of a stereo headamp/preamp (plenty of those around here too). If this worked out well, it would certainly drive me to buy more older recordings (which admittedly are hard to swallow on stereo gear). Any thoughts on this? Any of you guys/gals put together a pure mono setup before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 No, I haven't, but there's an entire school of thought of people who set up mono systems on both sh.tv and audio asylum. Dew et. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swt61 Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Very interesting idea Mike. I've not heard of anyone doing that, however it seems like a really good idea to me. I'm in the very early stages of a completely custom table build, and luvdunhill has dropped some hints that I may want to build a plinth that can mount two tonearms for the very same reason. Although we never discussed a mono speaker. That seems like a lot of expense to recreate a whole other TT for mono though. Would you go as high end as your present TT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 I believe Clearaudio has a turntable on which multiple arms can be mounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulveling Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Very interesting idea Mike. I've not heard of anyone doing that, however it seems like a really good idea to me. I'm in the very early stages of a completely custom table build, and luvdunhill has dropped some hints that I may want to build a plinth that can mount two tonearms for the very same reason. Although we never discussed a mono speaker. That seems like a lot of expense to recreate a whole other TT for mono though. Would you go as high end as your present TT? I'd like to avoid much expense - certainly nowhere near what my SOTA setup cost Luckily I've had an old VPI hw19 and a new rb300 arm collecting dust - the intended first vinyl rig that never materialized. The table needs some work, but the motor and major stuff seems fine. I recently heard a new Ortofon stereo cart in the $250 range (IIRC) on an vintage Oracle table that sounded super - I'd be aiming for that level of performance and price in a cart, but mono. Perhaps a Denon DL-102: http://www.needledoctor.com/Denon-DL-102-High-Output-Moving-Coil-Mono-Cartridge?sc=2&category=269 Just realized I might have to do something different for phono stage though Overall it shouldn't be too painful price-wise, but I'm going to wait until after I'm all settled into the new place in a month I've heard of the interchangeable arms somewhere, but I don't think that's something I'd enjoy doing. Plus, the SOTA w/ its present vintage arm is IT for me w/ stereo. Barring illness or injury, I'm never changing that combo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulveling Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 OK, I just realized the multiple arm thing on the Clearaudio probably means it has two arms mounted at the same time, not interchangeable arms. Indeed, that is pretty damn cool! However, I'm still set on sticking with my stereo TT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Yeah, it was just a suggestion. I, personally, do not have room for multiple tables, so that's what I'd do, but if you have the room (and finances, presumably) to do it right, by all means, do it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_hankins Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 OK, I just realized the multiple arm thing on the Clearaudio probably means it has two arms mounted at the same time, not interchangeable arms. Indeed, that is pretty damn cool! However, I'm still set on sticking with my stereo TT. Just move to an arm that has switchable head shells and keep one mono and one stereo. A couple minutes to switch in and out at most. That way you can keep your table and just upgrade your arm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulveling Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Just move to an arm that has switchable head shells and keep one mono and one stereo. A couple minutes to switch in and out at most. That way you can keep your table and just upgrade your arm. My arm does have a detachable headshell, though original FR64fx headshells are rare. Ugh, I remember seeing one on agon not long ago for a very reasonable price - should have jumped on it. Are headshells typically standardized/interchangeable? I would still feel nervous swapping out expensive carts every time I wanted to switch modes - no matter how careful you are, an accident is bound to happen. I'm lucky enough just to not have screwed up my stereo cart yet - the arm lift/lower lever (which I use habitually) has saved my ass more times than I care to remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvdunhill Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 DL-102 is a good choice, but you run into problems with having to stack the headshell leads and often times this can be a problem with various headshells. This is because the DL-102 only has 2 pins. Another good option is the lower-end Benz Ace, which comes in a mono version or some of the entry Lyra carts. You can get into the whole "true-mono" versus "mono-strapped stereo" discussion as well. Worse-case scenario, you have to hack up the headshell, not something I'd like to do to an Ikeda / FR headshell. I do think that ZYX makes an after-market headshell that will fit though... not cheap though. As for phonostage, this can also be hard because you may be dealing with various RIAA curves as nothing was standardized at this time. Decca, CBS, etc. had their own house curves. Just more food for thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swt61 Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 Party pooper! So Marc do you think it's worth the effort in terms of his CCspeaker/mono rig idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvdunhill Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 yes, definitely worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerius Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 a friend of mine had mono; i wouldn't recommend it. http://lemmymovie.com/ The last part of the teaser provides a reason for getting mono and other STDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomana Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 As a Lemmy fan, I find all those people talking away in that teaser to be very annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augsburger Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 a friend of mine had mono; i wouldn't recommend it. If you do get mono, you need to share your mono. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepak Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 Luckily I've had an old VPI hw19 and a new rb300 arm collecting dust What the hell man, I hate you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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