Miyajima Zero mono ... gobsmacked

[montesquieu]

I get fewer and fewer out and out surprises in this game as the years pass ... but today's arrival of a Miyajima Zero mono cartridge was a genuine eye opener.

I'm well acquainted with mono cartridges having owned (in no particular order) Lyra Dorian mono, various AT33-based monos (for LP and 78), Denon 102, Goldring 600, and no less than three previous Miyajima monos (entry level Kotetu, Spirit, and Premium BE Mono) as well as a bagful of 'SPU' monos (if that's not an oxymoron - SPU Mono GM Mk2 - twice - and a couple of vintage ones for 1mil early mono and for 78). Oh and I still have some Shure M44/7 cartridges fitted out with a variety of wider tips for various eras of 78 (most of mine are 1930s so like .30 or .32 which luckily is what the Miyajima 78 is).

Approx 20% of my 3000-ish record collection is mono which is how I got into it in the first place. (Plus some 78s as well as some pre-RIAA era equalisation correction kit to play them and early LPs as they were intended).

The Zero joins both a Miyajima Shilabe (which I prefer to the Audio Note Io2 it replaced for its natural feel and easy musicality - not that it's short on detail by anymeans) and a Miyajima Premium 78 - for 78s.

Two arms, AN Arm2/II for the Shilabe - with a weight added at the headshell and heavy counterweight as required for the Io - plus an ATP12T for the Premium 78 and Zero, both mounted in Fidelity Research headshells. Aurorasound Vida phono stage - which is very good indeed. All the Miyajimas work well into the MC input, but all are improved notably when they go through my S&B TX103 step-up (I have some Hashimoto HM7s I picked up in Japan ready to be built up - but that's another story). With a good enough cartridge and step-up, the Aurorasound always sounds better with SUT than without (I found the same with my Io, with assorted stereo SPUs, a Shelter 501, anything I've tried basically.)

Back to the Zero - this truly is an eye opener. I've never heard mono so grand, so scaled up, so wide, so deep, so forgiving of old or worn or poorly mastered disks (it's about the music after all). It really makes you wonder if stereo was any kind of advance - why trade depth and scale for the ability to pan L&R? Wonderfully natural, the Zero really has mind-altering properties. I'm just gobsmacked. Really. The sense of space is amazing, instruments crystalise into a vast soundscape that isn't stereo, but is just as complex. Timbre is wonderful, musical nuances beautifully expressed, the thing is achingly musical.

I've had a few people round today and overall the system is sounding nice - the big Tannoys, the Radford STA100, Music First MkII TVC, even the digital side (AN CDT2 and DIY version of the AN DAC 4.1x). But the Zero has been the star of the evening outshining even the Shilabe.

Sorry to go on ... but it really is quite a 'moment'!.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/IMG_0007_zps7cd346be.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/IMG_0007_zps7cd346be.jpg.html)

[petrat]

Interesting! The Miyajima cartridges seem like quite a find.
Let us know how you get on with the Hashimotos when you get them built.

[Ammonite Audio]

I can confirm everything that Tom says - I was there! A truly lovely sound all round, including an introduction to 78s, using (IIRC) another Miyajima cartridge.

Tom's Tannoys are wonderful too - this is the first time that I've heard anything with HPDs inside; and based on what I heard last night, I would choose such carefully restored and implemented HPDs over Monitor Golds any day.

[paskinn]

Yes, intriguing. The remarks about mono don't come as much of a surprise to me, as I used original Voigt corner horns, and later a good, accurate, replica, and that is quite sublime in mono. I doubt that stereo offers much more really, but it is what we have, so fine....of course, hardly any of our recordings are 'true' stereo anyway. Nothing remotely like it.
I also agree about the Music First step-up with the tx103 transformers. Music First build some remarkable things, and the big step-up is a true gem. I have yet to hear better; agree about it's use into the Vida MM stage too. Certainly better than the Vida's own mc circuit, although that is no slouch.

[Reffc]

I can confirm everything that Tom says - I was there! A truly lovely sound all round, including an introduction to 78s, using (IIRC) another Miyajima cartridge.

Tom's Tannoys are wonderful too - this is the first time that I've heard anything with HPDs inside; and based on what I heard last night, I would choose such carefully restored and implemented HPDs over Monitor Golds any day.

Agreed Hugo. HPDs for me are the pick of the Tannoy bunch. There's an absolutely massive gulf between run of the mill original cabinets/crossovers and carefully designed bespoke ones optimised for the HPDs with greater care in design. The crossovers also require surprising precision and thought to get the best from them. Mix the right ingredients and they're easily on a par with the so-called High End speakers of today. Toms cabs are optimised for the 12 inch HPD and in that respect are a more than match for 15 inch MGs.

[Barry]

Yes, intriguing. The remarks about mono don't come as much of a surprise to me, as I used original Voigt corner horns, and later a good, accurate, replica, and that is quite sublime in mono. I doubt that stereo offers much more really, but it is what we have, so fine....of course, hardly any of our recordings are 'true' stereo anyway. Nothing remotely like it.
I also agree about the Music First step-up with the tx103 transformers. Music First build some remarkable things, and the big step-up is a true gem. I have yet to hear better; agree about it's use into the Vida MM stage too. Certainly better than the Vida's own mc circuit, although that is no slouch.

The only, and correct, way to listen to 'monophonic' recordings is to use a single channel system - one pre/power amplifier with only one speaker.

[paskinn]

The only, and correct, way to listen to 'monophonic' recordings is to use a single channel system - one pre/power amplifier with only one speaker.

Undeniably correct..and I have never heard anything to approach a single Voigt Corner Horn to fill a room with glorious music. However, a pair of Voigts can also give a really fine mono image.
I was always being told that a speaker like the Voigt can only 'do' mono, but actually a pair sound sublime with a good stereo source. It's one of the first attributes of the speaker that listeners pick-up on.
So, theory is fine; but actual experience can result in some surprising outcomes. I would be quite happy to only listen in mono if it became necessary. But then I seem to have become more and more cautious about the nature of 'progress' in audio.

[montesquieu]

Actually I disagree. I did do a full mono setup once - esl 63, single leak monoblock, good quality passive stepped attenuators, Lenco with SPU mono gm, audio note transport to tube DAC mixed down with a 2 into one box made for me by nick Gorham who also made me a custom single channel version of my then Longdog phono stage.

Yes it was very nice indeed. I mainly played mono CDs when using digital. But I feel mono blooms better when it fills the gap between two speakers. The sound has more width and therefore a greater opportunity to 'image' in that wonderfully unexpected way.

In the end I broke the system up. It was really fun and proved a point that mono can be wonderful. But in the end I was doing my mono listening between two speakers rather than one as it just sounded better.

gratuitous Tannoy pic (somewhat old as there have been quite a few changes and the speaker grilles now sport smart period correct Tannoy badges):

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/cant2_zps02c5c433.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/cant2_zps02c5c433.jpg.html)

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/cant3_zps55f3f5ae.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/cant3_zps55f3f5ae.jpg.html)

[Andrei]

The only, and correct, way to listen to 'monophonic' recordings is to use a single channel system - one pre/power amplifier with only one speaker.
I have not tried this but wouldn't the extra speaker help allow for room irregularities? I have listened to stereo recordings over four speakers and that was an improvement.

[Tarzan]

Lovely looking room there Tom.:)

[Marco]

Looks great, Tom! The Miyajima also sounds very interesting… We must hook up in the new year and swap Tannoy notes! ;)

Enjoy :cool:

Marco.

[User211]

Hi Tom,

I'm curious to know what you are listening to with this. Can you give some examples?

What would be really good is something that may be available now via TIDAL, for instance.

Presumably if what you are listening to was generally considered to be worth saving/is genuinely great it will be available in some contemporary format?

Justin

[jandl100]

Mono-maniacs! :)

I own, listen to and treasure a fair few mono LPs - all classical except one double LP of Louis Armstrong - for me it works for small scale works but not worth it imo for larger scale / symphonic works where stereo makes all the difference to a believable experience to me. In fact I often prefer mono to stereo for piano works where all too often the piano seems 30 feet wide in stereo, also string quartets and similar where the players can be very widely spaced, especially on more modern recordings. In fact, in my system I can convert stereo to mono for just such occasions.

I'm sure that mono is an important medium for many jazz fans as well.

Mono LPs sound excellent on my stereo LP rig. :thumbsup: ... to say that the 'only' way to listen to these LPs is via a mono-rig of some description is, frankly, daft!

http://kimsloans.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/backus-jim-rca-ep-1362-magoo-in-hi-fi-e1342576030593.jpg

[montesquieu]

Mono-maniacs! :)

I own, listen to and treasure a fair few mono LPs - all classical except one double LP of Louis Armstrong - for me it works for small scale works but not worth it imo for larger scale / symphonic works where stereo makes all the difference to a believable experience to me. In fact I often prefer mono to stereo for piano works where all too often the piano seems 30 feet wide in stereo, also string quartets and similar where the players can be very widely spaced, especially on more modern recordings. In fact, in my system I can convert stereo to mono for just such occasions.

I'm sure that mono is an important medium for many jazz fans as well.

Mono LPs sound excellent on my stereo LP rig. :thumbsup: ... to say that the 'only' way to listen to these LPs is via a mono-rig of some description is, frankly, daft!

http://kimsloans.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/backus-jim-rca-ep-1362-magoo-in-hi-fi-e1342576030593.jpg

I agree entirely with thie Jerry, where stereo succeeds is in large-scale works (especially choral works) where it makes a big difference, especially where the spatial dimention is very much part of the composer's intention. Though it has to be said if you are far back enough in a concert hall you are listening effectively to a mono source + random reflections, not to any meaningful L+R.

Where mono scores is definitely in chamber music, lieder and other more intimate music where depth and expressive detail is more important than L&R spatial cues, indeed where bungling spatial cues can distract - I have a wonderful 1959 recording of DFD singing Haydn Lieder ... absolutely glorious in mono. I have the same recording, issued in stereo on a recent 4-CD set, and it's one of those really crap early stereo recordings that puts the singer and pianist in opposite speakers (early Dylan albums suffer from the same curse where the voice is in the middle, the guitar in one speaker and the harmonica on the other side!). I'd take the mono of that ANY day and I regulary turn craply recorded stereo albums into mono for the same reason, as the Vida has a mono button (something every self-respecting phono stage really ought to have). Not quite the same as you don't get the same signal width or quite as dramatic depth imaging, but very effective nonetheless

As you'd expect, the vast majority of what I listen to in mono is classical, predominantly Lieder, classical and romantic piano and chamber music, and some Early Music (baroque and renaissance) - though the Early Music movement was only in its infancy pre-stereo and the interest is often the experimentation rather than the scholarship or performances, exceptions being the likes of Ralph Kirkpatrick (famous both as editor of Bach and particularly Scarlatti definitive published editions, and as a harpsichordist and clavichordist) whose performances are 100% the finished article, and Alfred Deller, whose early voice was sublime but whose later stereo recordings are often blighted by creeping mannerisms and a hint of roughness that weren't so evident in his youth. There are a lot of DG Archiv recordings in mono about the place, these are often quite hit and miss, but a lot of the HMV and Decca/L'Oiseau Lyre is impeccable. (Much of mine I've either had forever, or has been sourced from Oxfam or other charity shops).

I do also have some wonderful early jazz, and again what a good five-piece (say) Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis mono recording manages is a fantastic sense of depth - though I'm sure this is only achieved by someone sitting on a desk, spotlighting and backgrounding individual mikes as solosists come in and out. The famous Sinatra/Nelson Riddle one-take version of 'I got you under my skin' from Songs for Swinging Lovers is a case in point - it's as much a virtuoso performance on the sliders in the booth as it is for Sinatra or any of the musicians. Some of the early Brubeck is intruging as he improved a lot as an improvisor over the course of the 50s. As did recording techniques of course, some of the late 40s and early 50s stuff on LP is not really hifi in terms of frequency response and quality, but the improvements in only a few years are staggering.

Marco - you'd be really welcome any time, let me know when you are down this way and I'm sure it can be fitted in. I'm planning another classical music day anyway (Jerry - hope you can make this one as you have made the previous ones) but there is one final iteration to go before I set the date, a scratch build preamp (details still secret, but to be revealed in due course) I'm holding off for that. It will be a tall order to beat the Music First MkII TVC but I have a cunning plan, needless to say it's not a DIY project though :)

Merry Christmas all, listening to Mozart (Haebler and Szeyring - in stereo though!) as I type.

[User211]

I'll have a look and see what I can find after the festivities. I do listen to Sinatra every now and then - Witchcraft and others never fail to blow my mind sonically and musically. Must admit though a lot of his stuff makes me want to vom.

The new speakers are better performers across various different genres and solo piano recordings like Mulgrew Miller are doing my head in technically, musically and sonically. Not old enough to be in mono though:D

Just expanding my horizons so just trying to get some input on some older stuff for interest's sake. I'll never be a full on classical man though.

You're welcome to hear the Interstellas having put up with me for a while. Reciprocation and all that:)