MONO stylus...

[rdpx]

I was playing a record last night that didn't sound really that great, and I noticed it was mono.

This made me have a little google about mono and I was wondering what the thinking on here was about mono stylus/carts.

I am using a Nagaoka MP-200 on a Thorens TD 150 mkii, and see that Nagaoka make a Mono stylus [NMP 1.0] that I could just switch out into my 200 cart. It costs about £100 here, though I could get one brought over from the states for £75.

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/Nagaoka-NMP1.jpg

SO I was wondering what was the deal - should my MP-200 be able to play mono records fine? I mean I don't get bad surface noise or anything on the ones I have played, but the LP I was listening last to last night just sounded really dull. (it was this album (http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/music-films-video-games/music/beethoven-quartets-9-11-15-2lp-by-the-busch-quartet-shb-27-hd_100319013) by the way which is maybe just a bad recording?)

Would the NAG MONO stylus be a good investment? Or would I be better off with a GRADO MC+ cartridge mounted in a different headshell, which would be a bit cheaper. Or should I just ignore it and enjoy the 200?

I have a fair few old jazz and classical from pre 1960, and am happy to get more if they are going to sound good.

Robert

[Stratmangler]

If you want to hear proper mono playback you will need a mono cartridge.
Just changing out the stylus will not do it.




Sent from my wanky Smartphone using Tapatalk 2

[rdpx]

So are you saying that the Grado MC+ will be better than both the Nagaoka mono stylus, and the straight MP-200?

[Barry]

If you want to hear proper mono playback you will need a mono cartridge.
Just changing out the stylus will not do it.




Sent from my wanky Smartphone using Tapatalk 2

Not necessarily true - most 'mono' records have some vertical groove modulation. The latter is unwanted, so either use a single channel mono cartridge whose coil only responds to lateral groove modulation, or switch your preamp to 'mono' (if your preamp has that facility), whereby the vertical components are cancelled. (You can also do this by connecting the two outputs of the (stereo) cartridge together in parallel; but that would mean any playback of stereo records would be in mono.)

To do the job properly, ideally your replay system should consist of a single channel only: mono cartridge; single amp amd preamp and a single speaker.

[rdpx]

Not interested in doing the job properly. I really just want to know whether I should:

A. Get the Nagaoka mono stylus
B. Get the cheap Grado cart (MC+)
C. Neither: just use the 200 and save my cash.

I have no mono switch.
I do not want to do anything other than those options.

Any information backing up an opinion would be welcome.

R

[Barry]

Are you happy with your Nagaoka MP-200 cartridge when playing stereo records?

[walpurgis]

Just in case you should want to take things a little further Robert. There's always the Koetsu Coralstone Platinum Mono at a little over ten grand:

http://www.needledoctor.com/Koetsu-Coralstone-Platinum-Phono-Cartridge

:D

(P.S. I'd get the Grado)

[rdpx]

Barry, I'm not sure. Sometimes yes. Am concerned that the whole set up doesn't really seem to be any better than my CDP...

[DSJR]

Why should it be? (ducks for cover ;)) [edit] - is the external arm wiring original? This seems to age more than the internal arm wiring in my experience...

Look, a stereo profiled stylus may trace the bottom of a mono-cut groove and this will give distortion, as does a 'sharp' or slightly worn example of a fine-line tip. A mono 'size' stylus should trace a mono groove better I think. Hell, for proper 78 transcription, you ideally need a variety of different tips to find one which gives the best sound and lowest noise.

[rdpx]

New head shell wires. New wires out to the amp. Internal wires getting on for fifty years old...

[rdpx]

whoops.