50-60 Year Old Mono Lp's Can Sound scary Good!

[videoguy]

Just finished the single channel mono version of my new phono preamp. It has a fully differential input amplifier with a gain of approx. 50 db. This is followed by the RIAA equalizer. Followed by a fet input amplifier w a gain of 25. I've been able to get the equalization accurate to +- 0.25 db. It is designed for moving coil cartridges only; ultimately the stereo version will be fed from a Denon 103R, low output MC cartridge.

For the first go round a vintage Fairchild 225B MC cartridge, this is a high output unit. I acquired it in 1962, used for $25- with the step up transformer, which has since disappeared. Had not used it since 1967. Mounted it to my Kenwood TT & tested the preamp.

I have a number of the Mercury "Living Presence" LP's, both mono & stereo. The preamp is fed into a Marantz 620, portable digital recorder, 680 phones plugged into the recorder. Copied the first mono "Living Presence" album; Moussorgskys "Pictures at an Exhibition". The Chicago Symphony conducted by Raphael Kubelik, circa 1951. This is the recording that was a game changer for the classical music market in the U.S. in 1951. Howard Taubman, music critic of the New York Times said in his review; it was like being in the "Living Presence of The Orchestra". The recording was made in Orchestra Hall, Chicago. What set this recording apart was that the players were seated as they are for a live performance & only a single Telefunken/Neumann U47 microphone, set to the omni directional pattern was used to capture the performance.

I copied the record to an SD card, WAV format 96kbps & then loaded it into my editing computer & burned it to CD. Listened to it thru my modified Chiara amp, using my modified AKG K340 2 way phones. The sound is spectacular as the 50+ year old cartridge reproduced every nuance that was on the disc; absolutely scary!

The parts for the stereo version of the preamp arrive on thurs.; really looking forward to hearing it with the Denon cartridge. Will keep you all posted on the progress.
Bill W.

[Nigel]

Sounds like your phono pre-amp is going to be something special, Bill.

Some of those recordings dating back to the fifties sound truly superb.

[Deleted]

Interesting that Ortofon just released a new monaural cartridge...the MC Quintet Mono that straps the outputs from both pole pins to deliver true monaural sound thru any stereo set-up. That sounds like a winner to me in that I'm not in any way competent enough with electrics to accomplish what "Videoguy" is doing. However, being a teenager in the whacked-out 60's, I have a lot of mono LP's from that era, still. Then, Sundazed records releases new editions of those very same mono LP's. And, I have several from them...Spirit, The Byrds, Donovan, Canned Heat, Yardbirds, etc. All in mono. And the reason I treasure these reproductions is that in the 60's, attempts to "stereo-ize" these mono recordings made a mess of the music in this one important way...soundstage. In the mono recordings the soundstage was kept intact, albeit in a small, centrally localized area...the one speaker. And, when played on a stereo only system, the mono recording still held it's central soundstage, but it was larger...Now,I had a mono switch on my Fisher 400, so was able to localize the soundstage thru a stereo system even more with mono recordings. But, when the record companies "stereo-ized" mono recordings...the listener found a big hole in the soundstage twixt the stereo speakers with the lead singer and the bass player coming directly out of one speaker and the drum and guitar out of the other. No soundstaging at all, with a loss of any attempts of realism.

So, with Ortofon's new MC Quintet Mono phono cartridge, I will be able to really enjoy my mono recordings without having to make a complete mono playback system. I think that's a great 21st century idea for a treasured vintage tech. j

[videoguy]

Just checked out the specifications for the Quintet Mono cartridge. It is a true monaural phono cartridge. It is interesting that they have provided output pins per the standard stereo connection to make it compatible with any system, stereo or mono. As a hi-fi enthusiast from the early 50's and a recording engineer, I would want to play mono records thru only one speaker rather than a stereo pair. This reproduces the recording as it was intended to be heard. My reasons are, that there is no stereo sound stage information on a mono record. No dogmatism is intended; whichever way makes you happy, just listen and enjoy.

[videoguy]

Just a quick update on my new Moving Coil phono preamp. The stereo prototype has been up and running for a month and meets my original design criteria. The Denon DL-103R M/C cartridge has a manufacturer rated maximum output of 0.00025 rms volts. That is only 250 microvolts rms, from coils having an impedance of only 14 ohms; however the dc resistance of each coil is 40 ohms. Each cartridge comes with its own frequency response plot. My DL-103R is 20hz to 20khz +- 3/4 db. The frequency response in the printed spec. sheet claims a response of 20hz to 45khz, with no deviation noted. All in all quite respectable & one of the best bargains for the price; $270- USD two years ago.

The first stage of amplification must have be extremely low noise, while being able to match the low impedance of the cartridge, and having a balanced input. In addition the input device has very good CMRR (common mode rejection ratio). These attributes guarantee a signal that is free from hum and noise. With the volume set for a decent listening level there is only quiet, until the needle drops. By using a passive equalization network all possible feedback induced anomolies are eliminated. I will be posting some sound samples shortly.

[Deleted]

Newly released Beatles 14 mono LP set...selling for $336 here in the States. And they're 180 gram vinyl, too....too much for me..J

[Deleted]

There is a fabulous vinyl record shop in my nearest town, Oswestry. Bought an old Jack Teagarden LP in mono and it does sound pretty good. Haven't played it all yet and need to copy it to hard disc. Bought my V-LPS II solely for the purpose of capturing my favourite LPs and haven't made much progress

Derek

[Deleted]

My personal opinion is (Oh dear) unless you are seated in the 'hot spot' with stereo, at the right height and not moving for the whole side, then mono will not sound inferior to stereo anyway.
Your ears are not that far apart, so if you move from the 'hot spot' you are not going to get stereo!
One of the reasons that 5.1 fails to impress me, is that stereo sounds just as good, as that uses up my available ears!