I currently have a Grado MC+ Mono Phono Cartridge. I was looking on ebay and found several mono cartridges for over $200 each, some were over $1000. I want to step up to a better mono cartridge, but I cannot see paying that much for one.
Mono recordins sound sweet and are less noisy. I have over 100 of them currently and expect that number to expand as I continue to collect older recordings of Jazz and continue to find mono versions of early rock and roll records. I have found no loss of enjoyment listening to mono recordings, and seldom miss the stereo effect of records. I found the mono releases of the Beatles to be more satisfying than the stereo versions because of the musical information that is lost in the stereo mix. I have quite a few old Jazz recordings that are mono and I absolutely refuse to play a mono recording with a stereo needle!
The Grado is a good cartridge, but I am thinking that like the MC cartridge that I finally purchased, there must be more sound in the grooves that can be extracted with a better mono cartridge. I have no beef with the sound of the Grado, but as always, I am looking for more!
I was on ebay and saw a Denon, which I have the DL-110 MC stereo cartridge, which I got for around $160, but the mono Denon cartridge was over $200. Is it worth it? Does it sound good? Will it be a vast improvement in the listening experience of my mono recordings? I wish I knew!
I read a review of a mono cartridge made by Ortofon and it costs over $900, I am not ever going to have the disposable cash to spring for one of those puppies, so I am hoping to find a reasonable mono cartridge that is better than my Grado for around $150 or so.
Is it possible?
I HOPE SO!
Keep listening!
Jeff
The adventures and misadventures of a budget-minded audiophile in his search for audio nirvana. There will be entries for what I have, what I like, new music, new components, thoughts, musings and so forth. I am trying to build an incredibly diverse audio system that handles multiple formats from yesterday as well as today, while keeping in mind the eventual goal is to be able to eat and have an audio system when I retire.