Not at all! Don't worry about that. Your stereo cart can handle mono LPs!
Thanks!
I found a thread over at steve hoffman forums and went down the stero/mono rabbit hole - who knew there was so much to know? Well, you guys probably did. But I didn't. Off to play my mono LP's on my stereo set-up
Just don't drag a mono era diamond (1mil) through a stereo trench.
No it will not damage your stylus. When I listen to mono through I put pre amp on mono mode, don't know if that makes it sound better but what the hell.
Many of my mono albums are relatively new; that is, new enough to include information on them about their use on stereo players. The comforting thing is the sure knowledge, gleaned from the album jacket itself, that the mono version is fully compatible with stereo systems, and that, in fact, "played on a stereophonic machine, it gives even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity."Thanks!
I found a thread over at steve hoffman forums and went down the stero/mono rabbit hole - who knew there was so much to know? Well, you guys probably did. But I didn't. Off to play my mono LP's on my stereo set-up
And since mono pickups of the time moved side to side and stereo moved 45 and 45, the lack of a vertical component in the mono cartridge movement could chop up the 45/45 groves.which were too wide and could damage the grooves
I don't know how other programs work, but with Polderbits, you can record a less than perfect mono recording in "mono" mode, and it will remove a lot of the imperfections since it uses the signal that's common to the 2 stereo channels (I hope I'm making sense). It doesn't just choose "right" or "left," but it's sort of a "center" option I'd guess you'd say. I've had mono records I've picked up on the cheap that were pretty awful come out fairly clean recording them on my computer with Polderbits.
Though *slightly* off topic, the "mono" function in Polderbits will also do a decent job of fixing "electronic stereo" into mono. It might not sound as good as the original mono pressing, but it works really well with Columbia LP's that were done that way. It seems, at least around here, you find more "reprocessed stereo" than you do true mono on the Columbia label.http://www.vinylrecorder.com/stereo.html
This is a cool illustration of how the grooves work. I don't remember all the details of how the summing/subtracting is done, but basically if you play a mono record with a stereo cart, you get two versions of the mono signal (one on each channel). Somehow they can be summed in a way that cancels out at least some of the noise which is common to both.
I used to use Polderbits software years ago. I had to wipe my HD and reload the OS and all my software, and when I went to get a new product key from Polderbits because the old one no longer worked, I found that they were no longer around! I didn't even have it very long, so that money went down the toilet. I know you can still download the program, but as far as I'm aware, it's useless after the trial period expires. It's not really much of a loss, though. It was easy to edit with, but it had very few features, and it's noise removal tools SUCKED compared to other programs such as Goldwave, Click Repair, and even Audacity.I don't know how other programs work, but with Polderbits, you can record a less than perfect mono recording in "mono" mode, and it will remove a lot of the imperfections since it uses the signal that's common to the 2 stereo channels (I hope I'm making sense). It doesn't just choose "right" or "left," but it's sort of a "center" option I'd guess you'd say. I've had mono records I've picked up on the cheap that were pretty awful come out fairly clean recording them on my computer with Polderbits.