2. misc-audio
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How can you tell if a recording is in mono?

I am listening to an SACD pressing of Coltrane's A Love Supreme. I noticed that the stereo imaging was basically non-existent-- Trane is coming from the left channel, drums from the right, with piano and bass in the middle.

Since I have a preamp with a "mono" switch, I used it, and the sax and drums came right into the center along with the rest of the band. However, the sound lost a lot of its sparkle.

Not really sure what's going on here, and would love input.

Thx
dkidknow

Showing 1 response by sns

sns
3,003 posts
 
Montejay is correct, a lot of stereo recordings in this era were mixed with hard panning. Rock music from the early era of stereo is notorious for this stuff, the reason I generally prefer mono recordings from this era.

I suspect some of the sparkle your speaking of is air around images, stereo is often more spacious/airy sounding than mono with it's more tightly bunched images. You also lose a lot playing stereo recordings in mono, artificial mono produces strange effects.
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