mono cartridge vs stereo

I think results are pressing dependent. I've been checking out a DL102, a true mono cart similar to a 103, only a HOMC. This has a .7 spherical and vintage pressings sound much better with it. The entire presentation is more coherent, natural and quieter.
On modern mono pressings, not so much. I'm used to a more analytical sound and with modern pressings the 102 can actually sound worse.

Ortofon has two - 2M Mono carts. Unless the description is poorly translated the output is strapped. They are also described as true mono, so it's unclear exactly what they are. The regular one has a .7 spherical and the SE has a shibata. This was obviously designed for modern mono pressings made with a stereo cutter like the Beatles box.
They also have a Cadenza Mono which has a fine line, but some of the SPU have various sized spherical.

Regards,

Pryso, I think you're right about the pressings. Even some mono reissues from the '70s and '80s seem to be cut with a stereo head. You don't get the SQ improvement as with vintage pressings.
On another forum it was reported that plans were in the works from the people who did the Beatles box, to do future mono reissues with true mono pressings. He said something about an old Neumann mono lathe.

AT has a couple of mono carts, the AT3MONO and 33. They both have .65 spherical tips; HOMC and LOMC respectively. They're said to be true mono, but that's all I know about them.
The 102 only has two long pins for the output which makes it extra long, or so it seems. For stereo hook-up you double up the wire tags. I can imagine this could be a problem for some cramped headshells or tags with heat shrink. VTF is 2 -4g so it seems like a 103 in that respect. I'm not entirely comfortable tracking my Japanese reissues at 3g, but I guess one go-round won't hurt.

This whole business of mono carts is confusing, not the least of which is your records and what makes sense. I wonder if the Ortofon 2M is a true mono cart, and if so, could you swap the stylus between the spherical and shibata. That might be a good way to cover all bases.
Good turkey day everyone.

I think just about everything you need to know is in this thread, except which carts are true mono. That, and tip size are what make a hugh difference with vintage mono recordings. If you have such records in your collection and play them with a real mono cart, you'll hear the difference immediately. The entire presentation changes for the better.

Strapping the channels on a stereo cart is slightly different than using a mono switch. It might not matter, but you're cutting the cart impedance and inductance in half on most carts. That might depend on the physical orientation of the inductors (coils). A mono switch in a preamp usually comes after the phono EQ circuit.
Maybe having the phono stage channels hooked together halves the input impedance as well?

I checked out the specs of the Ortofon 2M Mono carts. They seem to be strapped 2M stereo carts just like it says in the mono overview. They're designed to play modern reissues methinks, and the SE model's shibata stylus would seem to confirm that.
2M Mono - 350mH, 700 ohm
2M Blue - 700mH, 1.3K ohm
2M Mono SE - 300mH, 600 ohm
2M Black - 630mH, 1.2K ohm

I think the hard part might be figuring out if your reissues are cut with a stereo or mono cutter.

Peter_s.
Yes, the difference between a stereo and true mono cart is if there is output from vertical cantilever motion. Noise with old mono records is dramatically reduced with a true mono cart, but virtually all records since the around 1950 are V cut microgroove, invented in '48.
http://ortofon.com/hifi/products/mono-series

"If you play a mono record with a stereo cartridge you will not achieve the same signal in the two channels due to imperfections such as crosstalk, noise, phase errors, tracking error, antiskating and distortion. This difference between the channels will result in an unstable and partially fuzzy image. A mono switch, to some extent, can improve this."

If you combine channels in your line stage it should have the same impedance implications as combining cart output - cut it in half. There's source impedance and input impedance. If channels are combined wouldn't both be halved?
Regards,