My first sessions with a mono cartridge

[Puma Cat]

Last night I mounted up a mono cartridge on the Concept, a wood-bodied Grado as I've been acquiring a nice collection of original, clean, jazz and classical monos, which was the rationale for a mono-only deck in the first place. A number of these original monos, ironically, have a presence and
"you are there"-ness that stereo recordings can struggle to match.

It's the first time I've ever heard a mono cartridge, and, as I am building quite a nice collection of mono LPs, it was interesting to see what it would be like.

The first impression is one of quietness...that is, very little to no surface noise, even on LPs 50 yrs old or older. Because a good proportion of surface noise comes from the contaminats that are so easy to acquire on LPs, and because a mono cartridge generates no signal when the stylus is moved vertically, but only horizontally, there's a notable reduction in surface noise.

That just improves signal to noise, and that's always a good thing.

Overall, I am quite impressed with this Grado; AFAIK it's Reference Sonata 1 built by Grado as mono cartridge.

Interestingly, this Grado, while retaining the sweet mids and tonal qualities of my stereo Reference Sonata, doesn't have the fullness, impact, weight, or bass output of my Sonata. Whereas my stereo Reference Sonata is almost overly rich and full-sounding on the Concept, this cartridge is a bit more neutral, less full-bodied, less "weighty". Also, the bass isn't as deep, tight and at the same output level as my stereo Sonata.

The only thing I can attribute to this difference is that my stereo Sonata was cryogenically-treated.

OTOH, the highs are more natural-sounding and smoother and more extended on this mono Grado than on my stereo Grado Reference Sonata, which is not one of the new 1-series Sonatas.

NOTE: I was told today by the seller that this Grado has less than 25 hours on it, and as I've been playing it, it is starting to noticeably open up and become more dynamic. It still doesn't have the fullness and weight of the cryo'd stereo Sonata, but the highs on this one smoke the highs on my older Sonata. I guess the new 1-series 17% reduction of mass in the generator system really did something notable.