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Mono - can we talk mono?

jobrewer1983

jobrewer1983

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I’ve been playing with a little pilot mono amp that was pulled from a turntable. I’ve been using various full range drivers and I’ve been hooked on this little set up. Wondering if any other AKers run mono rigs? Any pic of your set up’s?

I’ve found the prices are low with mono stuff unless it’s a “mono-block” for a stereo set. Some of the older tube console amps are rather nice and are low buck. I’ve found many nice FR single drivers on eBay not so much money.

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A few I keep out to swap in and out, it’s a lot of fun :)

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I picked up this speaker ^^ on eBay for 25 bucks, has a stromberg Carlson driver in it. Sounds wonderful.

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Selmerdave said:
While I confess to most commonly listening to speakers in stereo field, I have come to love mono recordings. You're completely right that it's a great way to maximize performance for the dollar...

Do you have a mono cart for your table there?
Click to expand...

yes :) I have a few tables, a Knight idler and an empire/Knight cart that can be ran in mono :)
 
There are all sorts of nice amplifiers floating around that will never have a mate for stereo. These include engineer built amps for recording studios and radio stations as well as amps built by hobbyists during the mono era. There are also some very rare commercially built units that are too rare to find a second. I have quite a few of them and have used several in a mono system with Stromberg Carlson 15" coax speakers in a nice large box. These S-C are really nice speakers and I have several of them found over the years. I used this setup in the dining room since there is little need for a stereo image there. The sound from the setup can be heard in the kitchen and living room making for a nice background system to listen to favorite music without sitting in front of two speakers. The mono systems are great for the garage as well.

I use a stereo DAP, CD player, or a small computer based system with a DAC to generate a stereo signal that is summed into mono in the amplifier. Many CD player and DAC outputs do not like to have the R & L outputs tied together in parallel, so it is imperative to ensure there is an individual load on each output before the two channels are summed together. Each channel has its own input to the amp, so two RCA jacks; each jack has a 10k ohm resistor in series with the wire to the 100k stereo volume control. Each 10k resistor acts as a load on the outputs of the source when the volume control is at "max." The wipers of the stereo pot are tied together to sum the two channels into the mono amp. Here's a garage mono setup. Note the 15" S-C speaker. The source is a Cowon DAP.

garage4.jpg
 
Palustris said:
There are all sorts of nice amplifiers floating around that will never have a mate for stereo. These include engineer built amps for recording studios and radio stations as well as amps built by hobbyists during the mono era. There are also some very rare commercially built units that are too rare to find a second. I have quite a few of them and have used several in a mono system with Stromberg Carlson 15" coax speakers in a nice large box. These S-C are really nice speakers and I have several of them found over the years. I used this setup in the dining room since there is little need for a stereo image there. The sound from the setup can be heard in the kitchen and living room making for a nice background system to listen to favorite music without sitting in front of two speakers. The mono systems are great for the garage as well.

I use a stereo DAP, CD player, or a small computer based system with a DAC to generate a stereo signal that is summed into mono in the amplifier. Many CD player and DAC outputs do not like to have the R & L outputs tied together in parallel, so it is imperative to ensure there is an individual load on each output before the two channels are summed together. Each channel has its own input to the amp, so two RCA jacks; each jack has a 10k ohm resistor in series with the wire to the 100k stereo volume control. Each 10k resistor acts as a load on the outputs of the source when the volume control is at "max." The wipers of the stereo pot are tied together to sum the two channels into the mono amp. Here's a garage mono setup. Note the 15" S-C speaker. The source is a Cowon DAP.

View attachment 2735280
Click to expand...

Fantastic, and that amp is beautiful!

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So I too run a stereo signal summed to mono, I have a few converters, all of witch use 10k resistors.

It’s funny you mentioned the sound travels throughout your house, I have noticed that too. They are great for background music yes, but I keep finding myself on the living room floor just hooked on the sound stage.

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Oddly enough I’ve been using stromberg Carlson drivers as well, they seem to have amazing tone!
 
I have to say, I prefer listening to mono on two speakers instead of one usually. I found a single home built Klipschorn from 1950, it was loaded with nice Stephens Trusonic gear and I didn’t get too into it as a mono setup. Your ears have to adjust to listening to one speaker after growing accustomed to a stereo setup.

That being said I have this old tube califone suitcase record player. The turntable is actually a Metzner starlight. It has a Jensen 12 inch speaker running as a full range, the speaker dismounts from the suitcase, and is open baffle, and it really just sounds so right on old 78’s and mono records. Not the ultimate in hifi but just has this realistic warm punchy tube sound that is just so cool. It really impresses people when I play records for them on this cool record player tube amp speaker combo.

I also have an Owl 1 mono preamp that has adjustable settings for different 78’s and early mono recordings that are pre RIAA. It’s fun to use to play mono records on my main system.

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I've had a mono system setup for years. The amp is a little Zenith SE 6V6 integrated that I found on eBay. It came mounted to an open speaker baffle that has a 10" woofer and a pair of electrostatic tweeters. It obviously came out of some type of console but I've never been able to figure out which one.

I used it for years as my "radio" hooked up to a mono Sherwood S-3000 tube FM tuner. I've also run it through a few mono speaker cabinets which I never found (affordable) mates for, including an Altec corner cabinet that uses a 604C coax, a big Electro-Voice corner cabinet and, currently, a smaller JBL with a full range 12".

I've used a few other mono amps with this setup but I keep coming back to this simple Zenith SE 6V6.

The Zenith 10", being a smaller version of the Zenith 12" speakers that are so popular, sounds really nice on it's own. Sometimes I wire it in parallel with other speakers and sometimes I just use the tweeters to augment the highs.

I'm not really into broadcast radio so for the past few years I've been streaming to it using an Apple Airport Express. I rigged up a stereo to mono summing device by adding a couple of resistors to a little "block" of 3 RCA jacks that I pulled from a dead DVD player.

Sorry, no pics. It's currently in a room with an early Mac Mini that's used pretty much exclusively to draw schematics using the old Appleworks program that won't run on anything newer. So it only gets sporadic use.
 
@jobrewer1983 , Nice record player amp ! Pilot made some great record players and included some cool phono preamps inside.

Mono sounds great using our stereo speakers, in what I call "thrilling, dual mono. Level balance per channel is critical to achieve a "sense of spaciousness" only obtainable with stereo speakers, imho.
Since you have one amp, perhaps paralleling two appropriate speakers, spaced apart as a usual stereo pair can increase your enjoyment factor too...Single channel, single speaker mono sounded best to me when the single speaker was corner mounted, using the walls as horns to spread the sound.

Also, keep in mind that the parts Pilot used were designed-in, "voiced" using the speakers chosen within that record player tabletop or console.
So, with a simple upgrade from the small opt. tranny, bandwidth and musical delineation might be even bettered. Enjoy the journeys...
 
jobrewer1983 said:
I’ve been playing with a little pilot mono amp that was pulled from a turntable. I’ve been using various full range drivers and I’ve been hooked on this little set up. Wondering if any other AKers run mono rigs? Any pic of your set up’s?
Click to expand...

Nice thread you started and you have some cool stuff going!

Here’s my DIY mono hifi:

Altec757mini-1.jpg

Gray Research Turntable + 108C viscous damped tonearm + GE RPX Pro or VRII Pro
DIY mono integrated SE2A3 amp
Altec 756B + 32C/802 in sealed ~ 2.5cf cabinet
Sherwood S3000-II FM tuner
Raspberry Pi3B/Volumio + JVC CD player > Audio GD R2R11 DAC > stereo to mono transformer mixer

Still a work in progress... I just finished a mono preamp with variable phono EQ + SE10 mono amp, mono SE2A3 + SE46 amps are under construction.:)

jobrewer1983 said:
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Oddly enough I’ve been using stromberg Carlson drivers as well, they seem to have amazing tone!
Click to expand...

Is this an 8" driver? If so, I owned a pair back in the 90s. They do sound good!
 
Last edited:
setup1 said:
Nice thread you started and you have some cool stuff going!

Here’s my DIY mono hifi:

Altec757mini-1.jpg

Gray Research Turntable + 108C viscous damped tonearm + GE RPX Pro or VRII Pro
DIY mono integrated SE2A3 amp
Altec 756B + 32C/802 in sealed ~ 2.5cf cabinet
Sherwood S3000-II FM tuner
Raspberry Pi3B/Volumio + JVC CD player > Audio GD R2R11 DAC > stereo to mono transformer mixer

Still a work in progress... I just finished a mono preamp with variable phono EQ + SE10 mono amp, mono SE2A3 + SE46 amps are under construction.:)



Is this an 8" driver? If so, I owned a pair back in the 90s. They do sound good!
Click to expand...

really nice set up! Love the cabinet you built!

yes it’s a set of 8” drivers I have 2 of them. They are the custom 400s. Restoring them actually one has some cracks in it that I’m about to patch tonight. I conditioned the cone last night so the paper should be nice and soft today
 
I have a collection of mono records and play them on the main stereo rig through a proper stereo-mono switch in the preamp. They sound as good or better than stereo records.

I also have a couple mono consoles and a 1950 suitcase player but given the relatively primitive speakers they don't see much use for music.

Some folks think stereo was a late-50s gimmick meant to sell gear. I may agree...:thumbsup:
 
jobrewer1983 said:
really nice set up! Love the cabinet you built!

yes it’s a set of 8” drivers I have 2 of them. They are the custom 400s. Restoring them actually one has some cracks in it that I’m about to patch tonight. I conditioned the cone last night so the paper should be nice and soft today
Click to expand...

Thanks and enjoy the monaural hifi journey!
 
FlaCharlie said:
I've had a mono system setup for years. The amp is a little Zenith SE 6V6 integrated that I found on eBay. It came mounted to an open speaker baffle that has a 10" woofer and a pair of electrostatic tweeters. It obviously came out of some type of console but I've never been able to figure out which one.

I used it for years as my "radio" hooked up to a mono Sherwood S-3000 tube FM tuner. I've also run it through a few mono speaker cabinets which I never found (affordable) mates for, including an Altec corner cabinet that uses a 604C coax, a big Electro-Voice corner cabinet and, currently, a smaller JBL with a full range 12".

I've used a few other mono amps with this setup but I keep coming back to this simple Zenith SE 6V6.

The Zenith 10", being a smaller version of the Zenith 12" speakers that are so popular, sounds really nice on it's own. Sometimes I wire it in parallel with other speakers and sometimes I just use the tweeters to augment the highs.

I'm not really into broadcast radio so for the past few years I've been streaming to it using an Apple Airport Express. I rigged up a stereo to mono summing device by adding a couple of resistors to a little "block" of 3 RCA jacks that I pulled from a dead DVD player.

Sorry, no pics. It's currently in a room with an early Mac Mini that's used pretty much exclusively to draw schematics using the old Appleworks program that won't run on anything newer. So it only gets sporadic use.
Click to expand...

I’ve seen pictures of the zenith drivers, never a 10” tho always the 12”. Would like to find an early one with the large alnico magnet.
 
maxhifi said:
Thats really cool, is it from the 1930s? It looks old to me.
Click to expand...

I want to say it’s 40s/50s it was pulled from an old radio. Not sure the model number. I’ve been slowly restoring it over the past few weeks. The cone was super dry,
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I’ve fixed the few small cracks and have treated the cone, it helped bring the color back and helped soften the paper. Really helped open up the sound stage as well. Need to detail the basket next, then carefully sand down the old gaskets to look new :)
 
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