Mono has always been a better (more durable, less distortion, louder 
cutting) format for vinyl.  Back to mono! 

David Lennick wrote:
> Just compared three copies of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with Emil 
> Gilels and Fritz Reiner conducting: original mono LP (LM 1969), 
> "Living Stereo" CD, and 1970s English pressing on "Camden Classics" 
> CCV 5016 from Victrola master (VICS 1039). Interesting results. The CD 
> is muddy, distant, over-reverbed and very unpleasant. The Camden 
> Classics/Victrola is running slow, horribly distorted and full of 
> dropouts. The original mono LP sounds .. bloody fabulous!
>
> dl
>