Ugh, I hate listening to mono records this way. Unfortunately, some people who do otherwise
excellent transfers of old grooved-disk recordings don't sum to mono. It's incredibly annoying to
have "stereo" surface noise with a small field of mono content in the middle. It actually makes the
soundfield for the content (as opposed to the extraneous noise) more narrow and less distinct.
Summing to mono: 1) removes some low-frequency disk-noise issues by cancelling out-of-phase stuff,
and 2) cancels or reduces the level vs the main content for other random noises and the overall
"whoosh" sound. When I transfer a mono record, I always sum it, but the Restoration Preamp has a
mode where you can mix between left and right to see if you reduce noise or distortion that way
(sometimes this works, I find mostly it doesn't matter). I think there is another method where you
can put one channel out of phase and mix it to a level that cancels noise the most, but I haven't
tried this and don't remember the details.
One man's opinions, but based on years of listening to and transferring mono sources.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Cox" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 5:16 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Straight Line Tracking was Stanton Turntable reviews....anyone?
> On 20/12/2011, Richard L. Hess wrote:
>
>> Because it's a mono record?
>>
>> On 2011-12-20 10:55 AM, Don Cox wrote:
>>> Yes, but why would anyone want to create a mono sum of the signals?
>>
> Since I first bought a stereo record player, I have always listened to
> mono records in stereo. There never seemed to be any improvement in the
> sound when the channels are mixed.
>
> And it is much easier for the brain to disregard surface noise when the
> noise is spread across the whole width from speaker to speaker and the
> music is located in the centre.
>
> In principle, mixing the channels should reduce the noise by about one decibel
> (the noise in stereo will be 1.414 times the noise in mono), but the
> disadvantage of losing spatial separation makes this hardly worth while.
>
> In my opinion.
>
> Regards
> --
> Don Cox
> [log in to unmask]
>
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