Your Opinion Please: Mono or Stereo?

[Inert]

Hello, all. I hope this topic hasn't been beaten to death, but I'm interested in hearing the opinion of those more experienced than me in this area...

I'm starting a vinyl collection, mostly a combination of doo-wop (The Four Seasons, the Crests, etc.) and 60's harmony groups (the Beach Boys, etc.), with a very few worthy, later vocal groups (Buckingham era Mac, etc.) mixed in to fill things out. While I'm pretty clear that later groups will probably sound better/might only be available in stereo, I'm wondering about the much heralded mono sound... something I experienced at the very end of its popularity and don't remember much.

With that in mind, I have two questions.

1. For music that is mostly melody and vocal harmony driven (i.e., "Please Let Me Wonder" by the Beach Boys), would mono sound radically different/better than stereo? In terms of the richness of the sound coming out of my speakers, would mono blend voices and instrument melody too closely?

2. My turntable is connected to a six channel receiver. Would I be creating my own "wall of sound" by playing a mono record through so many channels?

Again, my apologies if my questions are a bit subjective, and/or if I've revived an old argument, but I would truly appreciate the opinion of more experienced record collectors. Thanks!

 

[LG]

There is no hard and fast answer, some people consider The Beatles early mono releases the definitive versions, I prefer the stereo mixes myself.

I guess if the original recording was done in mono then it would sound better theoretically than a remixed stereo version Jethro Tull's "This Was" was mono first then a stereo version was issued.

Dylan and the Beatles have the most mono albums to choose from, I would get one and a stereo version and do a test to see which I liked more.

Using a surround amp with a mono signal source would be fine, although for critical listening I would use 2 channels only.

One thing I can say, 60's-80's rock sounds better on vinyl than digital releases do.

 

[Mr. Bob Dobolina]

With The Beatles and The Beach Boys I would seriously recommend getting both the stereo and mono versions. There are enough differences to make the listening very interesting.

 

[LG]

I wonder if you play the stereo version of "Pet Sounds" and switch the pre-amp to mono if that would be the same as listening to the original mono vinyl recording...

Unfortunately I don't have any mono vinyl records, so I can't do a proper test.

 

[Khor1255]

a remixed stereo version Jethro Tull's "This Was" was mono first then a stereo version was issued.

What? There are clear stereo gimmicks throughout the recording. It's hard to imagine it was recorded in mono. I must have misunderstood you.

 

[LG]

^^Jeffrey who is the biggest Tull expert I know informed me that the very first release of "This Was" in England was a pure mono recording. The stereo version came later. He has a copy I believe, the one I picked up two months ago is stereo.

 

[Khor1255]

It's possible to imagine that something recorded in stereo might be released in mono for maybe budget reasons? Don't know, it's blowing my mind to think that this might have been manipulated. I clearly remember having a speaker out in my 69 F250 and the album sounding much much different. The vocals are especially weird when you hear it through one speaker because apparently both Anderson and Abrams are singing lead on most of the tracks and their cadence isn't exactly the same. Maybe the 'stereo' version I'm used to is actually an overdub?????

In any event I like it a million times more than the mono version but maybe that's just a 'way I heard it first' thing.

 

[LG]

^^I can't really add anything Khor, I've only listened to the stereo mix on CD and now vinyl.

Jeffrey posted about this in the Tull thread a few weeks ago, that's the first time I heard it was released in mono.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

It depends on the style of music. For example, if I am going to listen to mono I prefer it to be stripped down music like my copy of "Sounds of Silence". Larger sounding music sounds much better in stereo I think.

 

[Born to Lose]

I never like the way anything sounds in mono. I like being able to listen separately to each instrument, hear it all spread out into a mental soundscape... mono just sounds like someone is hitting me in the face with music.