Two vs Two

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by Stillone

Anyone who ordered that pea soup green table had to be crazy.
Jim

[turntable]

Two arms on a table of two or more turntables are a treat and give you all the flexibility without any of the compromises involved in just one table.

The most important function for is it is fun - and you don't need to setup cart's as often which is always a good thing.

As other posters have indicated, ability to play stereo, mono, MC, MM, SPU are all postives.

There is no one table/arm/cart combo that can do it all, so to have a couple of tonal choices is nice to have.

Downside is space, WAF and $$$ - it does get addictive

[2-Channel]

Originally Posted by turntable

...ability to play stereo, mono, MC, MM, SPU are all postives.

There is no one table/arm/cart combo that can do it all ...

I need some help understanding why "mono" exists.
Again, on the "mono" issue, can any cartridge [MM or MC] play a mono LP?

What is "SPU"?

And, could you or anyone please elaborate on what is meant by a cartridge not being able to "do it all"?

As I think through this possible investment [return to vinyl], I am finding that I need a lot more understanding from those of you who are already invested in vinyl.

[turntable]

Mono exists as a lot of recordings released on vinyl in the 50's & 60's were recorded MONO. eg the beatles recorded most of their albums in mono and stereo mixes - EMI have just released their entire catalog and the MONO box set is the one to get according to reviewers.

yes you can play Mono recordings with a stereo cartridge, it should sound better with a MONO cart - I don't have a mono cart as i don't have enough mono LP's for me to justify.

Sorry my bad - SPU stands for the Ortofon SPU cartridge - Stereo pick-up - first introduced in 1958 to be used in radio stations - they have a rather unique presence bulge - in other words a more gentle way of compression that is used in radio today.
They still make SPU's and they sound wonderful

cheers

[2-Channel]

Thanks so much for the clarifications.

I never realized "mono" was still in effect by time the Beattles hit their stride. Partly because I was not a Beattle's fan per say. I like some of their songs, but I never owned a Beattle's album.

I doubt that my eventual album collection would justify a "mono specific" cartridge. The majority of my album listening [previous collection which was stolen - uugh!] was during the 70's and into the early 80's. I plan to replace most of those albums, and I expect that I will have to rely on *used* offerings in many cases.

I am leaning toward a two TT system. I like the idea of cueing up two separate albums at the same time which will allow for faster song access. I typically listen a selection of songs on a CD or album and rarely listen straight through. The CD is ideal for this form of listening. Multiple TT's will certainly assist in this approach.