It took me only two long-playing vinyl albums — “Chet Baker Sings” and “Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson Riddle” — to be finally convinced that the Miyajima Premium BE mono cartridge was what I’d been looking for in high fidelity mono set-up.
The mono format has always been a major part of my sound system, along with CD and stereo playback. For the past three years, I’ve been enjoying the lushness of music with my ever-reliable mono cart Denon DL 102. Until a friend asked me to review the Miyajima cart.
Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of When Your Love Has Gone in a bouncy swing beat easily reminds you of the ’50s nightclub scene when jazz was king. The sound is clear, robust and has a forceful bass. Ella’s voice has always been irresistible. But in mono, it has that rich full-bodied flavor which makes you appreciate more the virtuoso and tenderness of the Queen of Jazz.
Rich horns and punchy piano notes almost always define Chet Baker’s music, but his voice can be as haunting as it is melancholy. His soothing voice is equally warm in his version of But Not For Me and Time After Time.
The Miyajima cart revealed an amazing ability to accurately track the record’s groove such that it can reproduce with ease the detail and speed of Nelson Riddle’s percussive subtleties. With Riddle’s orchestra ably backing up Ella, the music became lifelike. My conclusion: The Miyajima cart unfailingly sounded open at the top; it was never reflective of metallically harsh sound.
But why go mono in this day and age of 7.1 multi-channel sound systems and the glorious sound staging offered by a well-set-up stereo system? More audiophiles have been gravitating towards the mono route simply because of its intensely satisfying richness and immediacy; a unique sound that some think a stereo system will find difficult to match. There is also a treasure trove of vintage mono LPs that is almost always available in flea markets and online record stores. Add to this the fact that many great recordings are pressed in mono; their CD or SACD versions fail miserably in replicating them accurately.
Indeed the analog renaissance has stirred so much passion among music lovers worldwide that they would embrace anything analog when it comes to sound reproduction. I have been listening to the three formats in my system, and find great enjoyment in all of them.
You don’t actually have to follow the purist route if you plan to go mono. A pure mono set-up requires only one speaker, one amplifier, and one phono preamp. Although many audiophiles these days are more likely to have already built and invested in a good stereo set-up, this doesn’t mean they cannot add a mono flavor to their respective listening rooms. If you want to try the mono route, all you need is an inexpensive turntable fitted with a tonearm that can handle a good mono cart.
My evaluation session left me impressed with the Miyajima cart’s ease of speed, regularly amazing bass, impressive kick drums, and great tonal fullness in the midrange with horns, and both male and female voices.
You may want to check out the Miyajima cart over at Audioamplified in Libis, Quezon City. In the meantime, allow me to let Chet Baker sing to you about how I felt listening to his mono recording:
“Once again I seemed to feel that old yearning
Then I knew the spark of love was still burning
There’ll be no new romance for me, it’s foolish to start
‘Cause that old feeling is still in my heart...
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For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit www.wiredstate.com for quick answers to your audio concerns.