I have gone mono.

Dear Joe,

It is because I having been enjoying the old tuner in mono so much that I was finally motivated to experiment. And the experiment has met my expectations and then some!

I have to find a solution to getting the MAC Mini to send two dual mono channels to the DAC V1 and then I am set up. Of course getting a pre-amp with a summing mono control would be an expensive and complicated way to do it, and may prove after further experiments to be the best way. But I'll try summing in the digital domain first.

I suspect Klemperer - with his pipe clenched between his teeth - would chortling gently to himself that someone had taken his view on board. No doubt that he would be as dry as a chip in his commentary however. He was like that about replay. He was not very keen on it!

ATB from George

Agreed.  George, thanks for posting the video. 

Have enjoyed all the comments. 

Dear Patk and Ian [Tabbycat],

Thanks for your nice comments!

ATB from George

Hi George,

Really sorry to hear of the loss of your ear...

Oh, this refers to your system doesn't it  .

I was inevitable.  I agree with Wat's suggestion, use software (such as Audacity) prepare a set of files that have the L&R tracks merged into mono.

If you can merge them with a specific Stereo -> Mono function, then all well and good

However, you'll probably have to add the L&R signals.  In this case the peak level may increase by up to 3dB during the processing.  To allow for this the stereo input signal needs to be decreased by 3dB first, then added.  In this case I'd recommend converting 16bit signals to 24 bit first, before doing the 3dB attenuation, add the signals, and then saving the result as a 24bit file.  This will make sure you keep all the peaks without clipping and that you also don't loose any usable information.

Dear Huge,

I am about as likely to sum the channels by first reducing by three decibels each and then combining them [on between four and five thousand ripped tracks] as win the lottery!

Better to get a 32.5 with a mono summing control!

Anyway, I am not stuck. I have several [real time in playback] days' worth of music that works splendidly, and better than replayed as dual mono, so no rush!

Fortunately I have most of my all time favourite classical recordings as mono in the first place. 

One thing is for sure, I am not going to revert to stereo as these mono recordings themselves are enough. But it is interesting to me that there is a very bare patch in the history of recording classical music from the period of about the late 60s to the mid 80s, when stereo recording was at its worst. 

During the era when commercial recordings were issued in stereo and mono the stereo tends to be the same recording with a difference channel, and so is easily put back to mono be summing as the difference channel is added to one channel and subtracted from the other, so summing eliminates it.

All the best from George

Click on the Apple at the top left of your Mac screen.  From the dropdown click System Preferences.

On the fourth row at the far right is Accessibility.  Click Accessibility and place a check mark on "Play stereo audio as mono".  Quit system preferences.

It may or may not meet your needs.  I assume it some sort of summing process.  If it is unacceptable, remove the check mark and follow one of your other options.

Many Sonos customers have taken the same approach, so there must be something in it.  As long as you're enjoying the results, it's all good.

Dear Jeff,

That works, and simple as heck!

Simple to do if you know how!

Very best wishes from George 

And more to the point is that the robust and solid replay that once characterised native mono replay!

Brilliant, none of this "fey positioning" in the "soundstage", which if it were significant would have serious debates about where the players were when recorded. Almost no such debates exist, as so long as they play as an ensemble, then no other consideration matters.

There are a very few pieces of music that designed to be really antiphonal. None of them are of interesting to me.

Just listening to the phenomenal Alan Civil, Otto Klemperer performance of Mozart's Horn Concertos recorded in 1960, and now available in glorious mono!

ATB from George

One ESL is far nicer than two, and far nicer by definition than any conventional speaker I have yet heard! 

Sadly my Leak Trough Line broke down last night, and my spares or repair one worked for a couple of minutes before also calving down, but the spares one is in original condition, so is the obvious candidate for restoration. All discrete components, and nothing that cannot be fixed. But a few weeks till it is fixed.

However the spur to move back to mono has the iTunes sounding more musical than ever. 

One ESL can find a new home [not an advertisement], and help pay for the restoration of the best Tough Line. 

After a bit of a surprise last night I am content again!

ATB from George

There are few speakers that a person can get away with siting straight in front of without problems and yet the ESL is magical like this. It does not even sound narrow ... Without the illusory ghost middle of stereo where you listen to a place between the speakers, it is as if one were listening directly through a doorway onto the balcony of a great opera house or concert hall. A wonderful effect. Not unlike listening into a 78 gramophone horn, there is directness that cannot be adequately described ...

I am quite certain that my enthusiasm will persuade one or two Forum friends to try out this most unusual arrangement here. A repudiation of almost everything that claims to be a technological advance since the 1950s ...

And music that requires stereo to work has absolutely no interest for me, so that rules out quite a lot of modern pop and rock music, though "Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays" sounded the best I ever heard it earlier!

ATB from George

Reflecting on it, as far as mono recordings are concerned, I can see a logic because a pair of speakers just produce al illusion of the sound coming from a point in between the two speakers, in effect the sound seeming to come from the same place as if there was a single speaker at that point. I can't second-guess how different it would sound: that would probably depend a lot on the room - one beneficial effect of a pair of speakers might be the different room effects of each may even out some aspects, but at the cost of more complex phase interactions, as well as the fact of the central illusion.

But I'm far from convinced that is holds true for stereo recordings, at least what might be called natural stereo with two microphones. And I do wonder what negative effects there will be combining the two channels of a stereo recording, especially when assembled from multiple individual parts, and/or with added 'spacial effects' such as reverberation (recorded or synthetic).

And I can certainly see that in this context a panel speaker might work better simply because it's not a point source.

Meanwhile, George, can I ask if you've ever listened to binaural recordings through headphones, and if so what is your opinion of that form of stereo? I haven't, but I imagine if done right the result should be uncannily like sitting in a particular spot with great realism.

Dear George, I follow with interest your posts, sometime abuse of stereo have no sense to me, likes the piano études in which microphones and diabolical sound engineer records the whole keyboard and during the replay you get a piano larger as the entire your sitting room! On the contrary a good use of competence and balance with the stereo is not too bad in classical music, but I agree that isn't strictly necessary. 

+1

In a world where everybody seems to be thinking the same way, it's great to meet people like George who make us re-think what we take for granted.

I also have a number of great mono recordings, and I have just as much fun listening to them as to their stereo counterparts. But the question of which sounds better didn't even cross my mind.

Well, I said I hadn't compared mono and stereo since first relishing the involvement stereo brought when I built my first system in the 60s. After my last post here I felt I owed it to myself to have a listen.

So, I dug out a mono recording of Schubert's Trout Quintet recorded around 1950 that was one of my first LP purchases - despite being mono when I had a stereo system, I had bought it simply because I loved it.  I then listened as normal, following which I disconnected one speaker. I enjoyed both - how could I not with such delightful music? - but one had an edge: the one through two speakers. 

Of course, my IMFs are not panels, and the vinyl had been played with a stereo cartridge when I ripped it to digital, so not purist mono: whether those are significant factors I've no idea. Maybe my preference is simply because that's what I'm used to, or maybe what George and I listen to or hear when we play music is different - who knows. As I've said before each to there own - and there are no rules for enjoyment.

Well, make sense or not, I've asked in the beta group to evaluate to add the feature 'mono' under 'Audio settings' (where you can also find 'Balance').
For sure will be not consider for the imminent 4.4 firmware release, but Naim reads all requests and time by time develops based on customer feedback (i.e. Tidal...).
Have a nice Sunday. Maurizio

Dear Wat,

Don't forget that the former West German Quad distributor [from the days of Quad at Huntingdon] still makes ESL 57s and 63s. I believe they brought the machinery and plans when these two stopped being made in the UK.

I have never heard an example, but I don't suppose these German ESL sound or look any different from the British-made examples. That I have a clear preference for the 57 [as in my British-made examples] is down to the fact that the speaker certainly is not a point source, whereas the 63 model is what is called an "idealised" point source, achieved with some very complex control of timing of rings of panels in the middle, which to my mind creates a certain effect that is actually like a point source, and for me none the better for it. Of course this was done to produce a sense of precise positioning in the stereo image whereas the ESL 57 was designed as a mono speaker in the first place, and just happened to work very well in stereo pairs. Ouad [at Huntingdon] hoped to cease production of the 57 with the introduction of the 63 [which is far easier to make and service], but demand for the old speaker prevented them from implementing this. Demand continues for new 57s to this day ...

Dear Innocent Bystander, Bicela and Claude,

Thanks for you nice comments. For Bystander, yes I have heard "binaural" as intended for headphones. Radio Four used to record some afternoon plays this way as they work just fine on a normal kitchen radio as well, but as you say the sense of space all round is startling! EMI made some recordings this way including some Beethoven Piano Sonatas played by Stephen Bishop. As recordings these "dummy head" recordings sounded slightly odd on a high quality stereo speaker array. The idea was not carried on with.

Very best wishes from George

The solution of summing to mono at the digital stage and feeding to the DAC V! is immensely satisfying. Far from closing down the music into something narrow it seems to have taken wing! 

If course I am talking of classical recordings and these do reveal themselves so nicely in mono in my view. 

I could not have foreseen this turning over of my replay method without the old Trough Line tuner showing the way over the last month, but it sparked the wish to try, and I am so pleased that I did. 

An intersting oddity emerged on some private recordings I have of concerts I played the bass in, and some of these were recorded on a stereo tape player but from a single microphone [the microphone pre-amp fed both channels of the tape machine], but when these two mono channels are summed the result is severe comb-filtering. I imagine this indicates that the tape head was in poor alignment! Easy fix though, Just unselect the mono summing on the MAC, and normality is  restored. These actual private recording benefit immensely for being played on one speaker. 

Now I have to consider the future of one ESL, and decide whether to get a dedicated low power output mono power amplifier. Certainly these are what was intended for the ESLs in the first place nearly six decades ago, and judging from the quality the Trough Line brought, a contemporary Leak power amp would be very suitable. Unfortunately an actual demonstration is going to be almost certainly impossible, but it might be managed!

Just listening to the John Holloway ECM recording of the Vivaldi Four Seasons. This is an unfeasibly bright recording, but sounds less ear piercing in mono. I accept the recording for the wonderful performance it brings. 

Thanks for the many helpful and interesting replies. ATB from George

Dear George, why you are not considering one mono 'vintage' Quad amplifier? Some was very appreciated and developed by the same genius... 

My my best regards to you, Maurizio

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...Harumphy.Quad_ii.jpg

Dear Maurizio,

It will end up being between Leak and Quad for certain.

I know some people who restore these things, and my first real decisions will be taken when I finally manage to speak to them in person. There is no rush, but certainly something along these lines will happen now. 

I suppose that I'll be allowed here so long as I keep the V1, but parting with that one is not on the cards at all!

I have to guard the money well. I have the spare ESL which would be worth something as it is in top condition. 

The great thing about these old pieces is that there are no micro-chips that go out of production and eventually render something un-serviceable over perhaps decades. 

One thing that is really good for me about mono is that there is no reason to turn up loud as it is clear even when quiet! I like listening quietly!

Very best wishes from George

Listening to live classical music is not in stereo, so maybe George has decided to go a step nearer to the real thing in the comfort of his own home.  Maybe he appreciates how artificial the sound in 'Stereo' can be for at least acoustic instruments in certain music.  

You only listen to live classical concerts through one ear? 

Not in stereo as not through two localisend relatively small sources, but not in mono as from one single relatively small source unless listening through a doorway. So two speakers can from relative levels position a source somewhere between, which one can't. stero can therefore create an illusion in the brain similar to at least a one dimensional array of musicians as opposed to a single point source. With captured reverberation etc at different relative levels two speakers can create an illusion of two or even three dimensions without difficulty. given that our ears and brains are accustomed to interpreting time and phase differences, including reverberation effects, this illusion is not very different from real life, hence the wide acceptance of stereo as better than mono. 

But it it does depend on what the listener listens to, so there will always be a George. Thank goodness, as that is what gives these forums three dimensions!

I have one speaker and two ears!

The directionality and so called sound stage that is a prominent [and extremely exaggerated] aspect of almost all stereo recording is considerably less naturalistic than mono as replayed on a speaker that is not designed as a point source. 

I very much doubt that anyone here will ever listen to music on my system, and just unplugging one speaker is by no means good enough to replicate what I have running now. 

Needless to say really, but unless you have heard mono properly set up, with efforts going on for about a month, you cannot possibly imagine the effect quite correctly!

ATB from George

Dear Innocent Bystander,

I have described the effect of mono from a large panel not far away [about eight foot]] as being in a doorway onto the circle at a concert hall. One gets a tremendous clarity with a hint of the hall space that is enough. 

Essentially it is about listening to the players, rather than the acoustic of a hall or studio ...

It is both an intimate effect and paradoxically quite a spacious one. Intimate in the sense that the connection with the musical notes is terrifically direct, and spacious in the sense that mono has a considerable ability to give a true sense of correct distance from the players to allow for projection of the music across a natural distance. And best of all is the sense of players playing off each other, listening to each other and being in close proximity with each other.

I do not expect anyone to follow me down this route, but it will be fascinating if anyone I know [who also loves music] actually ever listens via my mono replay.

I shall not worry if I am never agreed with on this, but will continue to enjoy an even more immediate sense of the music and its ensemble of lines!

ATB from George