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Message started by KenD on 04/20/22 at 04:16:59

Title: Stereo to Mono
Post by KenD on 04/20/22 at 04:16:59

I hope I am in the right forum with this post.  If not, perhaps a moderator can move it appropriately.

Several years ago at a small audio fest I had the opportunity to hear mono recordings played through some excellent tube gear and a single full range speaker.  I was enthralled.  Mono with a single point source is very engaging if done right, at least to my ears.

In my twilight years, for my musical tastes and listening level in a smallish apartment with neighbors, I am seriously considering going with such a setup. I don't have a turntable nor vinyl collection so it would be digital files into a decent DAC, a mono tube amp and a single full range speaker.

There are quite a few mono digital files available on places like Tidal, etc but for many things that I want to listen to I would have to sum 2 stereo channels to mono.  What would that sound like?  Is this a completely hairbrained idea?

Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by JBzen on 04/20/22 at 12:28:13

Give it a go. I’ve heard amazing mono equipment in the past. Holographic attention grabbing audio at moderate levels on old equipment. Not sure what contributed to the experience but a clean power source, minimalist equipment, and full range driver will most likely get you there.

John

Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by KenD on 04/20/22 at 14:51:33

Thanks for the encouragement!  One aspect of this that I wonder about is whether summing the two stereo channels does a reasonable job of recreating a mono signal, or does that bring with it a bunch of sonic issues?

It's interesting that you used the word "holographic".  I read a comment somewhere (I don't remember where) that:
- stereo creates the illusion of "you are there"
- mono creates the illusion of "they are here"

Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by JBzen on 04/20/22 at 16:07:07

Summing will be a slippery slope. Patch cords would not be ideal. There are devices that can do it but short of a remix from master tracks, I would think the result will be a bit odd sounding. Try a extensive search on the internet to see what's out there and how others fared.

Yes mono recordings done right place the performer there at home.

Sorry I could not be of better help. Maybe some others here have some advice on summing.

John

Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by CAJames on 04/20/22 at 18:09:17

I'm not going to say your idea is completely hairbrained, but if it were me in a smallish apartment with neighbors I'd rather listen to stereo recordings on headphones than summed to mono. My very limited experience, using an Audio Research preamp that would do the sum to mono thing, is there is a difference between playing stereo recordings as mono and true mono recordings, esp. those recorded with a single mic. But that is just me, so FWIW, YMMV and all that.



Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by KenD on 04/20/22 at 18:24:15

It's not just the volume issue with neighbours and I really don't like headphones anyway.  There is a qualitative difference between stereo and mono that I quite like, assuming both are done well.

That said, I do hear your caution and I agree with it that there is a difference between original mono vs stereo summed to mono.

Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by KenD on 04/20/22 at 18:30:19

@JBzen  I did some more research and you were right.  There is more to it than just summing the stereo output.  Doing that could result in problems (and potentially damage) with the output opamps of the DAC.

There is a simple passive resistor solution discussed at several places on the internet that will prevent the opamps from loading back on each other.  I found one online source that sells cables with the resistors built in.  Will look into it some more.

With a solution like that in place, it seems technically feasible and doable, subject of course to the sound quality caution mentioned by @CAJames.

Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by KenD on 04/21/22 at 17:14:24

Further research reveals that there are essentially two ways to go about summing two stereo tracks to mono.

One is to insert a simple passive resistor on each leg of the stereo output of the DAC before connecting them together, followed by a 1:1 isolation transformer to reduce noise and hum.  There are several diy and commercial setups available.

The other, since I will be using only digital audio files, is to use an app like Audacity to sum the stereo channels in the digital domain, ahead of the DAC.  Intuitively this makes more sense because it avoids inserting additional hardware in the analogue signal chain between the DAC and the amp, as the resistors would do.

However, I have not been able to find any user reports about what each method does to the integrity and quality of the signal in terms of fidelity, noise, etc.

Anyone have any experience to report?

Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by JBzen on 04/21/22 at 18:14:04

I have summed a stereo signal with resistors for sub use. Bottom bass are generally non directional sound waves. I would think that as sound becomes more directional above 80hz problems would develop when two different amplitude waves with the same frequency meet and sum. Adding time deviations from stereo mixing will only compound the problems.

John

Title: Re: Stereo to Mono
Post by KenD on 04/21/22 at 22:24:20

I agree.  There may well be sonic dragons of all sorts lurking there but I can't find anyone to talk about them from experience.

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