Beatles Boxset Mono or Stereo?

I wanted to ask this here since I know all you guys have great taste in music

Which boxset would you get... Mono or Stereo and why?


thanks

Mono! Hands down!! No contest!!! Here's why:

1. The stereo remasters will be available separately, the mono ones won't. I plan to audition the stereo box by downloading it first, and then getting only the CDs that offer the most appreciable improvements over what I already own.

2. The mono box will certainly offer significant upgrades in sound quality over all CDs for the first four Beatles albums that I already have (which date from the 1987-"digital-mastering?-what's-that"-era).

3. It also has both the mono AND original stereo mixes (currently not available on CD) for the UK Help! and Rubber Soul albums.

4. It's generally accepted that the mono mixes of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band are superior to the stereo ones in many respects (and I could make the same argument about the "white" album).

5. The box contains a new compilation entitled "Mono Masters", with true mono mixes for most of the Beatles' singles AND the four original songs from Yellow Submarine. These were supposed to come out on their own as an EP in 1969, which was scrapped, although the mono mix of "Only a Northern Song" was "rechanneled" into fake stereo for the Yellow Submarine LP (only ever issued in mono with mixes reduced from the stereo ones).

6. Perhaps most importantly, in addition to those mixes, the aforementioned EP was supposed to include a unique mono version of "Across the Universe" — presumably without the bird sounds from No One's Gonna Change Our World, the choir & orchestra from Let It Be, or the cruddy reverb effects from Let It Be... Naked. This mix will feature on "Mono Masters" and may potentially be the definitive statement on the finest song the Beatles never got right.

thanks for that reply I was thinking of many of the things you mentioned. I also thought that I could get the Mono set and add in the Stereo ones missing from the set... Yellow Submarine, Let it Be and Abby Road. I would also buy the Past Masters in case the Mono mixed one is missing any songs. Right now I have the original CD's and another set Dr.Ebbetts that a friend gave me. So the idea about the Mono set seems the right choice, also it's a limited time that you can own them.

thanks again

I hope others add input...

Apparently amazon.com has sold out their supply of mono box sets and won't be getting any more — it's still available from other retailers (including Amazon's international affiliates), however.

thanks for that info

Buying the Mono and I pre ordered it on the web so I would not miss out on it. I held off in getting the remaining CD's in stereo. I may just got to the store on the 9th to get them so I have something to listen to right away

Just a quick note (yeah, quick, right)
Most people in the '60s had mono record players. In my house, we had one up until 1973 and then dad splurged on a "proper" stereo and we became modern.
Have you ever tried to play a stereo record on a mono player. It just rips the stereo grooves to shreds. They were designed for mono records mixed in hi-fi. And a lot of the record players might've had hi but very little fi, so The Beatles mixed records for the majority of fans and their little dansettes.

That's why the mono mixes are so in your face sounding, so that the little 6" speaker would be able to reproduce the most sound. The Beatles spent most of their time on mono mixes, which is why Sgt. Pepper's and MMT really have the effects layered on a lot thicker than the George Martin/Geoff Emerick 'one afternoon' stereo mix.
Which is why I was confused when I heard a recording of a radio promo for Sgt,Pepper's where Lennon is saying which songs they used "phasing" on. in fact he said "you name the song it isn't on and you win a prize." And I thought there was hardly ANY phasing on the album at all UNTIL I heard the mono version. The whole album was phased!

The only people mostly who bought stereo records in those days were usually audiophile snobs who wore turtlenecks and dark glasses or classical music lovers.

I guess each format serves a purpose TODAY. Stereo for the people who like to hear each individual component of the music with some space around it. Students of the music as it were.
and
Mono for those who want to FEEL the impact of the music/songs.
But having had ALL the vinyl, all the '87 CDs and now all the '09 Stereo AND mono CDS,
I have to say, it took a very long time but I'm glad EMI waited for 22 years before remastering again because these CDs, Stereo AND mono both sound WAYYYY better than any of the '87 CDs and better than the original vinyl does as it was mastered then ("60s).

Anyway, I would recommend both sets of Stereo and mono. All the mono sounds awesome!
and the stereo?: With The Beatles just peels the paint off the walls. The album to benefit most from the new remastering is probably The White Album. I swear, this is the way I always imagined it SHOULD sound and never did. Abbey Road is very crystal clear and spiffy sounding as well.

For fanatics, it's also fun to listen to both the stereo and mono versions to spot the mixing differences, the effects differences and even the occasional different take used for each format.