[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by Rob1956

Ok, got ya. Would the reason for mixing a stereo recording down to mono be to sell records to people with mono phono cartridges?

This has become an interesting thread
I believe that the fact is that in the early days of Stereo vinyl relatively few people could afford the extra cost of a stereo turntable/pickup/amplifier/loudspeakers and the record companies saw a golden opportunity to milk the market from the poor suckers who had stereo units and for some time offered many if not all albums in both Mono and Stereo pressings the stereo versions being priced higher and they got away with it despite it being patently obvious that the material costs of Mono and Stereo discs were identical
In early 1967 I only had a simple Mono record player and therefore I am pretty sure that in April that year my first ever Lightfoot album Lightfoot! purchased in the old Morgans store in Montreal's Dorval Shopping Centre was a cheaper Mono pressing. from TWIF onwards I shelled out big bucks (3 canabucks plus) and bought the stereo versions
I recall the excitement in the late 50's or early 60's when my grandfather acquired an expensive new "radiogram" with stereo, and I still have the UK Decca demonstration record "A Journey into Stereo Sound" that he bought
great stereo effects for example a ping pong game and the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, a nice recent review is at:-
Amazon.com: A Journey Into Stereo Sound . . . An...

HRRMPH that web page and image is no longer available but there is a picture on that Amazon page after all