I have similar experiences from my various MMCx-equipped Beograms (last and 2nd last generations) - older LPs/12"s sound great, but many records from the 2000s (mostly heavyweight vinyl ones) sound distorted. When played on my Project/Grado turntable (that I use for ripping only), the same records sound great.

No solutions from me, Im afraid. I just wanted to show that you're not alone.

What do you mean by distortion? Have you got the tracking force set correctly? And is the stylus clean?

Lee

Just to add to that.. I've got a project debut carbon and it sounds naff next to my beogram 5005.

Yes, the tracking is set correctly (though I've played with it to see if it would fix anything) and everything is spotless.  The turntable itself got a full overhaul by B&O Toronto a few years ago.

As for the issue, it's more the skipping / jumping the groove that seems to be the problem more so than the distortion.  The distortion heard is just a plain nastiness on the top and bottom end.  It's not the records either, as I've taken some of the problem records to a friends place with an extremely cheap Sony turntable, and the records play fine there.  MUCH to my dismay...

:(

Mike

Canadian here, so naff . . .  Is that a good or bad thing? :)

If its jumping out of the grooves that suggests that something is seriously wrong... Are you 100% sure you have the weight set correctly? It needs to be 1.4 grams possibly upto 1.5g. You should check it with a tracking force gauge to be sure. Also these cartridges can suffer from a faulty suspension... Does the needle and cantilever exit the cartridge perfectly straight? Can you post a picture of it?

Lee

Lee wrote:

If its jumping out of the grooves that suggests that something is seriously wrong... Are you 100% sure you have the weight set correctly? It needs to be 1.4 grams possibly upto 1.5g. You should check it with a tracking force gauge to be sure. Also these cartridges can suffer from a faulty suspension... Does the needle and cantilever exit the cartridge perfectly straight? Can you post a picture of it?

Lee

I guess it's really just skipping, not seriously jumping the groove.  I'll try to post a picture and perhaps a video of it tomorrow. The needle and cantilever look to be perfectly fine (I have a failed suspension on one of my MMC4's, so I know what that looks like), and like I said it performs wonderfully on older records - no issues at all.  If 180g records are to heavy for the 5000, I'll have to look at getting another turntable, but if there's something I can do to fix it, I'd like to try that first.

Mike

Yes please post a video so we can see what is actually happening. I suspect that you've got a damaged stylus to be honest. The Beogram 5000 should have no problem whatsoever playing 180g vinyl... It's actually a better built deck than my 5005 and that plays 180g and 200g vinyl without issue. 

I have here a BG 5000, I can play all types of records on it, new 180 gr. old very light ones, new light ones, older 45s and no problems what so ever, I even have an original MMC4, it came with a BG 2404 I have had for years. I just tested the BG 5000 with that MMC4, no problems what so ever, I normally use a SMMC4 on my BG 5000.

I suggest you give your BG 5000 some TLC, clean and lubricate, and check adjustments.