Thanks for that Kevin. Always fascinating to see others' equipment and settings. 

Particularly interesting to observe B&O products coupled with glass, a steam locomotive and ceramic Indian elephants!

Certainly different.

😮

Hi Kokomo.  It sort of evolved.  First came the 9000 on the false wall.  It looked very blank underneath so I added the train which my nephews played with.  btw, the caboose says B&O.  We had a B&O railroad here.  The glass/TT setup, I had for awhile, so I thought it would be nice to put it under the 9000 setup.  The TT is heavy so it takes 2 elephants to hold it up.  😁  Pray we do not have an earthquake any time soon.  Thanks!

Hi Kevin

I noticed you recently replaced a 800x series turntable with this 4002. How did that compare with the Grado conversion on your 4002? I had a good MMC2 on my 8002 and that took some beating, so it would be interesting to hear what you think the difference is between the decks and proprietary/non-proprietary cartridges.

j0hnbarker wrote:

Hi Kevin

I noticed you recently replaced a 800x series turntable with this 4002. How did that compare with the Grado conversion on your 4002? I had a good MMC2 on my 8002 and that took some beating, so it would be interesting to hear what you think the difference is between the decks and proprietary/non-proprietary cartridges.

Hi Mr. Barker.

I was collecting turntables for awhile and bought a Grado Gold to go with a Dual 1229.  I knew of Grado's reputation and wanted to try it.  I really loved the sound of the Grado but missed the tangent tracking.  The Grado in comparison to the MMC is much smoother, has more substance, and is a lot punchier, to my own taste. 

I had a 4004 in the past, gave it up for an 8002, and now went back to a 4002 but with the Grado conversion.  My objective was to have the Grado and also tangent tracking.  Its very difficult if not impossible to retrofit a p-mount to an 8002 because of the thinness of the arm.

I also went back to the 4002 because it is much more solid than the 8000 series which in my opinion has a lot of plastic.  Personally, I don't like the BG8000 because it is a transition TT from 4002/4 to 8002.  BG8000 has 8002 body but still has the 4002 arm.

I'm particularly happy with mine because in addition to the circuit board rebuild, the arm was dampened to get rid of resonance, which I noticed with my first TT, the 4004.  The result is a very quiet TT and I didn't think it was working until the music started.

Best....🙂

Seem to remember seeing a BG400X on Ebay a good while back with this conversion.

Craig🙂

Kevin,

Now that you've had the Amina TT for a few months... any further thoughts on it?

Thx!

Craig wrote:

Seem to remember seeing a BG400X on Ebay a good while back with this conversion.

 

 

Craig🙂

This is a recognised conversion that had been done in the States for some time. The one Craig is thinking of also had a glass platter and a record clamp. The Grado cartridge was either silver or white and gave a better aesthetic result.

I agree that the 4000 type deck is in a different class of finish to the 8000. Not sure that I think any more of the 8002 than the 8000 though. I prefer the older cartridges personally.

I'm curious as to why someone would do a conversion to a (relatively) cheap (price-wise---I've never heard it) cartridge from the B&O standard?  Is there something to be gained here?  Looking at the Grado Gold prices they sell for $220 and that's half of what an MMC1/2 would go for? 

Hi, I don't really like that panel behind with those spirals. I think it spoils everything

but this is just my opinion. The rest looks good 🙂