Questions about SP cartridges

3 replies
FC
Offline
Florent Castro
Bronze
Posted September 6, 2009 at 17:41 GMT
#1678222

Hi all,

I am new to the forum, and this is my first post. By way of introduction, let me say that my interest for B&O is very recent. A few weeks ago I was looking for a turntable on eBay (to show my children what it was like in the old days, and what daddy's "huge black CDs" were for), and came across a Beogram 3000 (radial one, 5228) - fell in love with the design, bought it and haven't been listening to too many CDs since.

I have found a lot of interesting technical descriptions and discussions on this site and forums. I however have a few questions which I can't find an answer for:

I have already seen on this forum that the SP12 stylus is the best available for this turntable , I currently have an SP10 and I would like to upgrade. Now I get confused when product descriptions mention 2 types of cartridges: SP10 and SP10A, SP12 and SP12A, SP14 and SP14A.

What is the difference between the non-A and the A? I read somewhere (this forum?) that it refers to the cartridge itself, but not the stylus, is that correct?

How do you tell them apart? I checked my cartridge and there are no markings at all on it.

Can you put a SP12 stylus on a cartridge which currently has a SP10 stylus? (that is if I can fin an SP12 stylus :)

Thanks in advance,

Florent.

Peter
Offline
Peter
Gold
Posted September 7, 2009 at 01:59 GMT
#1678223

The only difference between A and non A is that the non A were designed for non B&O decks and the cartridge body has a 1/2" bracket attached.

You can fit an SP12 to an SP10 cartridge body as the cartridges are identical.

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovox.png Beovox.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beotime.png Beotime.png
Beosound-Stage.png Beosound-Stage.png
Beosound-Moment.png Beosound-Moment.png
Beosound-5.png Beosound-5.png
Beosound-2.png Beosound-2.png
Beoremote-One.png Beoremote-One.png
Beoplay-Portal.png Beoplay-Portal.png
Beoplay-Earset.png Beoplay-Earset.png
Beomaster.png Beomaster.png
Beolit.png Beolit.png
Beogram-400x.png Beogram-400x.png
Beocenter-2.png Beocenter-2.png
FC
Offline
Florent Castro
Bronze
Posted September 7, 2009 at 05:16 GMT
#1678224
Thank you very much for the answer Peter, I haven't seen this info anywhere on the net before. Thanks for the link too, again I hadn't found a retipping service in Europe before - I'll consider that if I cannot find a second hand SP12, or my SP10 dies suddenly.

Yes, the 3000 is a very nice deck. I bought it more or less purely on the looks, and it turns out it's a very good deck too. My thinking was that I'd play my old vinyls very occasionally, so I wanted something that would look nice when not in use and this one stood out in a a sea of black plastic. I am now spending a fair bit of time listening to my vinyls, and I can't wait to go the charity shops to see what I can find.
The only (minor) gripe I have with the deck is that the output is very loud - I may post a separate thread about that.

Thanks again,

Florent.
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