Beogram 8002 Cartridge Recommendation

[Glitch]

I am in the process of repairing/restoring my B&O equipment from the 80’s. I have a Beogram 8002 with a MMC1. Both the turntable and the cartridge have very low hours.

I am looking for a second cartridge to use while servicing the turntable. I don’t want to take the risk of something unexpectedly happening and damaging the MMC1. I don’t expect to use this cartridge for anything other than servicing the turntable or possibly playing an album that is bad shape. With this in mind, price is more important than quality.

Can anyone recommend a low cost cartridge for the BG8002 and possibly a source?

Thank you,

Glitch

 

 

[Mark-sf]

Unless you can find an MMC4 used your best bet is Sound-Smith SMMC4: https://sound-smith.com/cartridges/bo/smmc4 at $200.

[Guy]

Mark-sf wrote:

Unless you can find an MMC4 used your best bet is Sound-Smith SMMC4: https://sound-smith.com/cartridges/bo/smmc4 at $200.

… plus $55 shipping and packing. Plus about £55 import duty (payable direct to UPS) if shipping to UK.

Anyway, once I’d recovered from the shock I was very pleased with the performance of the SMMC4 (in my BG6500).  I did make a mental note for next time to check whether SoundSmith have a European agent/reseller, thus reducing costs a little.

[Glitch]

Mark:  Thank you for the suggestions. I’ve started watching eBay for used B&O MMC’s. I looked at the Sound-Smith website and the SMMC4 seems like it would be a good candidate (and likely what I’ll get). However, it is at a price point where I’ll have a hard time justifying the purchase to my wife. I’ll also keep my eye out for a used SMMC4.

Guy:  I’m in the USA so the duty and shipping won’t be an issue.

Are B&O and Sound-Smith the only sources of compatible cartridges? I suspect that other sources are unlikely, but wanted to ask to be sure.

Thanks,

Glitch

[Mark-sf]

Glitch wrote:

Are B&O and Sound-Smith the only sources of compatible cartridges? I suspect that other sources are unlikely, but wanted to ask to be sure. Thanks, Glitch

Actually, B&O has not been a source for years and are even using a Sound-Smith in the 95th Anniversary Limited Edition 4000c.

On the used market your best bet would be for a non-working table with the cartridge intack as that will likely be cheaper and you can even part out the table to pay for it.

[Glitch]

I like the idea of the broken turntable with a good cartridge. The downside to this is trying to explain this plan to my wife. The argument about selling the turntable wouldn’t carry much weight since my “buy-to-sell ratio” is overwhelmingly weighted towards “buy”. Also, she seems to prefer things in small packages even if they aren’t for her ;-).

Glitch

 

[matador]

Guy wrote:

… plus $55 shipping and packing. Plus about £55 import duty (payable direct to UPS) if shipping to UK.

Thank you for pointing that, absolutely true, import duty are not their fault but true anyway, and 55$ shipping and packing? C’mon on…

Glitch wrote:
I’ll have a hard time justifying the purchase to my wife.

Seems we’re all doomed with the same curse!       🙂

[matador]

Glitch wrote:

I am looking for a second cartridge to use while servicing the turntable. I don’t want to take the risk of something unexpectedly happening and damaging the MMC1.

More seriously, I understand the fear of damaging a so valuable cartridge. Really, I was there before.

But we’re not talking about a cheap thing that can easily be found in different qualities and price ranges.
Unless you’re (very) lucky, an MMC4 will cost, whatever the way you get it, around 200$/€.
It can be a broken MMC plus refurbishment, a refurbished MMC, a NOS one (beware of NOS), or even a useless one sold as good.

Refurbishing a Beogram is a long, careful, and meticulous process. When you’re there, taking in an out the cartridge for tests isn’t the big deal, moreover with an MMCx (compared with an MMCxx where your always afraid to break the bridge).

And if I’m not mistaken, there is plenty of work to do before even needing to plug-in the cartridge and when you need, then it’s just a matter of adjustments than can be done carefully.

Whatever the price of a cartridge, it may be better used in components or spare.

Even if an MMC1 is legendary, I reckon.

[Glitch]

I haven’t been paying attention to anything related to vinyl for over 25 years and have no idea of how the technology progressed. I was hoping that sometime in the past a company made MMC compatible cartridges that were very unpopular and could be picked up cheaply on the used market. This was wishful thinking on my part.

I think my Beogram is in pretty good shape considering that it hasn’t been used for a few decades. The first thing I did was remove the MMC1 and place it in its original case. I’ve spun the platter with the “turn” function, changed speeds with the speed presets and with the +- buttons. I’ve moved the carriage with the “<< <” and “> >>” buttons and it works smoothly. Hitting play without a record on the platter correctly detects the absence of the record. It also seems to be communicate properly with the Beomaster. The only possible issue that I’ve noted is the speed indicators sometimes blink. I don’t know if this is an actual speed mismatch problem or just the turntable’s way of warning me that there is no cartridge or record detected.

I’m hopeful that the restoration is as simple as replacing the belt and caps. My concern about the cartridge is related to the machine doing something unexpected, like dropping the cartridge hard, due to something like a broken solder joint or other loose connection. It is hard to predict what could happen due to servicing. I’d rather risk a cheap or $200 cartridge than my MMC1. To me, a lot of the value of my own MMC1 is that I know the provenance of it.

I’m probably worrying about nothing. My Beogram has been one of the most trouble free pieces of audio equipment that I’ve owned.

Glitch

 

 

[lenhi]

Beocenter 2000 Cartridge Recommendation

I know that the mmc20s goes with the tone arm in Beocenter 2000, but are there any other, possibly better, fits?

[Mark-sf]

You can use an MMC20E (bonded elliptical) or MMC20EN (nude elliptical). There is also the top MMC20CL but I that would set you back more than the whole unit.

[Author]

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