Pickup mmc cl

[Jens Munk]

• Hi beoworld forum. This is my first post on this great forum.
  I have bought a beogram rx 2. with a pickup called a mmc cl. I know threre is a pickup called mmc 20 cl, but this pickup is only called cl not 20 cl. This is strange, and I haven’t found any information about a special variant named cl?
  Can you help me with informations please? Yours Jens

[Peter]

I have replied in the other post – I suggest that the previous owner has sent this to be retipped by a firm who have upgraded the cartrisge from what is likely an MMC4 and has put a contact line diamond on it – likely to be very good!

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[Jens Munk]

Thanks for the info Peter. So this pickup could be better sounding than mmc 4? That would make sense as I am impressed how detailed sound from this small recordplayer

[Peter]

If it has the contact line stylus then yes. The MMC4 was the standard range cartridge – there was an MMC5 but rarely seen. The normal upgrade was the MMC2 (the MMC1 was actually identical but were ones that when tested had particularly good results) – this had a sapphire cantilever and a contact line diamond, much like the MMC20CL that is replaced when the new thinner arms were introduced. The 20CL was thought to behave best at warm temperatures – Hi-Fi Choice found that a tungsten bulb shining on the arm when playing had an improvement to what was already good results. I suspect that was due to the suspension. The actual mechanisms of the MMC cartridges are identical so it is quite possible to have the cantilever and stylus replaced on an MMC5 to turn it into a MMC2. I suspect yours was originally an MMC4 – it would appear to have an MMC4 cantilever. I do have some microscope pictures of the various diamond profiles but we are descending into the slightly nerdy levels! 😀

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