Yes, I have a confession to make ......and it is all Peter's fault!
Against my better judgement and contrary to all the advice that I dish out on to you poor souls on this forum............I bought this.......
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280518866914&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT and waited with breath abated, as they say (must look that up and see what it means
).
The postman arrived this morning with three cap kits from Martin (Dillen) which had winged their way over from Denmark in 2 days and.........wait for it.........a NOS MMC20CL complete in it's unopened packaging, yes complete with all the paraphenalia that should be with it!
Trying to stop my hands trembling, I removed the 20EN that Peter had kindly provided, when I first resurrected my Beogram 6000 some time ago. I removed the new purchase from it's packaging, confirmed that it looked absolutely brand spankin' new, fitted it to the arm and checked the stylus weight setting, just in case someone had snuck in overnight and changed it!!
All OK, now what shall we listen to first? (Bear in mind that it is 8am so nothing too heavy).
Easist to hand was Dire Straits first album, a new pressing on 180g vinyl. So onto the turntable it went, quick clean with the Bib Groove-Kleen, press start, the arm starts to move at the same time as the record and drops gently onto the lead in groove, I select the tape input on the Beomaster 6500 (don't ask!) and wait and wait and wait................nothing.........no sound........not even a crackle.
Oh well I should have known better, what do I preach on the forum???? What an idiot!!!
Now.......... by coincidence, over the last few days, I have been converting a mint Beogram 4500 from 230v to 110v for a guy in Canada. I had ordered a cheap 240 to 110 step down transformer, so I could test it prior to despatch (better safe than sorry) and it had arrived in the same post, this morning.
So.......record on the BG4500 turntable, quick clean, press play. Beomaster switches to PHONO (Datalink you know!!) and ..........nothing not even a pop!!
Now, this may surprise some people, even I make mistakes. Unlikely I hear you say but yes, it's true, I admit it.
But, what is wrong????
I am interupted at this point by a couple who have come to collect a pair of Beolab 8000's. He had phoned yesterday and made the arrangements and they were on time at 10.30am.
Girlfriend gets out of car and in an accent which I don't immediately recognise declares that her partner has just got chickenpox, did I mind if he comes in?
For those that don't know, I have been having chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so my immune system may not be what it should be. I'd rather that he didn't come close to me as even though I have had chickenpox as a child I certainly don't fancy shingles!
That's OK, she says, she can do the business. Will I take a CHEQUE........er no! Bank Draft......er no! I thought they were bringing cash but apparently there was a problem with her card and her bank couldn't let her withdraw that amount of cash on Saturday???
Call me whatever but I'm starting to get a bit suspicious at this stage!!!! During polite chit chat on the doorstep it transpires. that they are from Romania. Now I'm getting very, very suspicious and please take that however you like!
Credit card or debit card, she says? Yes, I say and I have a chip and pin machine!
Her debit card has no chip on it! Can we do half on her credit card and half on his?
My wife, Brenda usually deals with credit cards and the like so she puts the first one in the machine, requests the lady to enter her pin and to my surprise, it gets accepted. Authorisation code, no problem.
Brenda puts the other card in the machine, asks the lady to enter a pin, which is declined with a request to call the security number given.
To my surprise, after we had all talked to the nice lady in the security department of HSBC, we received an authorisation code. Well, knock me down with a feather!
The slightly built Romanian lady picks up a Beolab 8000 and places it gently in the back of the car and returns to do the same with the other one, followed by the bag of cables.
A few pleasantries later and they are gone. I'm still not sure............but.........
Back to the work room and the sound of silence..........
Got it...............solved the problem..........anyone guess what I'd done wrong in my haste to test the MMC20CL and my Beogram voltage conversion???
No prize, but someone will get a laugh......at my expense
There was a pair of Beolab Penta II's on test in the workroom, they'd been there for a month or so, but I sold them yesterday evening and I'd fogotten!!
Back to the MMC20CL and the Beogram voltage converion, which is where this story started.
I put a pair of Lab 6000's on the ends of the powerlink cables which were still lying on the floor where we'd left them when the Penta's went out the door and plugged them in to the mains.
I pressed play on the 110v Beogram and eureka!! Sound ahoy!
What about the MMC20CL, I hear you say. Well, it's fan bloody tastic!! Just goes to show that Peter is always right and I can be wrong!!!!!!