I have a Beogram TX turntable sporting an MMC2 cartridge. Everything is original and has not been replaced or changed since the unit was purchased in the 1980's. It belonged to my Father and I don't know how much he used the TT but judging from his love for music and his 500+ count record collection in storage, I would say he probably got some good use out of it. What I am wondering is, 30 years later, does this cartridge still have some life left in it? What is the typical lifespan of an MMC cartridge? My educated guess is he used this table until the late 80's and then put it into storage as he switched to new music mediums. Most likely it only had a few years of use before now. I've been using the turntable for about a year and haven't really noticed any issues with (lack of) tone depth but that doesn't really mean much since I haven't heard what this cartridge is like brand-new...

To summarize, is there a way to tell visually or with some sort of audio test if the cartridge is at the end of its life or not?

Thanks

Normally, the suspension will fail before total wear of the diamond tip. The suspension hardens with age and induces all sorts of negative effects: distortion, bass-lacking sound and the needle itself might fall off.

I have only encountered one of five original MMCx cartridges that still work. When (not if) the cart fails, you have the option of re-tipping at Axel Schürholz (http://www.schallplattennadeln.de/). He offers great quality replacements and most Beogram users in here have positive experiences with him, including myself. Service is great and your cart will be good for another 20 years

Thanks very much for the info.

The suspension still appears to be working since the cartridge is not dragging on the record, so I assume that means it still has a bit of life left. From what I've been reading on here, storage seems to ruin these turntables so it looks like I got lucky with mine since it was in storage for 25 years.

I'm having a bit of trouble navigating that website because none of the products seem to have a description... is this what I would want? http://www.schallplattennadeln.de/en/oxid-oxid-9/MMC2-RE.html?listtype=search&searchparam=MMC2 It seems way too cheap to be an MMC2...

Yep, that is a retipped MMC2. You can get your MMC pickup retipped to MMC2 specs no matter what MMCx cartridge you own. The price is 159 Euros

He have reconfigured his website recently, if you want to hear about the options, you can drop him a mail at axel.schuerholz@web.de or info@schallplattennadeln.de.