So I have a mint B&O RX2 TT. It is in outstanding shape. The Cartrige is a MMC4 with unknown hours gained from another player. I noticed that I had got some pops and crackle sounds most notibly when a silent portion of the LP on my older Beogram 2000 TT, hooked up to my vintage H/K reciever with a build in phono preamp.

I hooked the cartridge up to my new RX2, and it runs through a older parasound phd-100 phono-preamp, and runs to my new H/K AVR-347, which has no phono preamp. When I played several LP's the crackle and pop is still there. the sound is not bad, but I feel like I could be getting more. I cleaned 2 LP's and brushed the stylus tip with a proper brush. The sound overall is ok, but Im starting to think it may be the cartridge.


I get stereo sound, and I beleive that the adjustment for the tone arm is correct. When I play the Chicago self titled 2 LP set, I get the pops and crackles during silent moments and at a few points. The mid bass seems to be low.


I hope this all makes sense. I'm thinking I may invest in a SMMC4 from soundsmith, but I want to check to make sure I'm heading in the right direction.

dingofarmer:

So I have a mint B&O RX2 TT. It is in outstanding shape. The Cartrige is a MMC4 with unknown hours gained from another player. I noticed that I had got some pops and crackle sounds most notibly when a silent portion of the LP on my older Beogram 2000 TT, hooked up to my vintage H/K reciever with a build in phono preamp.

I hooked the cartridge up to my new RX2, and it runs through a older parasound phd-100 phono-preamp, and runs to my new H/K AVR-347, which has no phono preamp. When I played several LP's the crackle and pop is still there. the sound is not bad, but I feel like I could be getting more. I cleaned 2 LP's and brushed the stylus tip with a proper brush. The sound overall is ok, but Im starting to think it may be the cartridge.


I get stereo sound, and I beleive that the adjustment for the tone arm is correct. When I play the Chicago self titled 2 LP set, I get the pops and crackles during silent moments and at a few points. The mid bass seems to be low.


I hope this all makes sense. I'm thinking I may invest in a SMMC4 from soundsmith, but I want to check to make sure I'm heading in the right direction.

If the problem occurs with the same cartridge and the same records on different Beograms, the problem is common to either the cartridge or the records. Do you have access to a different turntable, with a known-good cartridge/stylus? If you play the records on this other turntable and don't hear the noise in the same places, it's the cartridge. Otherwise, it may be the records at fault. Try playing a different record (preferably an expendable one which hasn't been played with that MMC4), and see if you get the crackling; if not, play it with one of the Beograms, and see if you get crackling. If you hear noise in those parts, it's the MMC4; otherwise, it's the records . Hope this helps.

-Adam

Ill take the record to a friends house and listen. I do not have any other turntables. I just cleaned the records and it made no difference

Long and short, since the original email, this issue is with old used records, All newer records sound great and the pop and hiss is absent with most newer albums, very nice sound. Im very happy now, Id like to get a SMMC4 soundsmith, but am wondering if I should just buy another player, rega 1 or see what these new carteridges can do, any feedback is welcome.

John

The RX2 is a reasonable midrange deck. You can spend a lot of money and get a better one though you will need to spend wisely to get a big difference. Soundsmith cartridges will certainly make a big difference to the sound - you will feel that the music is sharper and more focused though possibly a little less relaxing to listen to. More like CD in some ways which a lot of people really like. I think the SMMC4 is a very good buy and would recommend you try one.