Hi!

My girlfriend recently bought a second hand Beogram 6500 with an MMC-2 included. The MMC-2 seemed to work when the seller demonstrated it (though he only had one record in very poor condition), but now at home the sound is all distorted. When I take a closer look, the stylus looks a bit strange compared to other MMC styluses I've seen; the angle between the stylus and the cart doesn't look right. I also noticed that the stylus protection cover (or whatever it's called) touches the stylus when pulled down. Could it be that it was the cover that broke the stylus when pulled down for transport? An MMC-5 works fine, so the Beogram is ok.

What I really would like to know is if the stylus has been repaired/tampered with. I recall noticing the angle of the stylus at pickup, but I didn't really suspect anything, since the seller specializes in selling second hand B&O gear and offered a one year warranty. I just thought MMC2s could look a bit different from eachother. I've taken pictures of the strange MMC-2 and my own fully working MMC-2 for comparison. Note the difference in angle between the two (the one on the top is the faulty one). The photo on the top is taken from the opposite side and then mirrored (hence the missing logo). We've sent e-mail to the seller asking for a solution, but no answer yet (very disturbing).

Any thoughts on this would be very appreciated.

Sincerely,

Nicklas

Certainly looks a bit odd. I have compared the angle with a couple of mine and they are the same as your MMC5. I suggest the suspension is not correct. To get to this, one needs to cut the front of the cartridge off though so any repair is obvious. Axel repairs these by this route. I doubt there was any funny business here but I do think this cartridge is essentially scrap. If he gave you a warranty, you may get a refund but he may argue that it might have been damaged by the stylus guard being put down if a finger caught the stylus I suppose.

A friend has an MMC2 that resembles the top one you've got. Something's wrong with the suspension, and whenever he wants to play a record with it, he gives the top of the tone arm a very light nudge with his finger, once it has settled in the groove. Before the nudge he has a scraping sound, after the nudge the arm descends a touch and the sound is good.

First time I saw this, I wondered what the .... he was doing, he explained that the suspension had gone bad, but that he played records too rarely to get a new one, since he has the player right next to him in his office.

soundproof:

A friend has an MMC2 that resembles the top one you've got. Something's wrong with the suspension, and whenever he wants to play a record with it, he gives the top of the tone arm a very light nudge with his finger, once it has settled in the groove. Before the nudge he has a scraping sound, after the nudge the arm descends a touch and the sound is good.

I suppose it somehow snapped back into place...

Instead of the angle of the cantilever, look at how it exits the cartridge. It comes through a circular opening and must be dead center. If it's off to any side, the suspension most probably is bad.

I had an (almost) similar problem with my MMC2 stylus, which i bought with my Beosystem 5500 last year. It played the test record flawless, when the system came home, I tried with one of my own records. the cantilever had been slightly bent to the side after the first play of a side... Three plays later, the cantilever fell off(!) the MMC2 unit itself...

I think that your MMC2 is in way better contion than mine, of course, but both can be saved by Axel

Greetings, Søren Hammer

Thank you all for your replies!

Do you think this is my girlfriend's problem or the seller's (who claimed to include one year warranty)? I don't think the seller has checked the system (it was a complete Beosystem 6500) properly before selling it, because the mute relay in the Beomaster seems broken (sound in right speaker has to be 'pushed through' by cranking up the volume after muting/unmuting and when powering on the system), plus I suspect the belt for the Beogram needs to be replaced. I find it quite unbelievable to sell 20 year old used electronics and dare to offer a one year 'warranty' without even checking it!

Where is Axel situated and what does he charge for fixing an MMC-2?

I must confess that I think a seller offering warranty on a 20 year old system is a brave man! He may argue that the stylus was working when he sold it and it has been broken. However the other faults should be covered. To repair the MMC2 with a new sapphire cantilever and line contact diamond will cost €159, which seems ridiculously low to me! He is based in Germany - follow this link.

How much did the system cost with a warranty? The seller may just offer you your money back and if you got it cheap, this may not be the best option!

Hi Nicklas, what a coincidence ! I bought a Beogram 2000 with an mmc4 cartridge three weeks ago for 45 euros which had the same suspension problem ! When playing it sounded scraping and distorted.

Thanks to Soundproofs tip it is playing fine now!

soundproof:

A friend has an MMC2 that resembles the top one you've got. Something's wrong with the suspension, and whenever he wants to play a record with it, he gives the top of the tone arm a very light nudge with his finger, once it has settled in the groove. Before the nudge he has a scraping sound, after the nudge the arm descends a touch and the sound is good.

I've set the arm weight at slightly higher at 1,5 gramms. Hopefully the stylus will settle itself...

I noticed, and maybe this caused the 'damage', that the protection cap when lowered touches the needle and pulls it downwards. It seems that the stylus is a bit longer than it should be ? Maybe mine was also retipped. Anyway it plays !!!

Now I can again take a closer look to my older 1902. It played fine for 2 weeks, and then it began to drag across the record to it resting position after the record finishes. See the' Just bought a beogram 1902' item. Maybe some of you guys has the fixing tip ?

Greetings,

Rob

The MMC2 I had retipped by Axel seems a bit on the long side too, the cap touches the stylus as well when it is flipped down. Solved this problem by not using the cap, which I wouldn't normally do anyway...

Robberth:

Now I can again take a closer look to my older 1902. It played fine for 2 weeks, and then it began to drag across the record to it resting position after the record finishes. See the' Just bought a beogram 1902' item. Maybe some of you guys has the fixing tip ?

Rob, that thread is the tip. If you tried it already and it didn't help, I'm afraid you didn't perform the fix properly. A drop of oil over the thing won't get it moving if it is really stuck. There might be other problems but I doubt it - if you still can't get it to work, might I suggest you start a new thread for better advice. Continuing age old topics often get lost in the traffic.

Peter :

I suggest the suspension is not correct. To get to this, one needs to cut the front of the cartridge off though so any repair is obvious. Axel repairs these by this route.

What ever happened to Anthony Garza (Beomuse) in Texas?  He used to repair suspensions without having to cut off the front?

I don't think he did? He did repair one of the cantilevers by putting a fine wire up the cantilever of a MMC5 and glueing it - seemed quite a lot of work for a MMC5 to be honest! You cannot really get at the suspension otherwise as the Micro-Cross needs to come out. Anthony had some personal problems I believe and stopped working some years ago. A shame as i enjoyed his Beomuse site. Some of the articles can be found on the excellent Beocentral site.

Peter :

I don't think he did? He did repair one of the cantilevers by putting a fine wire up the cantilever of a MMC5 and glueing it - seemed quite a lot of work for a MMC5 to be honest! You cannot really get at the suspension otherwise as the Micro-Cross needs to come out. Anthony had some personal problems I believe and stopped working some years ago. A shame as i enjoyed his Beomuse site. Some of the articles can be found on the excellent Beocentral site.

That was actually my cartridge he repaired! I got the Beogram RX 2 at a yard sale for $5, discovered the broken cantilever, and wondered what I could do about it. After seeing a NIB MMC5 go for in excess of $150 (which was about three times what I could afford at the time), I asked Anthony what I could do about it, and he mentioned his experimental repair possibility. I shipped the broken MMC5 to him, he used a piece of piano wire to splice the cantilever back together, glued it up, tested it out, and sent it back to me, along with a CD of test samples recorded using the repaired MMC5, all for free. A very nice gesture to do all that for a poor college student. I wish he were still active in the B&O community.

-Adam

(sorry for the threadjacking)

And I recall he repaired one of my MMC's, tho not quite flawlessly (which he admitted).  Anyway, I emailed Axel about my MMC-2 and he quoted me 159 euro to repair it even tho it just needs a renewed suspension. The cantilever and stylus are fine so I was expecting the cost to be less expensive.

The cantilever might not be fine once Axel has cut the end off the cartridge. He quotes an all or nothing price which I think is very reasonable when you compare it with the SMMC2 from Sound-smith.

Hi,

Nicklas, you haven't told us what had happened to your MMC2.

Had it been it re-tipped or not?