I have a Beogram 1800 (the later model) with a rebuilt MMC2 from Axel. Musically, everthing is wonderful, especially with the MMC2 (I had been using a rebuilt MM5). But tonight I heard something peculiar: When I press play and the platter starts spinning from a dead stop, there's an audible "squeak" until it really gets moving. Then everything is fine until the record is over, the tonearm moves back, and the platter slows to a stop--same squeak again. I assume something needs to be lubed, but before I pull the top plate off and start randomly lubing stuff, I'd like to know if anyone can say what the most likely culprit is. Also, what type of grease would you recommend? Thanks. And as always, this is site is a fantastic resource.

Anyone out there who can help me with this? Martin? I'd be much obliged.

Dillen hasn't posted much lately; I believe he is just busy, so better wait a bit more if you can still use the Beogram as it is.

Is the squeak there already when you press "turn" without a record on, or does it start only when the tone arm carriage moves?

Not sure I understand the question. The tonearm on the 1800 won't move unless the platter is spinning. I'm pretty certain that the squeak is related to the platter not the tonearm.

Oh yes, for some reason I thought 1800 was one of the tangential decks, so forget that.

Do you feel / hear anything odd if you turn the platter by hand? I would expect a platter related squeak to be there all through the record; since you hear it only when the arm is being loaded/unloaded I suspect it's something in the automatic mechanism... sorry, I don't know the radial decks that well. It might be more obvious if you remove the top plate so you can see the innards in action.