I have been delighted with the interest my 23-month-old twins have taken towards playing vinyl in the last few weeks. I come home to the likes of the Residents, Robert Fripp, Repo Man soundtrack, Fugazi, Sade, Talking Heads, Les Paul & Mary Ford playing on my (our) Beogram 1800. "Dada play record!" being shouted as soon as I walk in the door - and both my son and daughter want to (absolutely must!) take turns cueing up the record and playing it.
Well, tonight, we were putting on Screaming Jay Hawkins (right before bed time, no less!), when I noticed my son's arm had hit the tonearm when we put the record on. OK, let's get this thing going... Then, as the tonearm lowered and I watched it gently float toward the center of the platter, I sensed my worst B&O nightmare had turned real. My 26-year-old MMC 2 was liberated of its entire stylus. Nothing there, "bye-bye!" Now my son knows how to say "record player broken". Too bad - that was really fun.
Granted, I had been limping along with this thing for a very long time - most experts would probably consider the stylus worn-out - but it still sounded nice enough, considering the rest of the sound system and the overall surface quality of my record collection.
So, here I am, with a busted MMC 2. Is this thing junk, or can the cartridge be rebuilt with a new stylus? If it can be done, who are the most-likely contenders?
For more on this subject see: http://www.shitmykidsruined.com/
"Thank you for listening."
chrx