Just before the BeoWorld forums moved over, I posted a question about replacing the stylus in an MMC3 cartridge. My situation is that I have two MMC3 cartridges with different problems, and was hoping that I could merge them into one functional unit:

- unit 1 has a good stylus and cantilever, but bad cartridge (left channel is out)

- unit 2 has a bad stylus but good cartridge (both channels active)

 
The initial responses I saw were that the stylus and cantilever were part of the moving micro cross and not replaceable. But later posts seemed to indicate it might be "worth a try". But I never saw anything beyond that before the forums went down.

Sorry for the duplicate post, but was wondering if it would be possible to merge these two units into one? I realize this would involve taking them apart, etc.

 

Thanks (again) in advance,

- Paul

 

Hi Paul, I've been down this route myself, briefly (though I seem to remember another member was collecting a few broken ones to give it a try).

The main problem I found is that the mechanism itself is sealed into the casing using a filling compound which is hard and makes it very difficult to remove the bits you want to get to.

It really isn't worth the efffort when you can purchase a brand new Soundsmith SMMC4 (which is superior to the MMC3 in most peoples opinions) for @ $140. Fully warranted although the import duties & shipping will push the price slightly over £100 but with the exchange rate as it is then now is the time to buy!

A professional cartridge rebuild will cost you more than this and doing it yourself is probably going to fail if you have no experienc of this type of work. As Kevin mentioned one of our members has dismantled & rebuilt some MMC's but his sucess rate was quite low I belive. I'm sure he will put me right if I've got this last bit wrong!

 

Chris

I've now had my 're-tipped' MMC5 for long enough to try it properly, including a test disc. It had a broken cantilever - the stylus & the end were missing - and 'Expert Stylus' in Ashtead replaced the cantilever with a sapphire one (it looks to me as if they bonded the new cantilever onto the cut-down stump of the old one) & fitted their own variey of 'contact line' stylus. They charged about £140 & pointed out that it would have been quite a bit cheaper with an aluminium cantilever and/or a less elaborate stylus. Results? Well, firstly I have a usable cartridge when before it wasn't even usable as a paperweight (too light for A4), secondly it is good. Not as good as my MMC2,as it won't track so far into the 'torture' bands of the test disc, but better than my MMC3. On ordinary music I really can't tell which one I'm listening to, to be honest. This suggests to me that putting a good stylus onto a good cantilever is perfectly possible, but I consider it to be a specialist occupation. Unattaching the good & bad styli would be the first problem, then re-attaching the good one... in the correct orientation. Then there remains the problem of whether you trust it! If the stylus/cantilever should come unstuck, the irreplacable record is scrap vinyl. While 'expert' rebuilds & new cartridges from SoundSmith are available, personally those are what I will use. Adam Kimberley.