I recently pulled out my old record collection that I haven't touched in few years.  I played a few albums on my Beogram 1800 with MMC3 cartridge and everything I played was distorted - more on low frequencies than high I think.  The turntable has very low mileage and has been well cared for.  I only have one turntable, one cartridge and one receiver/amp so I can't analyze by swaping.  The receiver seems to work fine on its' FM radio function.  Can a stylus / cartridge go bad just sitting around without use?  I looked at the stylus under a 10X magnifier and I don't know what it should look like but there was no serious buildup of any kind.  I set the counterweight to 1.5 using the instructions in the owner's manual.  If anyone can help, I would really appreciate it.  Thanks.

Yes, the cartridge is old and they do have a shelf life.  The rubber suspensions dry out with age resulting in distorted sound.  You won't see anything under a magnifier, as the needle is fine.  Sometimes the cantilevers look droopy - other times not.  Time for a new cartridge I'm afraid - either a used MMC-series off of eBay (make sure the seller has tested it recently) or a new replacement cartridge from Soundsmith.

 

 

Try clicking on the folowing link and scrolling down for troubleshooting info.

Simon