BeoGram

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:52:20 GMT

The BG3404 turned out to be a great table to bring in off the bench while the BG4002 was at the shop. Now that the BG4002 is back, I refitted the MMC20EN onto it and added her to the guest room system (on a little floating shelf I put together with pieces from IKEA).

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:35:29 GMT

I sent the Soundsmith SMMC20EN back a few days ago. It was reworked a bit and returned to me last night. I plugged it into my BG3404 (still haven't heard anything from the pro fixing my BG4002), and no sound out of the right channel again. Thinking I'm just not making electrical contact in the right channel between the cartridge and the tonearm, I tried pulling the cartridge out a fraction of a millimeter.

And it worked.

Can you see the slight gap in the photograph?

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:01:52 GMT

On a positive note, my initial impression that the MMC20EN that came with the first BG3404 was shot was wrong. I tried the MMC20EN with the second deck after the Soundsmith didn't work, and it sounded quite nice. Maybe I had the tracking force way out of whack when I did my first listening.

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:56:09 GMT

Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

After I settled on the second BG3404 as the better of the two, and verified that its speed was perfect, I hooked up the new Soundsmith SMMC20EN cartridge. And there was no sound coming from the right channel.

I put the MMC3000 back in. Both channels worked.

Put the Soundsmith back in. No right channel sound.

Repeated the process. No right channel in the Soundsmith.

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:47:52 GMT

As noted above, the second deck's dust cover has seen better days. I started the process of swapping dust covers but decided against it. I took the cover off the first deck, and in an attempt at practice I guess, tried to put it back on. Couldn't do it. Glad I didn't take the cover off deck two.

Aside from being a bit tired looking, the only thing that might be a bit off mechanically/electrically with the second deck is the tonearm. Call me crazy, but doesn't the tonarm look just a bit "saggy"? Not 100% parallel with the surface of the deck?

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:38:56 GMT

The second deck is definitely the better of the two. In fact, the first deck's tonearm may be barely on the good side of usable. Both decks have perfect speed, though.

Here's the second deck playing Dark Side with the MMC3000 from JaffBay.

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:41:43 GMT

So...a question.

Two BG3404s shipped to Florida. One from Minnesota, one from New Jersey. Both trips 1000+ miles....er, 1600+ km.

Neither deck shipped with transport screws engaged!

The question: am I just lucky, or is the BG3404 that robust of a machine?

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:38:23 GMT

Looks to work just fine! The dust cover has seen better days, though.

Over the weekend I'll check the speeds of the two decks and use the one which seems the best. Hopefully it will be this second one so I don't have to mess with the bent tonearm of the other one (yet, that is). Then I'll just switch dust covers.

Can't wait to get that new SMMC20EN out and onto some of my new vinyl...

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:27:15 GMT

At least there was some packing material inside the dust cover. No apparent damage to the tonearn. Checked the ring on the underside of the platter, too, and it was fine.

I put a cartridge in the tonearm and checked it out....

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:26:20 GMT

Egad! Just a single layer of bubble pack around the deck, and the platter is installed!

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:22:15 GMT

Received the second BG3404 at work today. While walking the package out to my car I could here the deck bouncing around in there without the transport screws engaged. No original box, either. What condition was this one going to be in.

Got the deck home and opened the box. The box wasn't even full with packing material! Not a good sign!

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Dillen — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:41:58 GMT

Sad case of shipping damage but I'm sure, you will get it going all fine again.

NEVER ship a Beogram (or Beocenter) with the platter fitted.
ALWAYS wrap the platter separately and place it under the Beogram.

Martin

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:02:27 GMT

Alas the MMC20EN is likely shot. Didn't take a whole lot of listening to figure that out. Swapped in the MMC3000 and there was a world of difference. Perhaps the MMC20EN will be my first experience with an Axel retip.

Got the BM4000 back into its rightful place in the system tonight, along with the BM4000 switch and an additional shelf in the tower.

Over the weekend we shall have our first listen to the new SMMC20EN. I was thinking about this last weekend - the SMMC20EN is my first NEW cartridge since the 80's, if you can believe it.

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Leslie — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:15:04 GMT

Good news Rich!

Re: BG3404 w/ MMC20EN

Rich — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:29:00 GMT

With an RX 2 top plate/platter in place, I put a record on. I connected the the BG3404 to my newly refurbished BM4000 and plugged in my newish Form 1's from LifeStyle AV.

The angels burst forth from heaven, and yes, ladies and gentlemen, there was music!!!