ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
My MMC 4000 pick-up cartridge, for the Beogram 4002 is defective. Can it be repaired or is a replacement still available. Otherwise, turntable like new. It would be sacrilegious to throw it away ! I live in South Africa.
The answer is probably yes to both. Your cartridge can be repaired by Axel in Germany and Soundsmith in the US make cartridges that will fit.
Peter
I have owned a Beogram 4002 since 1976. While I have other Beogram turntables now, my 4002 is still in service. The places Peter noted can repair your existing phono cartridge. Other options are to buy another, new cartridge from those places or buy a used cartridge (from some place like Ebay). I moved off my MMC4000 cartridge to MMC6000 and MMC20CL cartridges. They work great. If you still plan on listening to vinyl I would recommend keeping your 4002. It will likely need a little servicing if it is still original but definitely don't toss it away.
-sonavor
I also live in SA and own a Beogram 4002 as well. I have an MMC20 S cartridge fitted, still in good order. I found a supplier in New Zealand selling replacement products, but the one for the Beogram 4002 goes for $462! The website, and link to the product is, "http://www.styli.co.nz/bang---olufsen.html". If I have to replace I'd consider the one from sound-smith (http://www.sound-smith.com). I have a huge problem with my player's dust cover though. The material where the lid is attached to the hinges cracked and broke off completely. It is extremely difficult to repair as there are little space to add supporting materials and the available glues and epoxies on the market do not adhere to the perspex material too well. Big problem is the amount of stress at the hinges when the lid is closed. I also recently repaired the little DC Servo motor - the little "TVS diodes" inside burnt, but I got some info from AV forums on how to go about repairing it. Now it runs fine!
Wouter: I found a supplier in New Zealand selling replacement products, but the one for the Beogram 4002 goes for $462!
I suppose that is NZ dollars and covers the entire cartridge, so it is not THAT expensive... BUT: having your original cartridge repaired / retipped is generally always the best option. After that, you know what you have. If you buy a used / old cartridge from somewhere, it might fail soon (because they all do eventually!) and it is very difficult to find a bargain nowadays, so you might not save any money either.
I'm not too happy with that particular place. Years ago, I ordered a replacement stylus for my Ortofon OMB20 because it was a third of the price of the original. The stylus I got was externally similar, but looking at the part that goes into the cartridge, it was obvious it would never fit nor work, completely different. I sent them an email with a picture showing them side by side and never got any reply.
--mika
Thank you for your reply mika, I'll be careful in this regard. The price however is in $US as they also show the price in $NZ (600) and Euro (348).