SoundSmith designed B&O cartridges in the 70s, they can also repair B&O turntables
Repair Vintage Bang &Olufsen ?
Or is it better to just buy a new Turntable ? Any old B&O mechanics out there ? LOL ..I have a B&O Beogram TX I bought new in the early 80’s. Played it to death till the late 80’s and the shinny disc revolution came of age. Since then, it has sit, unplayed. My wife and I still have hundreds of albums, and she said something about getting the old girl running again. We have a complete Legacy system, Focus Se’s, Marquis, Phantoms, plus a couple big subs,but hearing the B&O up against that Oppo is discouraging. I don’t have a phono pre-amplifier,so I was thinking the one my Marantz 8805 would be sufficient, but this thing is anemic. So, I have a few question for you analog experts.
1) First, the B&O has a whirling sound when the turntable runs. Kind of sounds like a sewing machine, only real faint. I took the belt off and the motor is the culprit. Did they always do that ? If so, I don’t remember it being so pronounced.
2) Second, I see that it has a MM2 stylus installed, and a MM4 in the holder as a back-up. I’m assuming the anemic’ness is because of this forty year old needle. So it needs a new one. What is the best way to go? Have the original re-manufactured, or buy a retro fit ?
3) If I repair all these items, new belt ( it slips when using the cleaner pad), new stylus, possibly a new drive motor, is what I’m getting up to the new models? Or would it be better to buy something else. It’s kind of neat, kind of heavy, and I have history with it, but I want performance.
4) And lastly, tell me about these phono pre amplifiers. Are they a tuning tool for the needle? Kind of like tone controls?. If I would buy one and set it up on the Marantz 8805, what exactly would be the benefits ?. Remember I been out of vinyl a LONG time ..
1) First, the B&O has a whirling sound when the turntable runs. Kind of sounds like a sewing machine, only real faint. I took the belt off and the motor is the culprit. Did they always do that ? If so, I don’t remember it being so pronounced.
2) Second, I see that it has a MM2 stylus installed, and a MM4 in the holder as a back-up. I’m assuming the anemic’ness is because of this forty year old needle. So it needs a new one. What is the best way to go? Have the original re-manufactured, or buy a retro fit ?
3) If I repair all these items, new belt ( it slips when using the cleaner pad), new stylus, possibly a new drive motor, is what I’m getting up to the new models? Or would it be better to buy something else. It’s kind of neat, kind of heavy, and I have history with it, but I want performance.
4) And lastly, tell me about these phono pre amplifiers. Are they a tuning tool for the needle? Kind of like tone controls?. If I would buy one and set it up on the Marantz 8805, what exactly would be the benefits ?. Remember I been out of vinyl a LONG time ..
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Soundsmith didn't design B&O cartridges in the 70s. B&O designed their own cartridges back then. What Soundsmith did was buy the rights to reverse engineer the MMC design from B&O and manufacture their own versions, which is what they sell. This was after the original B&O engineering documents were either destroyed or lost, I can't recall which. |
Soundsmith didn’t design B&O cartridges in the 70s. B&O designed their own cartridges back then. What Soundsmith did was buy the rights to reverse engineer the MMC design from B&O and manufacture their own versions No, SoundSmith was an original manufacturer for B&O under contract, Peter explained it in his interview many times. SoundSmith factory tour HERE and HERE, watch it |
Chakster, my understanding is that B+O designed this style of moving iron cartridge and held the patent. Lederman was contracted to repair them and as dbx implied Lederman took over the rights to this design. It does not make sense to me as the patent is long in the public domain and anyone can manufacture a moving iron cartridge if they wanted to. In reality it is Joseph Grado who should really get credit for the principle. |
mijostyn1,800 posts02-12-2020 9:31am Chakster, my understanding is that B+O designed this style of moving iron cartridge and held the patent. Lederman was contracted to repair them and as dbx implied Lederman took over the rights to this design ... In reality it is Joseph Grado who should really get credit for the principle ...Grado invented the moving coil cartridge, not the moving iron. |
Chakster, my understanding is that B+O designed this style of moving iron cartridge and held the patent. Lederman was contracted to repair them and as dbx implied Lederman took over the rights to this design. Soundsmith didn't design B&O cartridges in the 70s. B&O designed their own cartridges back then. What Soundsmith did was buy the rights to reverse engineer the MMC design from B&O and manufacture their own versions, which is what they sell. Watch Peter Ledermann answer at 4:30 to the question from Art Dudley regarding B&O. Pete said: "I WAS ACTUALLY TRAINED BY B&O IN 1970, WE MAKE ALL THE CARTRIDGE FOR B&O and THAT WAS OUR FIRST LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL PRODUCT... THEY STOP MAKING THEM IN 1986, SO FOR OVER 20 YEARS WE'VE BEEN MANUFACTURES ALL THE B&O CARTRIDGES" Correct ? |
I count on you have a B&O linear-tracker. Get it restored and operating properly! I even have . One (8003) working and the alternative wanting repair the best embroidery machine. These are excellent sounding classic TTs! Worth maintaining as I doubt they'll ever be synthetic again. |
I am also original owner of B&O 4004 with the 20CL cartridge, which still looks and sounds good to me. But, the control mechanism has some issues with the arm lift/lower keys on the control panel. They have stopped working. There is a guy in Florida "Beolover" who does full repairs and restorations on B&O equipment, but I have tried repeatedly to get him to repair my 4004 and he keeps saying he's too busy. Told me to contact him in spring and I got the same answer. Does Soundsmith do a full on restoration including cosmetics or just mechanical and cleaning? Thanks |
Don't know if you've had your B&O tt repaired yet but another Authorized B&O repair station is: Tek Media Group, (tekmg.com), 711 S. Victory Blvd. Burbank, CA 91502, 818-244-4440. They will send you a shipping box and label once you've submitted a service ticket online - you cover the cost of insurance - pretty good deal! Haven't used them yet, referred to them as the best repair location by the B&O store near me. I'll be taking my RX-2 up to them in the near future. Definitely want to upgrade the MMC-4 that's on it to a MMC-1, at least MMC-2! As others have said, the B&Os are good turntables as long as you can live with the restriction of using ONLY a B&O cart. They are VERY resistant to feedback, footfalls and other sorts of problems that suspended tts suffer from. I used to sell the B&O line back in the day and their tts were amazing at the stunts we could pull off with them! Slam down the dustcover while it was playing a record - NO effect at all!! tip the turntable up to a 45 degree angle while playing - NO effect on its ability to keep on truckin'! and GORGEOUS!!! B&O products are on PERMANENT display at the Museum Of Modern Art in NYC! Kinda' tells you about their design!! Best of luck with your B&O and those fond memories from the past!! |
