[markmark]

Good morning,
I have come across a Bang & Olufsen MMC5 turntable cartridge with stylus. I have nothing to hook this up to & want to test it. With only a multimeter & a very limited knowledge of electronics, can someone walk me through this or point me in the right direction?
Thanks,
Mark

[dlaloum]

Do you have a TT with a mount for MMC type cartridges?
If not you should get in touch with SoundSmith - they make 1/2" adapters for MMC cartridges (which they also make)

You need to set your multimeter to resistance measurements (ohms) and set the scale to something that will show results between 10 and 2000 ohms....

Then measure between the signal and ground pin for the left and right channels respectively - the two sets of results should be fairly close to each other .... one would expect them to be identical for TOTL cartridges (eg: MMC1) - but for the MMC5 probably within 5% is to be expected...

If you get no resistance reading - the cartridge is faulty...probably not worth repairing (buy a Soundsmith SMMC4 - cheaper than repairing an MMC5 and a notch up in sound)

I cannot tell you which pins are L/R and LG/RG on a B&O MMC cart - but you can ask around, there are other B&O users - or just contact SoundSmith....

[markmark]

Thank you dlaloum,
No B&O turntable
I set the multimeter at 4k. On one combination of terminals I got .796
On the other pair, .797
Nothing on any other combination.
Are these readings within specs? (Is it good)?
Thanks again,
Mark

[dlaloum]

That's not good - ITS GREAT 

The closer the two chanels are the better, 1 ohm difference is most likely below the error threshold of the multimeter (you are reading 796 & 797 ohm)

Usually error is +/- a couple of the last significant digits in the readout...

My Shure V15V reads 796/811 - and that is considered pretty reasonable...

That cartridge is all good - as long as the stylus/cantilever/suspension are ok - you should be set for music. The electricals sound like they are fine.

bye for now

David

[markmark]

Thank you David.

How do I close this topic, or will the admin. close it for me?