Bryan Starks
New Member
What would be a good upgrade from the beogram?
The 3000 is a really nice and handy table. I would certainly take one over many of the possibilities of the era. There are several options for getting the cart retipped with an upgraded stylus. PM me and I will pass on my options.The early '70s Beogram 3000 is a fine turntable. One of them was my first 'real' turntable; it had issues with the speed control linkage, but I got a fair amount of enjoyment from it nonetheless, and I eventually 'upgraded' to another Beogram, an RX2. I've owned numerous non-B&O turntables since then, but still have a soft spot for Beograms, and currently have a Beogram TX2 sitting on my computer desk for playing LPs while sitting at my computer (nothing quite like their "dance-proof" suspension for resisting outside vibrations!).
What's wrong with your 3000? Styli for the early SPxx cartridges can be retipped by SoundSmith starting at $150. If it's having issues, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to fix it. I'm not quite sure what would be considered an upgrade from it; I consider them to be in a class by themselves, though Beograms aren't for everyone, and aren't as easy to maintain as a Technics or AR. If you can deal with the unique challenges of owning one (the fine folks on the BeoWorld forum have lots of info), it should serve you well. Good luck!
-Adam
Actually, the SP12 won't work with the Beogram 8000, or any Beograms made after 1975 or so (with the exception of the Beocenter 3500, which made use of the Beogram 3000 mechanism). The SP14 was the last B&O cartridge which used a replaceable stylus; the SP15 was the first integrated cartridge, as originally equipped to the Beogram 4000, and was later re-christened the MMC4000. The Beogram 8000 uses the MMC20x series of cartridges, which carried on from the MMCx000 series.The linear tracking Beograms would be a logical upgrade.
I bought my 8002 new in 1983, it has never required service, and the original cartridges still sound great and don't damage my records.
BTW: No hassles with cartridge alignment, antiskating, or any other nonsense like damaged records. You could even keep your SP12 by upgrading to a Beogram 8000!