Any cartridge with a broken tip or broken cantilever or broken/loose suspension can be repaired.
A broken tip causes the tone arm not to track and the tone arm will skate inward on the record.
A loose suspension causes distortion and one channel sounding different from the other channel.
What we can not fix is when a channel is out. That means the voice coil is open and at that point we may have a replacement cartridge for you.
If one channel is completely dead, it is also possible that you are having a bad signal cord or a bad RCA jack.
There is a simple test to find out if the cartridge is defective or if the cable is bad. First pay attention to which speaker is not playing.
Then stop the turn table and take the cartridge out and put it back in up side down. That means the diamond tip is facing up now.
Put an old record on the turn table and hit PLAY. Let the tone arm drop and the mute relay click. Now with your finger tip gently touch the tip of the stylus. You should hear a noise from one of the speakers.
If you hear the noise from the same channel that was working, that means the cartridge is fine and the signal cord is defective.
If the channel that was not working before is making the noise, then unfortunately you have a broken cartridge.
What parts will be replaced and how does the repaired cartridge sound?
We will install a new elliptical diamond tip 0.20mm round along with a new aluminum cantilever and a new suspension.
This will make the cartridge compatible to MMC4 (or better). The MMC2 and MMC1 use ruby cantilever and a different diamond tip that we can not get at present time.
That means those cartridges still can be fixed, however they will sound like a MMC4 with a better midrange and they should be treated like a MMC4 when you adjust your tone arm.
(1.5 gram counter weight and anti skating at 1 is recommended.)
* If your MMC1/MMC2 has a good stylus, but a bad suspension, it still can be fixed by saving the original cantilever and replacing the suspension only.
How can I get my cartridge repaired?
You need to ship your cartridge to our shop and we will contact you with repair information.
Please keep in mind that this is an invasive and delicate procedure and there is always a risk involved.
Currently over 90% of cartridges are repairable, however due to the age of some cartridges and also human error there is a less than 10% chance of failure and
the cartridge will be ruined. In that case there will be only a $15.00 shipping/handeling charge.
Our repair price is reasonable flat rate of $200.00 and this includes piority shipping.
MMC1 or MMC2 cartidges which still have an intact cantilever and diamond tip will be $25.00 more ($225.00) because of the slow and delivate cut and disassebly process to save the cantilever..
Free Shipping inside U.S. main land, International shipping will be $25.00 extra via United States postal,regular mail service.
Contact information:
Modular Electronics Inc.
11205 Alpharetta Hwy. Ste. B-3
Roswell, Ga.30076
(770)410-1122
email: benny@aminaaudio.com