What to do with an old B&O?

[Kvaal]

Hi everybody! I have an old B&O 3000 turntable from the 70's. Dumpster-find. The cartridge is gone. No hope for the auto-functions. I am thinking on making it a project. I would like to fit a standard pickup on the arm, but is it possible? Do i need to change the whole arm? If so, which arms do fit on this tt?

Is it for the trash?

[Barry]

Hello Johan,

Is it possible for you to post a photo of the turntable you have, because the description B&O 3000 from the 70's is ambiguous.

I suspect what you have might be the 5228, which has a pivoted arm, and can only take B&O plug in cartridges. These will be very hard to find; new ones virtually impossible, used ones needing a retip are more likely (the latter can, I believe, be retipped by: the Expert Stylus Company here in the UK; by Soundsmith in the USA, and by FJS-Tonabneherservice in Germany).

It would make a nice little project, if you are willing to spend time and patience on it. For what it's worth I love the elegant styling of those B&O 70's turntables.

[Barry]

B&O SP6 cartridges that will plug into your arm are still available on eBay. For example:

[Kvaal]

Thank you for answering, Barry!

I want to swap the tonearm, to make use of standard cartridges. I don`t which arms that fits.

Looks like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/286391626352

[Barry]

Since the arm pillar of the new arm will have to use the same aperture of the original B&O arm, you will need to carefully measure the distance between the centre of the platter (the spigot) to the centre of the horizontal bearing of the tonearm.

Given that distance, we can calculate the effective arm length, which will narrow down the options for a replacement arm

The next thing to say is that depending on the choice of the replacement arm, and the diameter of its arm pillar, you may need to open out the existing aperture if too small, or have a suitable sleeve made if the aperture is too large.

(I have just checked, and the effective length of the arm on your 5231 turntable is 205mm, suggesting the spigot to arm bearing distance is 190mm. It wouldn't do any harm to check this.)

[Barry]

The effective arm length of the SME 3009/II arm is 231.2mm. This is much longer than the 205mm effective arm length of the existing B&O arm. So if the replacement SME arm were to use the same mounting hole the overhang would be far too large. Furthermore, it is unlikely the SME arm would fit when the lid was closed.

Looking at other options; ideally it would help if you could give me some idea of the distance between the platter and the underside of the lid.

[User211]

I had a similar B&O.

I reckon there's no chance, really. Any tonearm taking standard cartridges will never allow the lid to close.

Best bet is Soundsmith B&O cartridges and a B&O arm.

[Barry]

It's certainly looking that way. I was surprised to find out that B&O plug in cartridges are still available. The cartridge for Johan's 5231 deck is the SP12, although an SP10 or an SP14 can be used as well. All three cartridges are listed on eBay.

[User211]

I can't remember the model number, but I had a B&O cartridge with a solid sapphire cantilever.

I think it was an MMC 20CL looking it up. Late 70s early 80s.

It was decent. The Soundsmith ones are B&O sanctioned. Bet they're good.

With the deck I owned, there'd be no easy way to fit a trad arm into the chassis.

[Barry]

Hello Johan,

Finding a suitable replacement arm for your B&O turntable is proving to be much harder than I thought it would be. It seems B&O use a particularly short arm on their deck. Having been mislead by Google AI regarding the effective length of your arm, it has been frustrating not to find an alternative by doing a search on the Vinylengine forum; despite being a member I can no longer log in.

So as long as the existing arm is undamaged and working, I suggest you follow Justin advice and fit a new, or refurbished, SP12 cartridge. They are still available on eBay, and all B&O cartridges are IMO all very good.

Sorry to have to disappoint, but that is the best we can do.