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Old 6th Oct 2015, 9:02 pm   #1
Dennis LeValley
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Red face BSR 4800 Question

Hi everyone.

I just bought a BSR McDonald 4800 turntable at an auction. It looks near new. Everything works as expected but the sound is horribly distorted. I was looking at sites for new needles and suchlike and one of them stated that if I am experiencing distortion from one channel (mine is both) that I need to replace the cartridge. I've never run in to this type of problem before and wondered if anyone out there has and it was corrected with a new cartridge. I paid $40 American for it and don't really want to stick another $40 into it unless I really have to.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time.

Last edited by Station X; 6th Oct 2015 at 9:45 pm. Reason: Email address removed.
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Old 6th Oct 2015, 9:52 pm   #2
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Hello and welcome, Dennis.

First, check that the tracking force (weight) is right. Normally, roughly 5g is OK for this kind of deck.

But it sounds like your stylus (needle) needs replacing. The cartridge is probably OK.

BUT... what cartridge is fitted? Many of these low-end autochanger (stacker) decks had ceramic cartridges, which will sound horrendously distorted if fed into the sensitive input of hifi amps which expect the tiny signal from a magnetic cartridge.

N.
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Old 6th Oct 2015, 9:53 pm   #3
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Distortion can mean many things. If you mean overloaded, unclear sound, then your deck may be fitted with a ceramic cartridge and you have it connected to the Phono input of a hi fi amplifier. In that case you may have to replace it with a magnetic type made by the likes of Stanton, ortofon or Shure. But that is pure guesswork on my part. Post some photos - of deck, cartridge and the amp - so we can advise. I don't know what model number that is either, are there any stickers under the deck?
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Old 6th Oct 2015, 10:01 pm   #4
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Ben, seems to be a standard 70s autochanger probably with ceramic cart: http://www.cbsmart.com/images/BSR%204800_5_400.jpg
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Old 7th Oct 2015, 2:07 am   #5
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Thanks Nick. Looks like we were writing at the same time!

That deck pictured is a c-123R, fitted with SC12 cartridge. So yes, it is ceramic. The OP could try adding a couple of resistors in the audio output to enable this deck to be used with a magnetic cartridge input.
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Old 7th Oct 2015, 4:15 am   #6
Dennis LeValley
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Thanks for the input folks. I really appreciate it. The cartridge is a TC8-H0. And yes I do have it hooked to a newer Sony Surround Sound Receiver so I suspect your right in stating that the distortion is caused by a ceramic cartridge being played by a hi fi amp requiring a magnetic cartridge. I will do a search and see if any of the makers Ben suggested make a replacement for it. I am not skilled in this area so I don't mind mentioning that I have never seen the likes of Stanton or Shure ever making a cartridge that would fit this turntable. But I'll check. Again, that you so much for your input. I really appreciate it.
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Old 7th Oct 2015, 8:09 am   #7
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Good point. ISTR Dynatron recommending a 100K resistor in the "hot" connection of each channel to enable a ceramic cartridge to be used on their music centres which had pre-amps for magnetic cartridges.
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Old 7th Oct 2015, 12:42 pm   #8
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

That suggestion sounds plausible- the ten times lower load R on the cartridge will clobber its bass response which will get jacked up again by the RIAA comp on the mag input and the 3:1 pot down will drop the level further still to help stop the overloading.

HiFi it ain't but it could sound quite reasonable and it's dead simple to do.
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Old 7th Oct 2015, 1:33 pm   #9
Dennis LeValley
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Just wanted to thank everyone again for their input. I did check with several sites that sell cartridges and no one knows of any manufacturer that makes a magnetic replacement for the BSR 4800. I'm not skilled enough to be adding inline resisters and such so this thing is going back to the auction. But I did learn something here and I appreciate it. And that is never buy a turntable that will not accept any standard mount or p mount cartridge. Best of luck to all of you.
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Old 7th Oct 2015, 1:45 pm   #10
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Before giving up, try connecting the cartridge to a line level input rather than the phono input. It may not be perfect but is likely to sound much better.
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Old 7th Oct 2015, 2:52 pm   #11
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Herald1360 View Post
That suggestion sounds plausible- the ten times lower load R on the cartridge will clobber its bass response which will get jacked up again by the RIAA comp on the mag input and the 3:1 pot down will drop the level further still to help stop the overloading.
I did find a simple circuit for running a ceramic cartridge into a magnetic preamp.

It attenuated the signal with some resistors, and rolled off the bass as such that the resulting output from the preamp was pretty good, I was impressed

Ill try and dig it out
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Old 7th Oct 2015, 3:44 pm   #12
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

OK, this is what I was thinking of, worked very well for me.
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Old 10th Oct 2015, 4:09 pm   #13
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

If the cartridge really is a BSR TC8H (is it?) then this is a mono crystal cartridge giving a massive 1 volt output. Not only will this overload any Line-Level input stage, it will need around 8 grams tracking weight and cannot play a stereo record without ruining it! Evenso, these are currently selling at £40 on ebay....Edward
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Old 10th Oct 2015, 5:15 pm   #14
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

If this deck is indeed the one linked to by Nick, it is a mid 70s autochanger with sc12 cartridge in slim headshell. Not only would the TC8 have been out of production for around a decade when this TT was made, there is no way it could be fitted there without some serious modification / botching!

Since the OP has decided to give up on it this discussion is sort of moot anyway.
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Old 11th Oct 2015, 8:24 pm   #15
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Default Re: BSR 4800 Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Herald1360 View Post
That suggestion sounds plausible- the ten times lower load R on the cartridge will clobber its bass response which will get jacked up again by the RIAA comp on the mag input and the 3:1 pot down will drop the level further still to help stop the overloading.

HiFi it ain't but it could sound quite reasonable and it's dead simple to do.
Oh I don't know :lol: I deeply respect the more 'direct coupling' of the sound of a ceramic cartridge used into a little high impedance (1.5M) preamp I made. The extra 'bite' can really work with vintage singles and do please remember that many 'pop' singles and LP's in the 60's were intended for these kinds of pickups to reproduce them.

Straight 'transfers' of these old 'pop' master tapes of singles especially to digital for modern consumption doesn't always work for me, but play the original records on ceramic cartridges loaded somehow correctly and the music takes on a different and to me, much more pleasurable stature
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