Old B&O vs. new Rega P1

I own B&O Beogram 8000. With the original B&O cartridge the performance is ho-hum. It sounds smooth and rich, but seriously lacks detail and high frequency sparkle. I've then replaced B&O MMC 20CL with Sound Smith SMMC 20CL, and the difference is amazing. The performance with Sound Smith cartridge is very close to the Rega setup that I loaned from my friend. Rega with good MC cartridge sounds more detailed, but the difference was small, small enough so that I could forgo in favor of the convenience of automatic operation with B&O table.

I have the Beogram 4002 with the original MMC 4000 cart. The drive for the tangential arm failed. It is absolutely the coolest looking vintage TT, but I don't know whether to spend around $400 to get it repaired. It is in very good cosmetic condition. Any opinions?

Currently using a nice old Dual through a Proton PreAmp and a Nakamichi reciever.

Craig, try the forum at beoworld.org. There are a couple of resident experts with extensive part bin. You could also send the unit over for repair if you wish. It probably won't cost $400 to repair, but you will need to be handy, or find someone who is.

I found more detail was possible with my B&O 8000 by defeating the suspension system. My flooring in my condo is very stable so the suspension was not necessary to control vibrations.

It's hard to fit cartridges on the B&O. It only take their own cartridges

Look here: B&O Turntable/Cartridge Lookup Chart

Personally, the B&O TTs were never quite my cup of tea, but they were reasonably well-made and good sounding decks. Some had quite advanced features, even by today's standards, and they are quite a bargain. I have heard a couple of Beogram 8xxx units and they sounded pretty good; certainly better than the P-1 or any other new sub-$600 entry-level deck I can think of.