Music Hall MMF-5: laid back sound?

Hi Jfacker,

I owned a MMF-7 for a while and it sounds to me like you have covered all of the tweaks known to help the Music Halls. I'm not familiar with the goldring as I used a Shure V15VxMR, but I would think that trying a different cartridge should help many of the things you describe. I have heard of folks changing to the 1022 stylus and they report improvements. With that Project arm you'll need to stay with a high compliant cartridge. The Music Halls do have a bit of a darker sound but you be able to get tight bass. Whether or not you want to spend the time and money to improve things with the MMF-5 or change tables is up to you, but unless you're willing to spend at least $1.5K I don't think you will significantly improve on the table you have.

I have a Music Hall MMF -5. It's a good starter turntable, but limited in upgradability. I upgraded to a Scheu premier table and there is no comparison . Like Dan ed said though if you want next level analogue the price increase is significant. You could spend a G and a half on just a phono stage. I had the Goldring set-up too . The MMF 5 is like an intro to decent analogue. Once you got the taste I think a better table will be in your future.

here's what I had to say about it just in case you missed reading this review here on Audiogon:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?ranlg&1033946970&read&3&4&

>>and have the table leveled on a granite platform which is spiked to the floor
is the floor carpet over concrete or wood over concrete? or is it a sprung floor, say, on the 2nd floor of your house/apt. Having a springy floor will deaden the dynamics. A friend of mine solved this issue by using the Promethean base from Machina Dynamics. He uses a Nott Spacedeck just BTW.

I used replaced the stock feet w/ Golden Sound ceramic cones.
I replaced the stock felt mat w/ a DIY cork mat to no detrimental effect.
I was & still am using the CAT phono stage. I never felt that the bass was mushy. Reigned-in dynamics - yes. I paid under $500 for that TT back then so what more could I expect! It jaded my appetite for vinyl so I ended up owning it for less than 1 year. For $500 it had superb sound as stated in my review.
I sold it an Audiogon member, who still has it & loves its sound! I was in communications w/ him off & on for about 1 year after he bought my MMF-5 & that's how I know.

Recently I was tube rolling & I got to listen to Amperex 6922, white label, made in USA tubes. These tubes are warm & they have OK bass. I found the Amperex 7308, orange label, made in USA to be far superior & that's what I bought. Tubes are preamp specific - that's one of the biggest lessons I learnt from this tube rolling. I don't know which tubes will work in your preamp but if you have another tube or ss phono pre or can borrow one from a friend, try the MMF-5 thru that to give you another idea of the sound.

even tho the MMF-5 is a cheap TT it is just possible that it is good enough to show the weaknesses of the other components in your system:- your phono preamp might not be as transparent as you imagined it being & the same case w/ your cables. So, don't simply dismiss this thought.

I am using an MMF-7. But have my eye on a SOTA Cosmos. Try the Goldring 1042; it improved by bass. Dismiss the clamp or buy a better one, I find much better prat with out it on most records. Also since it is a Pro-Ject, Pro-Ject does make a speed controller that I am going to try as well untill funds are available for the SOTA.
Cheers

I wouldn't get too bent out of shape here Jfacker. After all we're talking about a turntable/tonearm/cartridge that sells for $500 used. This isn't a Brinkman you know. :-)