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TT/cart that doesn't pick up motor hum

i am looking for recommendations on a budget ($500-$1000) TT/cart combo that does not pick up any EMI from the motor. My current setup is a music hall mmf-5 with goldring cartridge (stock). at normal listening levels it sounds fine, but turned up, especially in quiet passages, there is hum, which gets louder when the tonearm is closer to the motor. I have noticed this in other budget turntables/cartridges (rega p2/grado) as well so i know it is not a problem unique to mine. i am happy with the sound quality of the mmf-5 otherwise, but this hum makes it unusable given that i am using it to reference recordings in my home recording setup.

furthermore, i have tried using mumetal to shield the motor as best i can, but the hum persists. perhaps the motor needs to be completely covered which i am unable to do, hence i would like to find a turntable/cartridge that is better designed.

i don't know a lot about turntables, however, in order to not have this hum, i assume that (a) the turntable should be designed so that the motor is far away from the cartridge, and or (b) there should be magnetic shielding on the cartridge and/or motor. please correct me if i'm wrong.

I should mention i also have a technics 1200 with ortofon silver dj cartridge. i have always dismissed this TT as not being up to par, however i am curious to know if others feel this would be a good alternative; perhaps i sell the MMF-5 and use the money to upgrade my phono pre (rotel 970) or cartridge/stylus? any thoughts/suggestions are very welcome!
fadeawayman
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
You would be happier with the mmf 7 since the motor is far enough away from the cartridge to prevent the pickup of motor noise. And, your idea of selling the mmf 5 to upgrade your phono stage is pretty good. There are mods available for technics.
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
the probelm may indeed be the cartridge. grado and audio technica make some fine cartridges between 3 to 5 hundred.......and they are extremely quiet
jependleton
155 posts
 
You shouldn't be having a hum problem with the MMF-5. You may want to check to see if the tonearm cable is properly grounded to the phono stage and that your wall outlet has the ground terminal actually grounded to something. I have seen cases where there was no ground wire run to the outlet. The only noise that you should get that is inherent to this turntable is a little bit of vibrational noise from the motor.
fadeawayman OP
9 posts
 
thank you for the suggestions. i'm pretty sure its not a grounding problem--there is almost no hum when the tonearm is in resting position--it gets louder as the tonearm moves towards the center of the platter. mumetal around the motor has lowered the hum. if it were a grounding issue that would not be the case. my friend's rega p2 has the same problem with a grado cart.

overall its pretty low level hum and i still enjoy listening to music on the TT but it does raise the noisefloor and is not acceptable for critical listening.
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