A "house sound" among turntable manufacturers ?

06-26-07: Undertow
Johnnyb53, Nice... And totally I can agree with you, However Sorry to tell you that Has nothing to do with the MMF 9 . "1" ... Thats an old MMF 9 which is Not the same, even the MMF 7 in my opinion was better than the MMF 9 for the money, and the MMF 7 competes pretty well with the Technics...

Thanks for clearing that up. I totally missed the ".1" distinction.

Personally, I wish the high end hadn't so glibly abandoned direct drive. I think the sonic problems traditionally associated with direct drive were erroneous and more likely attributable to the noise isolation of suspended turntables such as the Linn and AR.

I wish the development of direct drive turntables had continued apace. By now we might have a sub-$1K DD table with straight, one-piece carbon fiber arm like the MMF 9.1 and an S/N or 78 dB or greater, but with the advanatages of consistent speed and transient response so characteristic of quartz-locked direct drives.

Just to toss this out,The 9" VPI Scout has gotten lot'sof good press.I like VPI because i's so easy to switch from my LO MC to high output mono cart on separate armtube.Some good arms like SME or Graham have removable heads and wands respectively but VPI is fastest.Great if you ahve switch from MM to MC on your phono section.Now that they offer real antiskate option(instead of twisting lead wire the way harry likes it) the Scout is hard to beat.I have owned Thorens 160,NAD/Rega 250,Rega 3,Linn LP12,VPI extended Aries with 12.5 arm.I am giving up this $5K deck and getting smaller Scout but not the one with nice ring clam.Going to add a 22lbs TNT5 platter to a Scout since I think high inertia platter is more important than clamp.Was tough decision.If I had space and more dough I'd get $2K HRX platter and ring clap but that platter and ring clamp ($2500)would be cost of Scoutmaster with siganature arm.Plain Scout is bargain $1600 list anbd can be upgraded with clamp,signature Vahalla wirring,anti skate etc.

Also think about isolating your deck especially if you have wood floors.Either a good $300 wood.Granite wall mount from TT Acoustics (I think that's name) or Gingko clod if you put on top of rack can make a HUGE difference no mater what rig you get.New MMF does look nice but I'd go VPI for flexibility and Linn like upgarde path.
Cheers
Chazz

Johnnyb53: You can always buy the Origin Live armboard and mount up a modified Rega on a Technics 1200, or there are a number of DJ houses that modify 1200's to accept SME arms (V,IV). I am going to buy a modified RB250 or RB300 arm that has been rewired and see how that works out, and maybe a KAB external Powersupply. Even with the Shelter 501 Mk II cart and phono preamp I will be cheaper than the Music Hall table and arm.

Interesting. No one has actually come close to answering the question asked.

The original "ADD" Audiophile Deficit Disorder