Swapping the MMF 5 for an SL-1210M5G

Tvad,

You are right but i have reached my audio budget given a wife whose limits i am testing. I am willing to spend around $299....not insisting on less

I wanted to exchange the existing cartridge by the same dealer becaus he wont refund the $ on shure cartridge but that is unlikely because of his limited cartridges and so am willing to spend

Well the bottom line is its not the table.. it’s the setup of the table and your willingness to do this as correct as possible at this ponit. You made your own assumption correctly, you know you have too much invested to have it fail at this point… They should be able to get you like an audio technica OC9 or whatever I believe and it is about 299 on a sale, It has excellent reviews and you can find the right impedance settings running your MC phono stage I am sure…

But also HIGHLY suggest on learning about table setup, so you can tweak it out and understand what changes in certain parameters will effect what, I suggest playing with the VTA(arm height) trying to use a ruler and leveling it out on the M5G table, also having a 50 dollar Digital Stylus gauge to help you tweak the weight on your cart correctly and even have an idea how heavy or lite you are which will help get optimal bass and treble response and also helps peace of mind so you know realistically how optimal you have everything set up.. Also table isolation and the mats will be a big thing on any table..

So here is your issue, you do not want to spend more, but to justify your journey here at all especially with the front end equipment you have, believe that you will in time need not only the right matching cart, but several decent accessories/Tools to pull the most out of your analog setup if you want to be as good as you know that dartzeel system should be for the money.. So keep the table and patiently acquire all the knowledge and stuff needed to get you to the next level.

I went thru a similar growing pain a few years back and finally figured out, not only do you need a good table and phono stage which you absolutely have, but clean cared for Vinyl which will also dramatically improve your playback via possible RCM… Good stylus maintenance(maybe oznow Zerodust), Good Cart matching your preamps phono setting capabilitys, Good isolation table and possible Platter mats from like Herbies, Iso, boston, whoever… It takes a little patience to set up and align all the parameters on your table to get this performance you seek out of such a sensitive and powerful setup you have. Its not as plug and play as some other rigs that’s for sure.

I just ordered the highly regarded classic denon dl-103 "low output" cartridge that some use for the technics...

Thanks for the help!

Michael

If you can't get the money back on the Shure, you can keep it around for testing dodgy used records before playing them with the Denon. Also, when the Shure damping brush is deployed, it enables the Technics arm to track records so warped as to be otherwise unplayable.

But if you add the KAB fluid damper, that will accomplish the same thing (and more).

For future reference, if you want a low-output moving coil cartridge that's very arm-compatible with the Technics, get an aftermarket Sumiko or LpGear Zupreme headshell and mount either an Audio Technica OC9 II or Denon 301 MkII. Both are available at $299, have very modern, low mass cantilevers, and mounted on a 12g headshell, have a near-perfect cartridge/arm compatibility (resonance at 10Hz).

You will also realize big gains in dynamics every time you improve the footing and platforming of this turntable.

If you want to keep it cheap and under your wife's radar, get a set of Dayton threaded brass cones from PartsExpress to replace the Technics feet. Place the spiked turntable on a butcher block cutting board. You can get a 1-1/2" deep one from Ikea for $25, or a thicker nicer one by Cuisinart from Lowe's Home Improvement for $50. Then put shock absorbing footers under the cutting board. You can use Vibrapods at $6 ea. or Mapleshade Isoblocks made of cork & rubber for the same amount of money.

These do wonders for bringing out the dynamics and inner detail the Technics is capable of.

Also, let everything break in, and you may want to get some Technics bearing oil and lube up the motor bearing real well. You never know how much may have spilled or dried up during shipping and warehousing. When I put some in I noticed an immediate improvement in speed smoothness and lowered noise floor. Anything you do to lower noise floor will improve your dynamics.