New cartridge for MMF 5

Hello Fra77, my question would be do you intend to upgrade the table or phono in the future. If so I would save most of your money for that upgrade and get an older MM/MI. There are some great $100 to $250 options available. Also I think I remember that the Goldring 1012 stylus could be upgraded.

If you are going to be keeping things as they are for a while I would do some DYI mods to the MMF5. Look online and on this forum.

I enjoyed my time with the MMF7 with the same arm I think. I sometimes had to wrap the arm with Teflon tape to dampen on some carts and used the herbie's mat as Chayro said.

I would change Vta on arm if to bright.( just mentioning in case).

BTW, I did not like the Goldring Eroica but everyone is different and our systems are different. Get out and listen if possible to find what you enjoy.

I

There is a 0% chance I'd spend $600+ on a cartridge for that table. But that's just me.

It makes little sense to invest in a more expensive cartridge for a table with an entry level arm.

Save your money and buy a better table/tonearm.

Thank you all for your help. I bought this TT used one year ago and I used it A LOT without ever being particularly impressed by its sound. The thing is that there's no comparison btw the Cd player (that I'm very pleased with) and the TT. The cd player wins. And that's not what I want. I know that my TT is what it is, and I do want to upgrade one day. But I can't now. So, I'll go with Herbie's mat, which I just ordered. I'll look for the cones too (silly question: do I need to install them?). I was also thinking about getting a wall shelf rack. It seems like the most popular and budget shelf here on audiogon is the Target, but both Needledoctor and Music direct say that there are problems with availability. The only one I can find is the Apollo but it's made of glass and I have read somewhere that's not ideal. Any suggestion? As for the cartridge, I'd like to try something different from the Goldring and I thought the MMF 5 was good enough to support nice cartridges. Does it make sense to think of a $600 cartridge as an investment? I would already have a nice cartridge to start with whenever I decided to get a better table. Or not?

Thank you again,
Fra

A good easy to find, low risk, choice would be a NOS Acutex 312 or 412 on Italian Ebay.Only about $60 but much better than that pricepoint .They are not as "refined" as the few you mentioned, but IMHO are very close. I personally like the 312 better but thats just me. If you don't like it sell it.

As far as using a $600 cart on that table/arm as an investment, it all depends on how long before you could get a better table to actually hear the difference in carts. I can only tell you what I would do in your place. Maybe your Idea is better if you swing an upgrade before using for 500 Hrs.

Good luck and enjoy the journey!