New cartridge for MMF 5

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!

I found the MMF5 to be very sensitive to vibration.

This is quite an understatement. My woofers used to pump like crazy when I had an MMF-5 (regardless what it sat upon). It would be interesting to tear one apart and see if you could insert something between the plinths (like Magic Eraser) to address this issue.