After over 6 months of use, no problems. Sound is excellent.

Tonearm tracking force adjustment stinks.

This is to update a previous post. I am still very very happy after many months of ownership.

I did mention website to get new stylus for 1012GX Goldring.
it is NOT www.cadence.com but IS www.cadencebuilding.com .
Price for stylus was $80 with shipping, and shipping was quick with no problems.

Sorry about rating it again, but I still give this high marks. I now have about 1000 records (obtained in about 6 months). They are still out there.

And of course, you MUST have a vacuum type record cleaner machine, otherwise, don't get a turntable.

Similar Products Used:

Many

Value, Sound Quality, Set-up, Cartridge

RCA Plugs, Slight overall fragility

Good sounding turntable right out of the box. I decided to bring mine to the next level with a few tweaks. Used Vibrapods on the feet for isolation, replaced the RCA plugs with Cardas Rodium plugs, shrinkwrapped the tonearm to lessen sound vibration, and last but not least, I replaced the Goldring moving magnet with the entry level Dynavector moving coil cartridge. (WOW)! If your phonostage supports moving coil you will not be disapointed. For slightly more than a grand you can have a turntable that sounds as good as others at 2 or 3 times the cost. Highly recomended.

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Rega

Overall build-heavy glass platter, nice tone arm, comes standard with Goldring cart.

Manual, packaging and RCA cords.

My first 'nice' TT. This is replacing a Dual 506 with a Grado Prestige red cart. The Dual was nice, but a little anemic and distorted no matter what sort of home spun isolation techniques I tried. The Grado would also start to feedback near the end of a side-bummer. My system is very modest. Adcom 565 pre, 535II amp with XLO ultra interconnects, Kimber 4TC dual run bi-wire and Snell KII's. Got a Rotel 965BX CD for digital.
The turntable was gotten offa eBay, but was new in box from Target audio in Florida. It arrived in a timely manner, but had a dent in the side of the box. The TT was not harmed, but the packaging seemed to be lacking...maybe double boxing would have been safer. Got it out and set it up in no time. The manual sucks. I'll say that straight out. Very prefunctory with not enough detail. The TT went together fine. The tracking force is very sensitive, and seems to be , uh, kinda 'random'. The VTA and azimuth seemed fine,so I unhooked the Dual and got the following to test: Bob Marley and the Wailers-Uprising , Led Zeppelin-In Through the Out Door, Stereolab-Aluminum Tunes, David Bowie-Scary Monsters, Art Pepper + 11 (Stereo rec. pressing) and Bach's Brandenberg Concertos (London blueback pressing) and went to town.
Well....it worked GREAT~! Plenty of detail and smoothness top to bottom. Much tighter and fuller bass than the Dual (which was my biggest expectaion) and great tone and seperation (the Goldring I imagine). I know next to nothing about high end audio, but I know how I like my music to sound and this turntable got me excited about pulling out my LP's. I'm listening to the Bach right now, and the bowing on the cellos and basses is taught, full of tone and richness. Great definition. Since I've never heard a many-thousand-dollar rig, I have to give this 5 stars cuz it's getting me deep into the music. What the hell else would you own a stereo system for?

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Technics, Dual

Nice looking, decent sound

I am totally new to Vinyl, I got carried away by the
Vinyl is better than CD hype and decided to dive into it
to check it out.. Verdict - Cannot tell

I remember Viny being a joy to listen to when I was a kid,
I was trying to recreate that magic, but have not succeeded.
Maybe my ears were just inexperienced at that time or that
my current digital setup is pretty good..
I have a NAD C340 , Marantz KI Signature CD player..
The CD is a lot more detailed, precise but yet not moving..

The Vinly is none of the above, yet my feet start tapping
and body starts moving as if trying to get in sync w/ the analog sound of vinyl.

My brain likes CD, but the heart and rest of the body enjoys
Vinyl - so what is one to do.. maybe SACD,DVD -Audio and other futuristic stuff

MMF-5 was setup in an hour, the manual definitely needs more work.

Very much plug 'n' play

The manual .

I wanted to get a great sounding turntable for a modest price. Audio Atlanta recomended the music hall and I have been very pleased. Pete helped with a few questions and I was up and running in 15 minutes. It was even easier to set up than my iMac!


I am happy to say that I have only experienced good things so far with this table. I think that the arm on this table has been upgraded from earlier models since the stylus cannot touch the plinth at all! No problems with the shipping or the azimuth? on the tonearm. Hopefully my good luck with this table has been due to Music Halls listening to previous owners problems.

I am eagerly awaiting my Pink Floyd box set (echoes) to come in so that I can compare it to the CD's For now I am enjoying my Ronnie Earl, Direct to disc and Jimi Hendrix vinyl.

I would eagerly recomend this turntable and Audio Atlanta to anyone that is interested in "rediscovering" the joys of Vinyl.

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vintage kenwood and marantz

Great value, smooth-sounding cartridge included, very quiet and well isolated TT.

Incomplete manual, cheapness dust cover

Did a lot of research before settling on the Music Hall, chose it based mostly on features per dollar basis. So far I am very pleased with the sound quality of this unit. I read the various cautions on this site regarding these TTs and made sure I had available all the measuring devices to set up the arm and cartridge, but it turned out to have been pretty much perfectly set up by the manufacturer. The counterweight scale is even accurate according to my Shure stylus pressure guage. It does have a slight swishing sound coming from the sub platter which I can't track down, doesn't appear to be rubbing on the plinth as suggested by another owner. It is very slight and doesn't affect the operation or sound of the unit. The Goldring cartridge that came with it is very good, smooth and balanced with a slight roll-off at the higher frequences. Overall I think it sounds as good as many much more esoteric and expensive turntables I have heard, though I haven't tried a good moving coil cartridge with this one yet, and I know that many tables with inexpensive arms really sound terrible with a moving coil (too much resonance in the arm I believe). I've always preferred to get along with the less sensitive MM designs, notably those from Grado. For those who purchase one of these TTs and are concerned about the set up, it turns out that this unit is very similar to the Pro-Ject turntables ( made in the same factory and uses the same arm) and the complete instructions for the Pro-ject 2.0 can be viewed at the Sumiko web site; much more detailed

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Thorens and Denon TTs

Beautiful, eye-catching looks. Great sound. Elegant presence. Great value.

None that I can surmise.

Beautiful turntable producing wonderful, warm analogue sound from my once-forgotten LP collection! More fun than I've had in years! Included Goldring cart is more than up to the task. I don't know what all the complaining is about down the page about a flimsy tonearm and difficult set-up...mine was out of the box and spinning "Dark Side of the Moon" within fifteen minutes of its arrival. Easy as can be. Yeah, the manual is a little flimsy but any challenges are easily surmounted. Get a Shure stylus gauge if you want to...mine reflected exactly what the turntable counterweight indicated. No problemo!

And - what a sound...full, rich, satisfying. Like a Grande Starbucks Mocha...ahhhhhh!

Buy it. Nothing else compares unless you want to spend twice the dough for a Rega and then you get comparable sound without a cartridge...

Five Stars, period.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz, Technics, Kenwood, Dual.

Excellent cartridge, Glass platter and record clamp.

Packaging, cables

After fooling around with many used tables for years, I finally decided to buy new. Like most folks with a good vinyl collection, I wanted to get the most value and a great set of features in a new table, and after about six months settled on the MMF-5. My first unit came damaged in transit (chipped plinth), but Mark at Northern Audio was quick to replace it.

Overall, this is one quiet, revealing table, mostly due to the fantastic Goldring cartridge. The glass platter was something I never expected to find for under 500 (certainly not new), and the clamp is very usefull. True, the tonearm looks like the weakest link in the package, but I'm sure someone will come up with a replacement, which will make for a killer setup. One comment though, it needs higher quality cables.

This is probably the table you are looking for, even if you don't know it yet. By far, the best 450 dollars spent on my audio system.

Similar Products Used:

Thorens 145, 160, Harmon Kardon ST-7 and St-8, Dual, etc...

Construction. Sound. Value.

May have problems fixing unit if needed. Tracking force adjustment on tonearm is not accurate.

Most of the other reviews sum it up. Like others mention,
the built in tracking force adjustment and calibration is USELESS. Buy a tracking force guage.

Mine was set up fine from the factory. Except for tracking force of course!

Sound is absolutely outstanding. I listen to vinyl almost exclusively now. Have a nice local store with cheap classical records, and use eBay too.

A necessity is a vacuum type record cleaning machine. Makes a big difference in sound. If the vinyl is not damaged, noise level drops dramatically. Cheap cleaner at Audio Advisor for $200.

Getting a spare stylus for the magnificent Goldring 1012GX was a problem. Found them at www.cadence.com for $80. Fast delivery.

I am not a tweaker. I am happy with it so far. I think it needs a bit more sound isolation from the surface it is on.
I will be working on this shortly. My previous turntable was on a large ceramic tile, that was on a bicycle inner tube. $6 to do this. It works. But it puts the turntable up a bit high on my rack.

I have checked the various adjustments, all were set fine at factory. Except for tracking force adjustment, this turntable should work fine right out of the box. If it does NOT ... RETURN IT! Audio Advisor has excellent customer service. If your source does not allow a return, you bought it from the wrong place. The box should come SEALED too.

The sound of the MMF-5 is spectacular. For the price, it is a bargain. I use it with a Rotel phono preamp/equalizer.
Use $100 Straightwire cables from Rotel to Acurus RL11 preamp. Great sound!

After months of use, no problems.

There is a slight swishing sound from the turntable after it has been running for about 30 minutes. You need dead silence in the room to hear it. I don't notice it at all now. I traced it to the motor shaft pulley...the part the belt goes on to. I don't worry about it. The motor and platter are isolated via the rubber mounted two piece plith.
There would have to be some play due to the rubber mounting.
So I attribute the "noise" to this.

It plays 45rpm and 33 1/3rpm records. You remove the glass platter (just lifts off) and use a supplied tool to move the belt to another part of the motor pulley. This means the 33 1/3 position leave the belt a bit loose, but it works fine. This could indicate easy use of a replacement generic belt. There is a spare belt supplied with MMF-5.

The Pro-Ject turntables (the MMF-5 is a Pro-Ject) are very popular in Europe. If you have a problem getting parts in the USA, like the motor, you can always contact some of the UK dealers via the net. Yahoo has a special search engine for UK.

All in all, I love my MMF-5. Even the hokey weight-on-a-string anti skate!

I use 2 grams of stylus force, and keep the antiskate on the middle notch.

Oh yes. My one gripe!!!! When you raise the tonearm with the lift lever, a small "platform" touchs the tonearm to lift it. This extends a good amount to allow you to use the lift function from the center of the record to the tonearm rest. BUT BEWARE! The little lift pad does NOT go much beyond the arm rest, but the tonearm DOES. So if you move the tonearm to the right (away from record) too much beyond the arm rest, it slips off the end of the "lift pad" and slams the needle on the plinth...ouch! I keep a small block of wood in this area so if it does go to far, the tonearm hits the wood and stops before the needle touches (or crunches against) the plinth surface. I guess those brainy Austrian and British designers blew it in this case.

For $500, the MMF-5 is GREAT!

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Many, many, for 30 years.

Glass platter, dual plinth separated by six rubber feet, built-in level, wonderful customer service from both Roy Hall whose imports these and Chris at Audio Advisor.

None really at the price.

I am new to vinyl. I have a NAD C340 with a Pro-Ject phono preamp. I ordered the MMF5 as a demo from AudioAdvisor, and I have run it for about a week.

Sonically it is so immensely satisfying that I haven't played a CD since it came. All the reviews here state that already. Plus, as a demo I saved a bunch of cash and am just thrilled with it at the price.

Most importantly, I cannot recommend doing buiness with Audio Advisor or Roy Hall enough. Roy answered all of my questions about the set-up, and even sent a new anti-skate wire as I clipped mine in two unpacking it (it was wrapped multiple times with masking tape for transit, God only knows why).

Five stars relative for $400. Good work!

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A BSR something in 1982 my Dad had.