I just bought a VPI HW19 Mk III on A'gon and feel that it is a great table for the money these are selling for now on the used market.
If you could find a MK IV for under $1,000 with a good tonearm you'd be getting $2,000+ worth of excellent table for $900 or so.
The Scoutmaster is a great table I'm sure, but the price would be twice what a used HW 19 Mk IV would run you.
Paul Green |
Radiob:
Do not overlook the excellent value represented by a new Scheu Premier II table. I was quoted 2200 landed for a Premier II with Scheu 12" classic unipivot arm mounted INCLUDING shipping to California from Germany. A real deal; performance up there with the best. Scheu also offers a very attractive model called the Cello. With a RB250 arm it is about 1200 landed. Buy it without an arm and it is a few hundred less; mount your own arm. Great table if you want to stay around a grand. It uses the same bearing as the more expensive Premier. |
Go to www.hwsound.com Larry at Hollywood sound is very helpful and will not over sell you. The 10X5 was better than a Bens Glider series 1, he helped me a lot on my MM7.
Ben |
any of the dynavector carts. are excellent choices for the scoutmaster. |
Well, I sold the MMF-7 , and I think Im going to buy a VPI Scoutmaster. One just popped up on a,gon, and now I need a cartidge, suggestion? Thanks guys. |
thanks for all of your guys advise.Bombaywalla,you have been a great help, this was excactly the information I was hoping to find, I only wish the dealer I purchased it from was so straight with facts. I also have a rega planar 2,I decided 2 list them both, and upgrade two a better deck. I set a budget of 2500.00 any sugestions? Thanks, Rob
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Even a broken watch gets it right twice a day ... but only once if it's digital ;-) |
Radiob,
Inscrutable & Dan_ed got here before me & have already echoed my sentiments.
The cartridges that you are looking at as replacements are rather resolving in nature & are capable of some really nice dynamics & music BUT on a TT rig that is able to provide them the opportunity. Bluntly put, the MMF-7 is a good TT rig but it is not very resolving one & the isolation is mediocre (very good for it's price range, mind you, but not in the league of SOTA or Nottingham or VPI Scout Master or an upgraded Linn LP12) i.e. even if you are able to keep the MMF-7 surroundings as quiet as you possibly can, the MMF-7 is limited in its inherent design. Thus, the Shelter 501, Dynavector karat, Zyx R-100 will provide you marginal improvement in sound & you would have spent a lot of money for a marginal improvement (low ROI). The Pro-ject 9 tonearm is good - the best Pro-ject tonearm, but it doesn't hold a candle to a stock RB250 & definitely not to an OL 250 or an Expressimo RB250. I don't know what the eff. mass of the Pro-ject 9 is. The Shelter 501 is a very stiff cart (low compliance) & will need a medium-heavy mass tonearm. The Pro-ject 9 might not qualify. Also, the Pro-ject 9 is prone to bearing chatter over time just 'cuz of its bearing design. Worse, it is very likely that you cannot use the RB250 as a drop-in replacement for the stock MMF-7 tonearm! It was never engineered to be a TT rig that was upgradable as Roy Hall wanted to make a good plug-and-play TT for those that didn't want to go thru the pains of vinyl setup & tweaking.
If you notice the Pro-ject 9 tonearm headshell, you'll see that it has just 2 holes in the headshell where the screws for the factory fitted cart is mounted. Are you sure that this fixed locations of these screw holes will allow you to mount 1 of the 3 cartridges you are considering? It might be an expensive risk on your part! Look @ your RB250 headshell - it'll have slots which'll allow you to mount practically any cartridge (most likely barring the Dyna 17D Mk2 as it's cantilever is miniscule & you'll need even longer slots!)
It appears that your appetite for vinyl was been whetted by this product (& mine was too when I had the MMF-5). So, if you remain serious, like Dan_ed, I say that Inscrutable has metted out good advice.
Hope that this clarifies some. FWIW. |
I believe Inscrutable has the best suggestion. The Rega arm is not a drop in replacement by any means as there is too much difference in the spindle to pivot distance. You could look for a Linn-based tonearm to upgrade with, but since you seem to want to improve things I think in the long run you will be happier swapping out the table now. |
If you wanted to stay under $1000, the best play might be to sell your entire rig, add $1000, and buy a new (used) rig. for $1500-2000 you can get a very good deck - I've seen LP12, Scout, various Sota and VPI HW, Nottingham, etc in that range - all better basic decks than the Music Hall/Pro-ject. Heck, I recently got an Oracle/Koetsu for that. |
Thanks, I know the table and arm combo is not the greatest, but my stylus needs replaced and I figured it would be a good time to spend the money on one I could carry over to a different TT. I have the MMF-7 in a different room than my speakers, it feels no sound. Would a different arm be a worthy investment? I have a RB250 in my closet, will it work on the MMF deck? Also,Bombaywalla
you stated that with the next tier carts the ROI will be low, could you explain what that means? thanks for your help, Rob |
What a waste of time!
If you really have money to spend, then the order of spending in vinyl that'll get you to a much higher plane is turntable, tonearm & lastly cartridge. Don't waste your money on a new cart. when the factory supplied Eroica is good enough. Hope that you selected the Eroica low output. This TT is not resolving enough to warrant the use of one of the next tier cartridges. The improvement will be marginal & the ROI low.
Called a spade, a spade----but it's not a personal attack! I hope that you'll take it in the right spirit. FWIW. IMO. |
I also would be cautious about spending more than $250 for a cartridge on a MMF7. I have never heard much praise for that arm or table. |
I'm not sure if the shelter would be a good match on the Pro-ject arm, not enough effective mass with a cartridge that has fairly low compliance. Not sure about the other two that you mention. Here's one suggestion, there is a guy over on the Asylum that is using a Benz Glider on his MMF 7 and seems happy with it. You do need to be careful with cartridge selection, think high compliance to be safe. I owned a MMF7 for a few years and while it is a great table for the money it may not be up to enabling every cartridge to do its best. I'd be afraid that you may be disappointed after spending alot of money, just a word of caution. I used a V15VxMR and was happy with it on that table. |
come on guys, any help? The cartridges I am looking at are the shelter 501, dynavector karat, Zyx r-100. which, if any will work best with my tonarm and table? |
