Bombaywalla said it all...the mmf-5, in my experience, is very system dependent and with the right combo is a great-sounding unit capable of much music. Since I've had the Bombaywalla unit I've used it with many different power amp-solid state and tube pre combos with 5 different sets of speakers and the music it delivers seems to reflect those strenths/weaknesses. Bass is suprisingly good and it does everything I want it to do. I look all the time for upgrades or improvemnts but it seems that $1500 is about where I would have to go and there might not be much improvement then unless I reworked my amp, speakers, and cart. I learned that clean vinyl culled for the best sound combined with tubes will deliver great sound with the mmf-5 and I'm sticking with tweaks and changes to those parts instead of a risky, limited results of another $1000 invested in a "better" turntable. Another great thing is that the mmf-5 is so durable and easy to set up and move. Bombaywalla shipped it to me a distance of 2000 miles I used it for 3 years and I've moved another 1,500 miles, set it up, and it's still going strong...
Music Hall MMF-5: laid back sound?
I just got my first "real" turntable, a Music Hall MMF-5. The image stability, channel separation, soundstaging and lack of noise are leagues beyond anything I've encountered in my experiences with older direct-drive tables and lesser belt driven designs. I'm feeling, however, that the dynamics are a little reigned in with the MMF-5, and the bass is a bit mushy. The cart is the stock Goldring 1012 and it was set up by a local analog guru who's done right by me in setting up other tables. I replaced the rubber feet with BDR cones (3 of 'em) and have the table leveled on a granite platform which is spiked to the floor, so I don't think isolation is (exclusively) the issue. I also replaced the stock felt mat with a Herbie's Way Excellent mat. I considered rolling the Amperex orange globe 6922s in my phono stage (modified Moscode Super It, pretty sweet!) for something a little livelier, like maybe new tubes from Electro Harmonix, but that's getting into the whole tone-control trip. I already have very transparent cables in the chain (Audio Art IC3, see my review), and my current setup of an ATI 1502, passive pre and Dynaudio 50s should let all the good stuff through, so maybe this is just the character of the table. Is there something else I can do here, or should I look at a Rega for more snap and tighter bass?