New turntable

Jt-I need to make a correction.I had the MMf-2 table with a $45 Elan cartridge.Your 5 has a $175 cartridge.Your cartridge is much better than the Elan.Anyway,as far as getting the most from the 5 it must be set up correctly.The arm on those tables have a fixed head shell.You must be sure the azimuth is correct.I had to twist the head shell on mine to set it right then super glue it back in place.Roy Hall said thats the only way it can be done.I tried a Ringmat($90 !!) also but could hear no improvemnt and so sent it back.The Vibra-pods are a good idea but a rigid,vibration free base is a MUST!!.I built a wall shelf and use the Big Rock on it.It works the best so far.Those things would be so easy to make its not funny.You could make one for under $10 and wouldnt have to worry about your wife getting upset.If you are just getting back into vinyl you have alot more ahead of you to get the best out of it.A wet vac is as important as anything.Record treatments are so,so.I use groove Glide and am still up in the air if the stuff works or not.Stylast is good at cleaning and reducing stylus friction.Besides the quality of analog sound the 2nd best thing I enjoy is collecting LPs.In 3 years alone I have collected about 500 LPs.Most I got free from family,friends,neighbors.I have found "treasures"at yard sales,flea markets,rummage sales for anywhere from 10 cents each,3for a buck,4 for a buck etc.I recently found a MINT,mono Buddy Holly Story for 25 cents!!! I sold it and have enough money from it to buy LPs for quite a while.Its a fun hobby that maybe your wife may get interested in.Most women like going to these types of sales.Maybe soon she will tell you"we have all these awesome albums we got so cheaply,lets spend the money we saved on a new cartridge!!"

David99, thanks for the input. I will look into a new cartridge later on. (my wife will kill me if she notices a new table or cartridge already) I'm trying to find out exactly how I should set things up to optimize the sound as the instructions with the 'table were too rudimentary. I think an isolation base will be my first addition. Do those vibrapod things really work?

Jt- I had a Music Hall a couple years ago.My first table when I finally discovered how much better analog sounds compared to digital.The Elan cartridge is OK but I would start there if you are still using it.You need to spend at least a couple hundred on a cartridge to really hear what analog is all about.I had a Ortofon MC-15 super MK 2 that I got from the needle Doctor.It sold for $250 but I got one for $150.This cartridge is very low output.It sounded VERY good.A good base for your table is a must! Bright Star Audio Big Rocks work very well under T.T.'s... If you want to get a better table you should consider a Rega-3.Alot of people are selling theirs to move up to the Rega-25.If you can I would put all my budget into analog.You will be amazed at the quality of the sound as you move up in tables and cartridges.It doesnt take alot of money to better a CD player costing many time more as a analog front end.