Oracle Delphi MarkII or Music Hall7? Which one?

without a doubt i would go for the oracle. it's a classic design and a suspended format.

the rega arms work with the delphi, but a low-mass arm would work for you as well.

the delphi looks and sounds far better than the music hall, in my opinion. the fact that a used oracle mk II without arm is almost the same price as a new music hall with arm should be an indicator. price doesn't always tell you everything, but in this case i think it does.

I cannot speak for the Music Hall but have owned an Oracle MKII w/upgrades since '83. A few things you should be aware of:

They can be a b*tch to set up, but once done, will provide yrs. of listening pleasure. Also, every few yrs. the turntable should be "stripped" and have the bearings and spindle cleaned and re-oiled. Not a big deal if you like to "mess" with your stuff.

The Oracle is compatible with a wide variety of tonearms, including unipivot designs. I am currently using an SME 309 on mine. It is crucial that you use the correct combination of springs for the particular tonearm of your choice. Also, it would be very helpful if you had the original instruction book. I think it can be downloaded off the Internet.

What most concerns me about your choice is that you will have to purchase the correct tonearm mounting plate for your specific tonearm. You should contact Oracle and see if they have a pre-drilled plate for the tonearm of your choice. They may still offer blank plates that you will have to drill, but that's kind of a pain in the *ss if you don't have the right drilling equipment.

Having said all that, my Oracle has given me more that 20 years of trouble-free service and I anticipate many more.

Hope this helps,
Jeff

Go with the Oracle. Music Hall is at best mid-fi hi-fi. It's a decent start but no more. The Project 9 tonearm extremely limits your cartridge choice.

No contest. The Music Hall is a toy in comparison to the Oracle. Still a great table that holds its' own and a piece of audio history.

Uniformly great advise, especially the comments by Jhorowitz which are quite useful. With any luck you might find the tone arm mounting plate the previous owner used will be suitible for your new arm. There is a fairly large group that use the same plate. Not only is the Oracle one of the great TT's, its great eye candy and will draw lots of comments.

The Oracle is very bouncy and should be on a concrete, very stiff floor or shelf mounted. And it is a pain to set up. I can't speak for the Music Hall.