Swapping the MMF 5 for an SL-1210M5G

Kmulkey: Thanks for the input, I have heard the scout many times and I like it a lot. But unfortunately it's out of my price point. And if I remember correctly it is still a belt drive, right?

Musicdoc: Thanks! I'm slowly hunting something good down on craigslist. I'm in no rush.

Stick70: Thanks! I've read about the KAB mods, but how does it sound stock?

Britishbane: What other TTs are you looking at?

Johnny: I didn't have any intentions of modding it if I ever pick one up, But what differences have you noticed after the mods? (I mean, they essentially double the price of the whole turn table.)

Dr Joe: Thats why I'm considering the Technics turntable, now that you mention the SP-10, I think I might have seen one at a thrift store that I passed up. If it was, then I'm going to kick myself in the butt. If for some reason I can't find find an M5G, do you recommend that I just get a regular SL-12x0-MK2 instead?

Gonzo: What made you change?

Guys, thanks for all the responses... Quick question to all.. I'm sure all of you know that the M5G is much harder to come by on the secondary market... Are the mechanical/design differences significant enough for me to wait around for a good deal on the M5G when it becomes available? I know that it does come with a better tone arm as well as better wires in the tonearm. Rumor has it that the bearings and the drive system are a lil different than the MK2 and the MK5 also??

And there's also the fact that it's black, which is aslways great.

So I just saw a craigslist ad for 2 M5Gs that hopefully haven't been sold yet. Ideally I'll pick them up this weekend. So if anyone is potentially in the market for a M5G and a (turntable) coffin, I might be posting them soon on a-gon...

I'm excited about that... We'll see how it sounds stock first.. then i'll consider working mods into it...

Any suggestions on the order of mods from most significant to least significant improvement? (If you could give a ball park price to the mod too, that would be great!) Thanks!

So quick update to everyone that partook in this thread. I finally swapped in my Technics SL1210M5G into the system over the MMF5.

I put them back to back and listened to them for two days.

Then I packed the MMF5 away and set up the Technics permanently.

What a lazy table! The Technics SL1210M5G has amazing control and is great at keeping time. Absolutely wonderful player. I installed the Dynavector DV-10X4 on it and better, tighter control on the bass as well as maintaining although I've noticed that the mids and highs are a little bit brighter than before. This might be a cartridge issue? I was also looking into getting the AT 440mla for this.. any opinions on this?

I'm slowly looking into mods right now from KABUSA and seeing what they recommend. I've heard the damping fluid does the most in terms of bang for buck. Any feedback on this part here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for all your help, everyone! You've really been able to help me make a great decision!