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I'm in the same boat as you here. I really don't know. I'm thinking hard about finding a used, low hours Dynavector 10x4 as it seems everyone is very happy with that. Also check out Tuberollers cartridge review above. Stay away from Grados though. Apparently they hum on the Rega/Moth/NAD because the motor is unshielded or something. And be aware that even if you spend the $150 on the cartridge you're probably not equaling the MMF-5 setup. It's the upgrade potential that makes the Rega tempting. Anyway, I'll probably be ordering the Moth within the next week or so so I'll post if anything seems extra great or extra bad.

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No matter what you do with the Technics there's always that motor sitting directly under and directly coupled to the platter. This introduces a lot of vibration and so, noise. My 1210 sounds considerably muddled compared even to my lowly B&O. I was considering upgrading the arm to a Rega RB250 but it's not worth it considering the high stock resale value of the 1200. The advantage of the Technics is that it has a lot of torque for quick starts and stops (big motor adds noise though) and the direct drive/quartz speed control is dead on (important for beat matching). These qualities are not as important for listening so belt drive is the way to go there. This is why ALL audiophile tables use belt drive. As for recommendations... An endless topic and I'm not qualified. Go to www.audioasylum.com to the vinyl forum and search the archives for days.

And yeah, www.musiciansfriend.com should be selling 1210s for about $400usd. That's where I got mine.

Do the moth/ nad turntables run 1% fast like the Regas?

I would assume so as it's exactly the same thing. I don't know if they all run fast though. Can any Rega owners out there confirm whether or not your table runs at the correct speed?