[peter braun]

Anybody here using or heard a Music Hall MMF-5SE tt? What were your opinions of the unit? Thanks.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by peter braun Anybody here using or heard a Music Hall MMF-5SE tt? What were your opinions of the unit? Thanks.

It's just an "upgraded" version of the plain MMF-5 TT. The MMF-5SE has a wood plinth instead of an MDF one, and comes with an upgraded Goldring G1022GX cartridge instead of the lower-end G1012GX. Finally, it comes with a slightly better tonearm than the plain MMF-5 -- the same arm as the MMF-7, IIRC. All those upgrades put together add roughly $300 to the price of the plain MMF-5.

 

[tennisets]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver It's just an "upgraded" version of the plain MMF-5 TT. The MMF-5SE has a wood plinth instead of an MDF one, and comes with an upgraded Goldring G1022GX cartridge instead of the lower-end G1012GX. Finally, it comes with a slightly better tonearm than the plain MMF-5 -- the same arm as the MMF-7, IIRC. All those upgrades put together add roughly $300 to the price of the plain MMF-5.

Actually, it doesn't have an upgraded tonearm. I emailed Roy Hall about that about a month ago because his site says it has a better arm on the MMF-5 page but not on the MMF-5SE page. He said it's just a misprint that the MMF-5SE has the Pro-Ject 9 tonearm.

The plinth is the same, just Walnut veneered. It looks better, but provides no sonic advantage. The only actual differences are the fitted cartridge and the tonearm has RCA jack outputs instead of a fixed cable. In my opinion, you should save the $300 and put that into a better cartridge for the plain MMF-5 or a better phono stage. That would be money well spent, as opposed to the marginal improvements of the MMF-5SE.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tennisets Actually, it doesn't have an upgraded tonearm. I emailed Roy Hall about that about a month ago because his site says it has a better arm on the MMF-5 page but not on the MMF-5SE page. He said it's just a misprint that the MMF-5SE has the Pro-Ject 9 tonearm. The plinth is the same, just Walnut veneered. It looks better, but provides no sonic advantage. The only actual differences are the fitted cartridge and the tonearm has RCA jack outputs instead of a fixed cable. In my opinion, you should save the $300 and put that into a better cartridge for the plain MMF-5 or a better phono stage. That would be money well spent, as opposed to the marginal improvements of the MMF-5SE.

I stand corrected there. If you must stick with a Music Hall, and you are willing to spend as much as the MMF-5SE for just the TT and cartridge, you might as well spend another $200 or so for the MMF-7. Otherwise, I'd pick the vanilla MMF-5 instead of the MMF-5SE -- and put the $270 savings towards a better cartridge.