Turntable on the Way

kevhed72

I scored what will be my best turntable ever, after taking a hiatus from albums and selling my entry level Yamaha some years back. The new turntable is a used Music Hall MMF 7....I am considering a Ortofon 2m Blue cartridge and have no idea on the RCA interconnects.
Any other thoughts on cartridges or ICs? I guess my budget is around 200.00 for a cartridge and 100ish for the ICs. Thoughts from the vinyl gurus...

hochpt21

Congrats....

Welcome to the machine

Msabot1

That's a nice table!! Can't go wrong there..your vinyl will come alive....don't undercut the performance of that tonearm by mounting a sub performing cartridge though..go out and audition different combos and trust your ears..in the end you will be glad that you took the leap in choosing a higher end cartridge ...Your vinyl will be glad too! Enjoy man!!

voltz

Awesome!! Congrats & enjoy it

The Music hall tables use Pro-Ject tonearms are always seem to be a great match with Ortofon cartridges. The 2M blue is a very good choice for a Cartridge in my opinion but as Msabot1 said: you may want to take a set-up... but we all have a budget... the next set up Ortofon is the Bronze for about $400.
For selecting analog cable for your TT I'd go with the same type you are currently using in your setup. (that is what I doing)

gce

Hopefully you didn't sell off your Vinyl so you can listen to them at a whole different level...enjoy!

SCompRacer

Congrats on your upgraded table! Great, another competitor for used vinyl now...lol

Use coax IC's with flexible center conductor. Shielding is very important for TT IC's. Low capacitance is also very important due to the low amount of voltage/current a cartridge puts out.

Dawgfish

Nice deck! What kind of phono pre do you have and what kind of sound are you looking for? Are you looking for warmth, detail, punch, neutral, etc? Knowing what type of sound you are looking for will help with recommendations.

Mikey081057

Congrats... I have a MMF 5.1 and love it...

gfong

Congrats on the new table. I would look into a 2M Bronze and at the very least if budget is a consideration the 2M Blue. I ran a Blue for a year on a Project table and found it very nice but wiith your table like others said I would go up to the Bronze.
For cables I would match to what you are using now in your system or do some searches to see what other MMF 7 users are using. Good luck and good to see another one embracing LP's again.

vcwatkins

Congrats. I love my 5.1. Came with a Goldring 1012 (demo). I prefer the Denon 103r on it currently for more detail and sparkle. Enjoy!

specd_out

I have a project RM1.3. I run a 2m red and king cobras and its a very smooth warm sound. The highs are rolled off slightly up top but still very detailed. For $100 the red is a fantastic deal. It is a bass heavy cart if that matters to you or not. Havent tried the blue or the bronze yet.

voltz

Also the Red & blue are interchangeable, can change a red to blue by just exchanging the stlyus. Also the Bronze and black are interchangeable too. never heard a bad word about the denon 103's either.

another idea for a TT cable is to get with Doug
http://douglasconnection.com/Douglas-Connection-Alpha-Turntable-Interconnect-cables-DCATTIC.htm

Dawgfish

If you have a phono pre that can handle it, I recommend a Denon DL 103 or 103R. They are very fun cartridges to listen to and get more right than just about any cart I've tried in that price range.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm not a big fan of the 2M Ortofon cartridges. I own a 2M Black, which is the totl in the 2M series and frankly I'm disappointed in it. For a frame of reference I currently own 16 other cartridges ranging from moving magnet, moving iron, and both high and low output moving coil designs. The carts range from about $150 to $1500 in their original msrps. I find the 2M Black to be very analytical in sound. Its very detailed, has good bass and highs, good soundstage, and images well. It has two characteristics that I have a hard time getting over however; the midrange is thin and not as fleshed out as pretty much every other cartridge I own. The majority of music is in the mids, so this makes the 2M Black sound soul-less and analytical in my book. Keep in mind this is with running it with a tube phono pre, tube pre, and either full tube amps, or tube/solid state hybrid amps depending on my mood. The other thing I dont like about it is the surface noise is probably the worst of any cartridge I have owned. If your vinyl is not pristine, forget about it. I clean my vinyl before every play with either a VPI rcm or a good wipe down with a carbon fiber brush depending on how clean the record is. I also clean the stylus before every play and surface noise is still very high. Even with new vinyl, surface noise is high! The stylus has about 150 hours on it and is in like new shape. Before anyone thinks its a tonearm/compliance issue, I run this on a Sony PS-X75 Biotracer which uses a server controlled arm and is famous for being capatable with a ride range of compliances. I have carts with much lower compliances and much higher compliances and nearly everyone of them sounds better than the 2M Black imho. I have also checked and double checked setup and alignment several times, but it always checks out good. The 2M Black sounds decent by itself, but when you compare it to other top mm cartridges I have like the Technics EPC205 MK4 and Nagaoka MP-50, it gets taken to the woodshed severely.

Sorry folks I'm really not trying to be so hard on the 2M line, I'm just relaying my experience so the OP can take this into consideration. I had high hopes for the 2M Black, but it just leaves me wanting more. I used to own an Ortofon OM-30, and found that cart to be much more musical.

If you are looking for a warmer, more musical sound, and your phono stage is only capable of handling high output designs, in your price range I would recommend a new Nagaoka Mp-110 or used Mp-150 or 200, new Grado Gold or used Reference Platinum, new Denon DL 110, or used Dynavector 10X4 or 10X5.

nspindel

I was never a fan of using silver interconnects, I tried them in various places in my setup and always found them to bright/shrill/harsh. Until I tried them with my turntable, that is! I am using a silver interconnect between the turntable and phono/pre, and copper everywhere else and I love it. I use Signal throughout my system, and Frank's silver cables would fit your budget.

kevhed72

For now I'm using an integrated with an MM pre...I don't foresee buying a phono pre in the near future. All of my ICs and speaker cables are Audioquest, so my initial thought was Diamondbacks or King Cobras for the turntable. FWIW I see myself upgrading my Music Hall integrated to a Musical Fidelity integrated before getting a phone pre. I did call The Needle Doctor and they recommended an Audio Technical cart, which Innever heard of before....in addition to the Ortofons.

SCompRacer

You never heard of Audio-Technica or the particular AT cartridge they suggested? No worries about AT, they have been making them since the '60's. I currently run an AT33PTG/II (low output dual coil MC) on my linear air bearing arm Lenco. Previously I had a Dynavector Karat 17D3. I paid a lot less for the AT and I'm not missing anything. Prior I had the AT440MLa on a second table. AT has a full range catalog from reasonable to pricey.

Dawgfish

I also have an Audio Technica AT 33 PTG as well as an older Signet TK 5Ea made by AT. Really enjoy them both! AT has been in the cartridge biz for a long time and puts out great products that often punch above their weight. It really depends on the type of sound you are looking for. What kind of sound are you looking for? Do you want warm and smooth or are you looking for a brighter sound?

Kev, IIRC you live in north GA right? If so and you wanted too, I could bring over some of the high output cartridges I have so you could hear the Nagaoka, Ortofon, AT, Grado, Denon, and Dynavector house sounds in your system before you buy. Unfortunately the MMF 7 doesnt use removable headshells, but I could bring over my backup table which does to your place so we could quickly and easily swap out the different carts if you like.

vcwatkins

nspindel wrote: »

I was never a fan of using silver interconnects, I tried them in various places in my setup and always found them to bright/shrill/harsh. Until I tried them with my turntable, that is! I am using a silver interconnect between the turntable and phono/pre, and copper everywhere else and I love it. I use Signal throughout my system, and Frank's silver cables would fit your budget.

Funny you mention that. I have one set of silver rca's and that's where they landed - the mmf turntable - and have stayed since.

nspindel

It's wonderful how the silver interconnects made the turntable playback much more revealing without any brightness or shrillness or sibilance. Yet anywhere else
I hated them.

kevhed72

Dawgfish wrote: »

I also have an Audio Technica AT 33 PTG as well as an older Signet TK 5Ea made by AT. Really enjoy them both! AT has been in the cartridge biz for a long time and puts out great products that often punch above their weight. It really depends on the type of sound you are looking for. What kind of sound are you looking for? Do you want warm and smooth or are you looking for a brighter sound?

Kev, IIRC you live in north GA right? If so and you wanted too, I could bring over some of the high output cartridges I have so you could hear the Nagaoka, Ortofon, AT, Grado, Denon, and Dynavector house sounds in your system before you buy. Unfortunately the MMF 7 doesnt use removable headshells, but I could bring over my backup table which does to your place so we could quickly and easily swap out the different carts if you like.

Actually I'm in the Sharpsburg area south of Atlanta....but that is a very cool idea.

bryantspaint

A great cartridge http://www.zuaudio.com/phono-cartridges/zudl-103-mkii-grade-1

kevhed72

Well, it show up up today nicely packaged in two boxes. I am a bit peeved on the supposed excellent condition, especially since some moron drove in drywall screws as replacements to hold the dust cover hinges on. They work, but there are small cracks on the back due the added pressure of the replacement screws. That and the fine scratches on the table surface which the seller did a nice photo job of avoiding in his pics. I guess the crux of the biscuit is....it does work. Do I keep a pretty good - for me - turntable which retailed for over a grand ten years ago which I paid less than 450.00 for. The seller does accept returns, and I can get a new Rega RP1 for around 450 and not obsess about the cosmetics. Decisions, decisions. If I do keep it, I have the cartridge narrowed down to a Ortofon Blue or Audio Technica 440 mlx and discounted AQ Diamondbacks from Music Direct.

vc69

I think I'd stick with the Music Hall, if the cosmetics were at all acceptable.