Outstanding sound. Overall good build. Goldring Cartridge. Great value for money. Sound isolating plinth.

Tonearm tracking adjustment calibration and use absolutely useless. Antiskating is iffy? Long term reliability? Availability of parts and service..lacking? Tracking force a bit heavy for quality system.

The strengths: Really amazing sound for price. Outstanding value. Value packed with glass platter, clamp,
nice tonearm. Dual plinth for sound isolation. Arm is very nicely made (except for part behind gimbals). Cartridge is really fine sounding...excellent overall balance of sound and detail...good bass, mids, and highs. Goldring cartridge far superior to Grado Red (Grado has too much highs with little detail or good bass). Build quality is very good. Some say "Rega has been around for 25 years, so it is goodness". Pro-Ject has been around for FIFTY years (they get designed by Austrians and Brits, but manufactured in Czechoslavika. A major plant with 5000 employees). The dustcover and hinges are nice. You can lift off and replace cover very easily when it is closed...yet it is very solid to tilt back and store attached while using turntable. Arm lift damping is ok. VTA and cartridge alignment were done fine at factory. Clamp works well.

After HEAVY use for two weeks, I am really happy with this turntable. Sound was very obviously superior immediately over Technics 1700 and Audio Tecnika cartridge.

Weaknesses. The tracking force adjust just plain stinks. USELESS. DO NOT USE THIS TURNTABLE WITHOUT A SEPARATE STYLUS FORCE GUAGE, PERIOD. Shure has one for $20. GET IT.
Antiskating uses a fishing line and weight arrangement. Hokey, but springs change over travel over record, gravity does not, so perhaps this weight method is fine. Availability of parts if iffy. I have contacted Music Hall, but they do not respond to emails. Getting this thing fixed might be a problem. So long term ownership might be disappointing if you have a mechanical problem...if it breaks, you might not be able to get it fixed. The spindle is threaded for clamp, and has black particles on it, which means some records are loosing vinyl in that area. The supplied built in bubble level does not exactly match my own bubble level. So I don't trust the built in one. RCA cables and plugs are plastic, and not exactly "high end", but it sounds good.

As far as star ratings for Value and OVerall rating, I have to go by observed build, sound, and features, not possible future repair problems, so the MMF-5 gets 5 stars all around.

The Rega Planar 2 is $500 without cartridge. You need a $175-$200 cartridge on the Rega to match the Goldring. That makes the Rega $700. Then there is the Sumiko, at about $320 (same arm different plinth and platter and cartridge). I say the Sumiko or the MMF-5 for budgets (not the MMF2.1 with it's cheap tonearm).

I got my MMF-5 at Audio Advisor for $500. They botched the order (I had to pick the weekend when they had new software for their internet stuff). But to get it to me on time they sent it NEXT DAY AIR, at their expense. Can't beat that good customer service!!!!!

I say again. The tracking force adjustment is not just off, but WAY OFF. Do NOT use this turntable without a stylus pressure gauge. If you own an MMF-5, get the gauge anyway. Other reviewers on the web have noticed this problem with the MMF-5.

Similar Products Used:

Turntables: Dual. PE. Technics. Garrard. Cartridges: Empire. Shure. Pickering. Audio Tecnika. Grado Red.