Sold my TT, getting another

You're happy, I'm happy! Congrats! I used to own a VPI Jr. many moons ago. It was a very early model and I was not particularly impressed with its performance and build quality. Maybe the current model is built to a much higher standard.

Happy listening!

Congrats! Although the MMF7 and VPI Jr. are considered in the same class, I heard both and preferred the Jr. When I auditioned it, my salesman upgraded it to a MkIII right in front of me. Very interesting, easy, and what a difference! That Jr. will be a great table to upgrade--and trust me, you'll upgrade. Upgrading is good! And fun! I was impressed with what a difference going from sorbothane to springs and a more massive platter made! One caveat, the Grado MM that I heard on the MkIII did hum a little. I ended up going another direction and got a Gyro, but I think VPI makes some very nice tables. I'd take one over that MMF7, they're nice but only so much you can do with them, as you found out.

Have fun with it! :)

Yes, you may notice hum with that combo. A friend has that combo and it bothered him. He fixed it with MU metal. If you run into it, and it bugs you, swap the Grado.

Now from what I understand, this happens at the end of the record. Correct?

WOW!!! Thats all I can say. Now I am not sure exactly what is making a bigger difference. Most likely a combination of everything. It is much quieter. Especialy when tracking the groove. The whole presentation is much more solid.
Yet almost seems a little softer, not quite as sharp. I prefer this sound to the other.
Took me about 15 min. to set everything up. Of course I am sure I will spend days fine tuning. But it wasn't difficult at all.
I still have a hard time believing these two tables are considered in the same class. Sound quality sure isn't.
The only difficulty that I ran into was, the Cardas leads that the seller supplied me. Each end has about 1/2 inch of shrink tubing in the end. It was a little difficult getting the Grado in place without concern of breaking a lead. It was a little tight.
Now I might be done :-) at least for a few months anyways.