Feelings on the Music Hall MMF 7.1

It was the Stereophile Budget Component of the year several years back. Since then, a lot more competition has shown up and the price of the MMF7.1 has gone up. I no longer think it's a "best in its price class" table any more (if it ever was). The current price has gotten too close to VPI Scout territory, which is a table in another league entirely. In addition, Rega, Michell, Marantz, Clearaudio, and Sota (to name a few) offer compelling alternatives at similar prices.

Disclaimer: Former MMF7 owner, now a VPI owner.

I also noticed today that Music Direct is selling the VPI Scoutmaster at 25% off.

Cheers

I agree with Tfkaudio. I had one and for what I paid a few years ago ($800) it was decent but not exceptional. At today's asking price you can do much better! In fact my Technics SL-1200MK2 sounds better to my ears!

I cannot compare the 7.1 to other turntables. I have had one for several years. It is reliable, spot on speed every time I check it, the cartridge and tonearm still align perfectly (from the factory). There may be better. I like the reliability factor.

The Music Hall mmf-7.1 and the VPI Scout are not in the same league because the Scout now lists for $2100 and the mmf-7.1 lists for $1300 (without cartridge). That's over 60% more money to buy a Scout; I would expect it to be in a different league. The question then is: Should I go ahead and spend more money for an even better turntable? If you consider what's available in the range of $2100 then I'd also look at the Music Hall mmf-9.1 (without cartridge), the Pro-Ject RM 9.1 or PerspeX, or even the the Avid Diva II with the Jelco arm for another $400. I have no experience with any of these tables but they're the ones I'd look at if I were upgrading my mmf-7 right now. (I'm not, and I'd probably look at turntables another notch up if I were.)

If you don't want to spend the extra money, the mmf-7.1 with the Pro-Ject 9cc carbon tonearm is a decent turntable for the money in my opinion. My mmf-7 (with the Pro-Ject 9 aluminum arm) is still going strong and sounds great with a DV-20XL cartridge. I eventually would like to upgrade but the mmf-7 has allowed me to experiment with cartridges and phono preamps and learn the finer nuances of cartridge alignment and cartridge loading by being responsive enough for me to hear the differences each time. If you have the extra money, there are certainly better tables, but the mmf-7.1 is still a good buy at $1300.

Tom

For around the price of the MMF-7.1, the Rega P3 and P5 are much better tables.

I'm a VPI Scout owner, former MMF-5 owner.