Music HallMMF-5.3 Series Audiophile Turntable with Pre Mounted Ortofon 2M Blue Cartridge and Premium Carbon Fiber Tonearm (High-Gloss Black)

Excellent machine. I haven't had a good turntable in decades but this one blows the old one away! I have a yen for classical music since days in symphony/band in school. Now I can again feel like I'm in the auditorium with the musicians - even on old/used albums and at very low volumes every pitch and note is discernible.However! - A fine tt like this is a delicate thing and during shipping one of the leads to the left channel was severed (possibly due to lack of shipping bolts installed - two of three free-floating on the tt surface after opening.... The seller (avSoundz) was very forthcoming with a $100 refund and alternative offer of return. As I have solder and iron, $100 plus my excitement at playing albums (even on one channel sounds great!) this made it worth my while to go ahead and fix the lead (online forums recommend replace all four if any defects).Other comment I saw on this model gave me second thoughts as the poster gave the distinct impression he thought the very light, carbon fiber arm to be "cheap" and "flimsy". This is absolutely not the case in my opinion. The tracking is very delicate and the balancing weight is hung by a hair-like string, new to me too but it works great! The Ortofon 2m blue stylus sounds amazing - $230 if purchased separately.The feet and internal dampeners prevent my bouncy old floors from jarring the stylus. After a few minutes setting tracking to specs I can jump with no skips - even though I can hear my windows and dishes in the kitchen shaking!The one existing Amazon reviewer gave this tt poor ratings. Forum experts disagree but I did have me second thoughts as the poster gave the distinct impression he thought the very light, carbon fiber arm to be "cheap" and "flimsy". Upon playing this is absolutely not the case in my opinion. The tracking is very delicate (as is everything regarding a high quality TT) and the balancing weight is hung by a hair-like string, new to me too but it works great! The Ortofon 2m blue stylus sounds amazing - $230 if purchased separately.I'd definitely recommend this tt to a friend. (And online forums seemed to agree "can't really go wrong with a MH")

It pains me to say this, because I wanted to give Music Hall the benefit of the doubt but this product is prone to massive quality control issues and bad engineering. After 3 orders, all were in some way damaged or something was wrong with the product.I ordered 1 MMF 5.3 in the Piano Black finish and I received the wrong color, A Red one showed up (no biggie, Amazon fixed it). We try again, right? This is supposed to be a top notch table, I kept telling myself.2nd MMF 5.3 showed in the correct Gloss Piano Black finish and it had a cracked plinth by the left hinge (see pic) and a massive buzz/hum coming when the device when it was plugged in (this is what they call a ground loop hum). My setup is well isolated from power cables and the speakers. The amp is far away from the device, so what could it be, because it sounded awful. I determined it was the un-grounded power adapter. This is an issue with most Pro-Ject and Music Hall turntables, as they share 90% of the parts and are made in the same facility. The hum was so loud you would not believe, it sounded like the grounding wire was not even doing anything. Definitely not "audiophile". Before you rush and tell me, "it's your cables", I used AudioQuest red cables and a high end shielded and jacketed ground wire. The supplied cables are poor quality and prone to even more hum and buzz, using them made the buzz/hum even louder. For the cost of the table, which is $875, one would expect a better interconnect to come with it, but this is not the case. I sent the second one back for a refund. Do I dare try again? OK, still hoping that it was some fluke at the factory, some issue with shipping, I gave it on more try.3rd MMF 5.3 arrives (third times the charm right?), so I thought, No! Yet another disappointment on par with the first cracked MMF 5.3. The nice Gloss Piano finish was all scratched up, and looked like the spider webbing fine scratches that you would get on a black car after not washing it properly. The constant loud hum coming from the cheap China made $5 un-shielded and un-grounded power adapter was ever so present, maybe even louder than the previous. But wait, to my amazement, the best part, the platter was completely destroyed like someone at the factory dropped it on a concrete sidewalk and still put it in the box. I sat it down and put it all together to see if it actually spun properly and I noticed the turntable was not even straight when you sat it on a perfectly level surface with the feet properly attached. The rear foot seemed to be taller than the rest of them, like it came from another unit. I adjusted it and still could not get it level. In short the plinth was not straight, some kind of bend, or the sorbothane pads were different sizes, not sure on this one. I packed it up and I was done.What I received was, what seemed to me like a factory sealed double box so this was not a vendor or shipper problem in my mind, everything was boxed and sealed well. I returned yet another MMF 5.3 (My last one ever)To wrap up everything:The Ortofon 2M Blue and the arm are great! The arm feels flimsy because it's carbon fiber and very light, not because it's cheap, but maybe the only thing that is good about it is the 2M Blue cartridge that comes with it. This you cannot fault at all. I didn't test the alignment because there was no point, the table was damaged and I would not be keeping it, but it looked like they aligned it properly for you.I really wanted to like the Music Hall MMF 5.3 and Pro-Ject made stuff. They share the same factory, and Pro-Ject is well reviewed, but this is an overpriced poor quality product that is far from Audiophile quality and even further away from a decent quality build.Stay away and buy something else or look for a used Technics 1200 or 1210 and put an Ortofon 2M Blue PNP on it.

I really love this turntable. I admit that it is my first audiophile-entry-level turntable but it sounds WORLDS better than my last TT. I added an acrylic platform and an isolation cork mat and I never realized records could sound so good. Now I know what everyone was talking about. Of course taking advantage of this will rely heavily on your speakers/amp/preamp but for me it’s just butter. And no I have ZERO hum. None of any kind. When not playing it is absolutely silent.The one thing I am not keen on is the anti-skate mechanism. It does not allow for precise adjustment and I feel it isn’t as optimal as it could be.As others have stated my turntable arrived with two of the three transport bolts completely free inside the box and the third was loose so if you order check the turntable thoroughly to make sure they did not cause any damage.

A cheaply built tone arm mechanism and counter weight. The fishing line / weight anti skate is also not what I would expect. It arrived with 2 of the 3 shipping bolts rattling around in the package and one was lodged in the base of the tone arm. In addition, the dust cover was cracked and the stylus cover was missing. Even though the packaging showed no damage, I am guessing that it got tossed around pretty good between the factory and arriving at my home. I returned it today to amazon without any problem and am waiting for my refund to show on my credit card account. I would not recommend. .

First, let me just say, I have no ground hum issues. Using a Music Hall mini preamp and a Marantz HD-AMP1 integrated amplifier, and I have notice no hum, whatsoever. The table is as quiet as can be. Second, let me just say, this table is a quality piece of equipment. The dual plinth construction makes this table feel as sturdy as a brick wall. The look of the table is very high end as well. I have had another brand turntable for many years using an Ortofon cartridge (OM5). This is night and day in comparison. For the value, I don't know that you can possibly get much more than the combo here of the Ortofon Blue and the the mmf 5.3. Sound separation, clarity, warm sound....this has it all. Highly recommended.