here's what I had to say about it just in case you missed reading this review here on Audiogon:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?ranlg&1033946970&read&3&4&
>>and have the table leveled on a granite platform which is spiked to the floor
is the floor carpet over concrete or wood over concrete? or is it a sprung floor, say, on the 2nd floor of your house/apt. Having a springy floor will deaden the dynamics. A friend of mine solved this issue by using the Promethean base from Machina Dynamics. He uses a Nott Spacedeck just BTW.
I used replaced the stock feet w/ Golden Sound ceramic cones.
I replaced the stock felt mat w/ a DIY cork mat to no detrimental effect.
I was & still am using the CAT phono stage. I never felt that the bass was mushy. Reigned-in dynamics - yes. I paid under $500 for that TT back then so what more could I expect! It jaded my appetite for vinyl so I ended up owning it for less than 1 year. For $500 it had superb sound as stated in my review.
I sold it an Audiogon member, who still has it & loves its sound! I was in communications w/ him off & on for about 1 year after he bought my MMF-5 & that's how I know.
Recently I was tube rolling & I got to listen to Amperex 6922, white label, made in USA tubes. These tubes are warm & they have OK bass. I found the Amperex 7308, orange label, made in USA to be far superior & that's what I bought. Tubes are preamp specific - that's one of the biggest lessons I learnt from this tube rolling. I don't know which tubes will work in your preamp but if you have another tube or ss phono pre or can borrow one from a friend, try the MMF-5 thru that to give you another idea of the sound.
even tho the MMF-5 is a cheap TT it is just possible that it is good enough to show the weaknesses of the other components in your system:- your phono preamp might not be as transparent as you imagined it being & the same case w/ your cables. So, don't simply dismiss this thought.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?ranlg&1033946970&read&3&4&
>>and have the table leveled on a granite platform which is spiked to the floor
is the floor carpet over concrete or wood over concrete? or is it a sprung floor, say, on the 2nd floor of your house/apt. Having a springy floor will deaden the dynamics. A friend of mine solved this issue by using the Promethean base from Machina Dynamics. He uses a Nott Spacedeck just BTW.
I used replaced the stock feet w/ Golden Sound ceramic cones.
I replaced the stock felt mat w/ a DIY cork mat to no detrimental effect.
I was & still am using the CAT phono stage. I never felt that the bass was mushy. Reigned-in dynamics - yes. I paid under $500 for that TT back then so what more could I expect! It jaded my appetite for vinyl so I ended up owning it for less than 1 year. For $500 it had superb sound as stated in my review.
I sold it an Audiogon member, who still has it & loves its sound! I was in communications w/ him off & on for about 1 year after he bought my MMF-5 & that's how I know.
Recently I was tube rolling & I got to listen to Amperex 6922, white label, made in USA tubes. These tubes are warm & they have OK bass. I found the Amperex 7308, orange label, made in USA to be far superior & that's what I bought. Tubes are preamp specific - that's one of the biggest lessons I learnt from this tube rolling. I don't know which tubes will work in your preamp but if you have another tube or ss phono pre or can borrow one from a friend, try the MMF-5 thru that to give you another idea of the sound.
even tho the MMF-5 is a cheap TT it is just possible that it is good enough to show the weaknesses of the other components in your system:- your phono preamp might not be as transparent as you imagined it being & the same case w/ your cables. So, don't simply dismiss this thought.