102 S
ilicon
C
hip
siliconchip.com.au
Celebrating 30 Years
Music Hall mmf-1.3 turntable
Music
Hall
mmf-1.3
turntable
It is a long time since S
ILICON
C
HIP
reviewed a turntable – almost 20
years, in fact. Since then, vinyl
records and turntables had
experienced a long decline . . .
but more recently quite a strong revival,
with many groups and musicians releasing
new vinyl recordings. To meet this new demand,
a number of new turntables have appeared on the
market, including the Music Hall mmf-1.3 reviewed here.
T
he mmf-1.3 is a 3-speed belt-driven manual turntable
fitted with an Audio-Technica AT-3600L moving
magnet cartridge and an inbuilt RIAA preamplifier,
providing line-level signals which can be fed to any modern
sound system.
If you have a stereo amplifier or surround-sound receiver
with its own RIAA preamplifier, you have the option of
switching the turntable’s outputs to the unequalised (ie,
no RIAA equalisation or preamplification).
And while the turntable is belt-driven, it is powered by
an electronically-controlled low voltage motor; probably
a crystal-controlled brushless DC motor (often described
as a DC servo motor) which provides speeds of 33.33, 45
and 78 RPM. This is a more elegant approach than used
in most belt-driven turntables of the past which typically
had a mains-power synchronous motor driving a stepped
pulley to provide, usually, just two speeds.
There are several benefits in using the low voltage
electronically-controlled motor . One of these is that the
Music Hall turntable can be used virtually anywhere that
12V DC is available (OK, perhaps not in a car or on a boat!).
It is not affected by the mains frequency (ie, 50Hz or 60Hz)
as it uses a 12V DC plugpack.
And since it does not use a synchronous motor locked
to the local mains frequency, the turntable’s speed can be
set to the exact value.
Review by Leo Simpson
mmf-1.3
turntable
