Static Shock
Member
Thanks . At this point of life my ears don't likely hear small deviations from the standard .
MoFi UltraDeck / StudioDeck Owners and those interested
- Thread starter AnthonyI
- Start date
kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
Some folks (esp those with perfect pitch) can be very sensitive to speed inaccuracies. I am not so blessed.
simpleKoala
Member
yep it feels on point
Static Shock
Member
Boy its been a long time since anyone posted . My excuse is enjoying the summer and catching up with all the outdoor work and visiting with grandchild .The older I get the longer everything takes . More time in the fall and winter to enjoy some music . Does anyone have any music experiences or updates to share .
ablakey
New Member
Haven't done a ton a music buying/listening this summer. It's been such a perfect summer for fly fishing in Wisconsin (cool temps and lot's of rain) I've been out on streams all summer long and buying new rods/reels, line, flies etc.
I'll have to replace fishing with something else, once the season closes October 15th, and that's where the MoFi deck will come in handy. Been so many great jazz reissues, I've been neglecting to purchase this summer, I have a feeling my wallet will take a hit in the fall. Would still like to put a new cartridge on it as well.
ablakey
New Member
Sorry it took awhile to get back to you! I guess I never received a notification...Welcome to the new member ablakey!
So I received my new (to me) Hana SL the other day. First reaction was size related... it's tiny!
I mounted it using Geodisc, big line on the disc precisely aligned to tonearm pivot with laser. I was surprised to see the cart sitting quite far back on the head shell, wires are stretched back. Is that right? Let me know if you think I'm doing something wrong.
Haven't had much time to listen yet. First impressions are positive, although it didn't blow the Mastertracker out of the water, the difference is subtle. For now I can say that it sounds more open and more precise, not as punchy as I expected, but overall more musical and pleasing.
Will report back when I do more listening.
Still liking it? I listened to a a couple of different cartridges over the summer that I really liked, though they were on a different table, but with a heavier weight arm. A Sumiko Starling and a Dynavector 20x2. Though both are quite a bit more and really pushing my budget..
renpar61
New Member
I promised to report back but I never did...
Here it is: I went through a long process of tweaking, remeasuring, recalibrating, playing with load and gain on the preamp, finally I think I got it quite to the point it could not be better. I love the cart, no complaints. In the beginning I had a little too much surface noise, pops and clicks, something wasn't 100% right. I guess it's a bit fussier than most, with setup.
I'm sure there are much better carts out there, but I don't think I need to go anywhere from here, I will run it to the ground.
Also, I have been talking to MoFi regarding the loud thump with the on/off button, and the weird static issues.
We went back and forth via email since July, they are very slow to respond to any message. They determined I should send the table back for repair, possibly changing some caps for the on/off button issue, and to investigate the static, which they concur it may be generated from friction in the spindle. The correspondence stalled when they asked me tho confirm the serial number, which I did, then almost a whole month of dead silence
.I'm not even sure I want to bother with the repair, since it's sounding so sweet right now.
kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
They’ve really gotta do better than that on service requests if they wanna sell tables in this price range.I promised to report back but I never did...
Here it is: I went through a long process of tweaking, remeasuring, recalibrating, playing with load and gain on the preamp, finally I think I got it quite to the point it could not be better. I love the cart, no complaints. In the beginning I had a little too much surface noise, pops and clicks, something wasn't 100% right. I guess it's a bit fussier than most, with setup.
I'm sure there are much better carts out there, but I don't think I need to go anywhere from here, I will run it to the ground.
Also, I have been talking to MoFi regarding the loud thump with the on/off button, and the weird static issues.
We went back and forth via email since July, they are very slow to respond to any message. They determined I should send the table back for repair, possibly changing some caps for the on/off button issue, and to investigate the static, which they concur it may be generated from friction in the spindle. The correspondence stalled when they asked me tho confirm the serial number, which I did, then almost a whole month of dead silence
I'm not even sure I want to bother with the repair, since it's sounding so sweet right now.
ablakey
New Member
Sounds good! Thanks for the update! I'm awful at setting up cartridges, especially finicky ones, but fortunately there's a dealer close to me that will do the setup for a minimal amount when buying a new cartridge. Glad you found something you like!I promised to report back but I never did...
Here it is: I went through a long process of tweaking, remeasuring, recalibrating, playing with load and gain on the preamp, finally I think I got it quite to the point it could not be better. I love the cart, no complaints. In the beginning I had a little too much surface noise, pops and clicks, something wasn't 100% right. I guess it's a bit fussier than most, with setup.
I'm sure there are much better carts out there, but I don't think I need to go anywhere from here, I will run it to the ground.
Also, I have been talking to MoFi regarding the loud thump with the on/off button, and the weird static issues.
We went back and forth via email since July, they are very slow to respond to any message. They determined I should send the table back for repair, possibly changing some caps for the on/off button issue, and to investigate the static, which they concur it may be generated from friction in the spindle. The correspondence stalled when they asked me tho confirm the serial number, which I did, then almost a whole month of dead silence
I'm not even sure I want to bother with the repair, since it's sounding so sweet right now.
ablakey
New Member
Was thinking the same. :/
Static Shock
Member
Also was my experience with MOFI on my first deck , slow service and in the end did not solve the problem so dealer took the unit back and replaced it with another . A couple years later the dealer dropped the line .
kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
They were actually not bad for me the one time I had to work with them, but it was pretty early on.
AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
I sent mine in once, they were pretty responsive and the turnaround was pretty good. Sometimes I truly feel it's luck of the draw as to who get's your ticket.
HayesWeighsIn
Well-Known Member
Is it still a small difference between the MasterTracker now that you've gotten it really dialed and broken in?I promised to report back but I never did...
Here it is: I went through a long process of tweaking, remeasuring, recalibrating, playing with load and gain on the preamp, finally I think I got it quite to the point it could not be better. I love the cart, no complaints. In the beginning I had a little too much surface noise, pops and clicks, something wasn't 100% right. I guess it's a bit fussier than most, with setup.
I'm sure there are much better carts out there, but I don't think I need to go anywhere from here, I will run it to the ground.
Also, I have been talking to MoFi regarding the loud thump with the on/off button, and the weird static issues.
We went back and forth via email since July, they are very slow to respond to any message. They determined I should send the table back for repair, possibly changing some caps for the on/off button issue, and to investigate the static, which they concur it may be generated from friction in the spindle. The correspondence stalled when they asked me tho confirm the serial number, which I did, then almost a whole month of dead silence
I'm not even sure I want to bother with the repair, since it's sounding so sweet right now.
renpar61
New Member
I'd say the difference is there, noticeable, but it's not night and day. The Hana is more refined, has better control in the bass, and definitely more detailed. I feel the MasterTracker was a bit more "flat", not in general, but in comparison. The Hana is more demanding in terms of fine tuning with gain and load, and I think it would benefit from a better phono stage.
Honestly, if the MasterTracker was new (not sure exactly how many hours it had when I bought the table), I wouldn't have bothered buying another cart (or maybe this is what I want to tell myself
)
Portland Sheriff
Well-Known Member
Closing the loop a months-long saga that I posted about it previously in another thread.
I had an Ultradeck that I loved. Had a chance to get 30% off a "scratch/dent" Masterdeck from Music Direct (supposedly, the only issue being an actual scratch) and jumped at it. Based on that, I sold my Ultradeck locally to a fellow N&G member. The scratch/dent Masterdeck had quality issues (tonearm missing a part, lifter dysfunctional, and a couple accessories absent) and, as it turned out, wasn’t first-run at the time I bought it — I learned later that Mofi had changed part of the tonearm manufacturing after the initial production run that the scratch/dent came from.
But I used it or about 10 minutes, and it sounded incredible, so I really wanted to have one that worked properly. After working with Mofi and MD, I received a new Masterdeck, replacing the scratch/dent. There were problems with that one, as well — again, tonearm missing the same part as the first time around and, also again, faulty lifter mechanism. The lift mechanism on my Ultradeck worked perfectly (smooth as silk and consistent), so this lifter problem was baffling. So I got another tonearm with all the parts, and the lifter on that one didn’t work at all — like it did not lower at all (I have photos and videos of all this).
Believe it or not, that’s the short version of what happened, and I reluctantly decided to return the Masterdeck for full refund. I say reluctantly bc I think it's an incredible table if it works right. It's a beast. Music Direct handled the situation great. Mofi was ok (not great and not bad).
This has been a total drag, especially bc the Masterdeck should have been an endgame tt for me. The bright sides are I've ordered a Technics SL-1300G with 10% discount from Alma Audio (a discount code pops up if you click on it on their site). Separately, in the interim, when I still thought I was going to end up with a Masterdeck, TMR Audio gave me good trade-in credit for a component I originally purchased new from them but had been completely unable to sell privately, and, in combo with the credit, they gave me a nice discount on a Hana Umami Blue. The net ended up being an offer I could not refuse on a killer cart that may be too much cart for the 1300G, but that’s a good problem to have given what I paid for it.
I've been TT-less for a couple months, and that will now continue until December at earliest, assuming Technics isn’t late on their initial delivery of the 1300G to the U.S. Alma says I will be in Alma’s first batch of shipments to customers when they receive the 1300G.
I had an Ultradeck that I loved. Had a chance to get 30% off a "scratch/dent" Masterdeck from Music Direct (supposedly, the only issue being an actual scratch) and jumped at it. Based on that, I sold my Ultradeck locally to a fellow N&G member. The scratch/dent Masterdeck had quality issues (tonearm missing a part, lifter dysfunctional, and a couple accessories absent) and, as it turned out, wasn’t first-run at the time I bought it — I learned later that Mofi had changed part of the tonearm manufacturing after the initial production run that the scratch/dent came from.
But I used it or about 10 minutes, and it sounded incredible, so I really wanted to have one that worked properly. After working with Mofi and MD, I received a new Masterdeck, replacing the scratch/dent. There were problems with that one, as well — again, tonearm missing the same part as the first time around and, also again, faulty lifter mechanism. The lift mechanism on my Ultradeck worked perfectly (smooth as silk and consistent), so this lifter problem was baffling. So I got another tonearm with all the parts, and the lifter on that one didn’t work at all — like it did not lower at all (I have photos and videos of all this).
Believe it or not, that’s the short version of what happened, and I reluctantly decided to return the Masterdeck for full refund. I say reluctantly bc I think it's an incredible table if it works right. It's a beast. Music Direct handled the situation great. Mofi was ok (not great and not bad).
This has been a total drag, especially bc the Masterdeck should have been an endgame tt for me. The bright sides are I've ordered a Technics SL-1300G with 10% discount from Alma Audio (a discount code pops up if you click on it on their site). Separately, in the interim, when I still thought I was going to end up with a Masterdeck, TMR Audio gave me good trade-in credit for a component I originally purchased new from them but had been completely unable to sell privately, and, in combo with the credit, they gave me a nice discount on a Hana Umami Blue. The net ended up being an offer I could not refuse on a killer cart that may be too much cart for the 1300G, but that’s a good problem to have given what I paid for it.
I've been TT-less for a couple months, and that will now continue until December at earliest, assuming Technics isn’t late on their initial delivery of the 1300G to the U.S. Alma says I will be in Alma’s first batch of shipments to customers when they receive the 1300G.
AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
I'm really sorry to hear all you went through with all this. I loved my UltraDeck, miss it sometimes too. I was in line to demo the MasterDeck and that got pushed back due to the "correction/improvements" that seemed to come along after release. To my knowledge all that's been corrected and should be getting a demo at some point. I'll be curious to see how they addressed everything because outside of keeping my 1210G, the MasterDeck is the only TT I'm excited about and would make a move to if it's all it claims to be.
The 1300G is a nice deck, I think you did well landing there considering all you went through.
Portland Sheriff
Well-Known Member
Hopefully you’ll have a much better experience! As I said, the Masterdeck should be an unbelievable turntable.
My recs are to make sure the lifter works smoothly and consistently. I didn’t mention it, but I had a total of 4 lifters sent to me, none of which worked correctly and certainly nothing like the lift on my Ultradeck. Baffling generally but more so bc they seem to be identical or at least very similar parts. Likewise, make sure you can get consistent VTF readings.
Make sure yours has the black stabilizing piece on the back of the tonearm, as shown in first photo It’s the piece that was missing on the ones I received, as shown in 2nd photo.
AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
Considering this is a "review" copy I would be shocked if it showed up with any issues.............but then again. It's good to know what the issues you had were so they can be looked at right off the bat.