Marantz TT-15S1 Manual Belt-Drive Premium Turntable with Cartridge Included | Floating Motor for Low-Vibration & Low-Resonance | A Smart, Stylish Option for Vintage Vinyl Records

Let me start off by saying that the people that have slammed this table for sound quality, vibration, setup and motor noise in certain reviews, obviously don't have the want, need, or know how to set up or make small modifications to make this TT sound it's best. Like others have stated, the price for the ClearAudio Satisfy tonearm if purchased separately off the ClearAudio website is 2 grand alone. It's is a good somewhat low mass arm coming in at 8 grams, meaning you need to match it with a cartridge in the 12 to 20 compliance range. The ClearAudio Virtuoso cartridge that comes with the Marantz TT-15S1 is IMO an over-priced, glorified AT95 that you can pick up for less than $75 and definitely not worth the $900 asking price if purchased separately. In fact, you can replace the Virtuoso stylus with a number of Audio Technica microline or shibata stylus out there to really improve the sound. I use either my AT OCX9SL, ML or Denon 301 MKII MC carts. The motor is a vibration issue that many complain about, but is a super easy fix. First, remove the little rubber stick on dots from the bottom of the motor and discard. Place it on a 1/4" thick 2 3/4" round diameter sorbothane pad. This will stop vibration and also keep the belt up higher, and riding to low, and coming off, which is also a reported complaint. Problem solved. See pic. Also, buy or make yourself a decent isolation platform to sit it on. Pay attention to cartridge set up and tonearm height, azimuth, tracking force and anti-skate. Anti-skate is another thing I read that people have problems with. You will need a test record to calibrate this. There's plenty out there and anyone serious about playing vinyl should own one because there's so much you can do with it to improve sound. Once anti-skate is locked in, you should check it monthly, using the test record. If set up properly, this turntable is dead silent. The Marantz TT-15S1 is a beautiful sounding machine for those that want to put in a little effort. It's finicky when setting up and yes, you do have to assemble it coming out of the box, but it's pretty simple. Just take your time, and follow the directions. There are also many good tutorial videos out there to help you in all phases. Vinyl is not for the lazy. For me and others, it's a serious hobby, that I've invested a lot of time and money in for many years. In return, it has given me and others a very rewarding and satisfying past time.

Received this turntable today. I took my time assembling it (which was VERY easy) so that I wouldn't make any dumb mistakes. It took me about 90 minutes, but could have been done in about 30 easily.MY REASON FOR THIS PURCHASE: I listen to music daily. I am primarily a Classic Rock fan with a huge collection of vinyls, but also enjoy classical, meditation, new age, and more. Many of my vinyls I bought in the 70's and 80's and they have been taken extremely good care of. I have 2 other turntables; a Elac Miracord that I bought in Germany, and a Pro-Ject Carbon II that is basically my workhorse. Both TTs produce good sound, but I wanted something really exceptional. I did a lot of research and kept coming back to this TT. It is within my budget so I decided to purchase one.PACKAGING: Upon arrival one corner of the box it came in was damaged and torn. I took a photo of the box just in case and then opened it. The Marantz box inside was pristine and not damaged at all. The packaging of the parts inside the Marantz box was the best I have seen in an electronics product. After taking inventory everything was accounted for.ASSEMBLY: Once again, it was quite easy to assemble. There were a few lessons learned and I'll pass those on:1) You won't need the turntable mat.2) There are 2 grounding cables (one under the table body, and one on the RCA plug cable. These grounding cables and the RCA plugs are too short (aren't they always?} so you will have to extend them all if you plug into a receiver or amp. Make sure you attach BOTH grounding cables to the signal ground on your amp or Receiver or you WILL get hum when you touch parts of the TT.3) Attaching the cartridge is easy, just remember to position it all the way forward on the head shell (towards the stylus).4) Attaching the 4 wires to the cartridge can be frustrating, just use tweezers and take your time.5) A stylus force gauge will be helpfull (I used a Shure SFG-2. Inexpensive and accurate).6) Motor Pully - I allowed a 4.5mm gap rather than 3mm (the motor just sits so low).7) Motor - The motor sits very low, making the drive belt very low on the platter. I placed a 2" circular felt pad under the motor (the kind you put under legs of a chair so you don't scratch wood floors. You can get them just about anywhere. Don't peel the paper off of the pad since you don't need the glue side exposed.). this will now allow the drive belt to be nearly centered around the platter.8) Drive Belt - Not difficult at all, just take your time.CONNECTING TO RECEIVER: If you have a relatively new receiver (I have a Denon INCommand Series) it may have "Phono" inputs. Some newer receivers that have "Phono" inputs are set up for MM (Moving Magmet) cartriges and do not require a pre-amp. the cartridge on this unit is a MM cartridge. If you use a MC (Moving Coil) cartridge you will also need a pre-amp (but this turntable cartridge is MM). BTW: A comment I read here suggested using a power strip to turn the TT on and off. An excellent suggestion and I am using it.TURNTABLE COVER: It does not come with one. I priced some on-line and they run anywhere between $250 - $300. That is a bit much, so I will just make my own. A good opportunity to turn your creativity loose.AFTER ASSEMBLY: The first 2 LPs I played on the TT were brand new copies of David Gilmour's "On An Island" and "Rattle That Lock". The TT operated flawlessly, and I simply could not believe the clean, clear sound that came from my speakers. I could not detect ANY extraneous noise, just pure music. Neither my Elac nor my Pro-Ject can produce this quality of sound. I had the feeling that I had been listening to great music all these years and have now moved on to something totally better. If a new TT is in your budget then I highly recommend this one.UPDATE (2/21/2016): As I mentioned above I felt the cost of a 3rd party dust cover was excessive, so I would make my own. I did just that. The one I built looks just like the ones I saw pictures of online (except that I added some nice looking drawer pulls as lifting handles.Cost from 3rd party suppliers = $300.00 (plus tax & shipping usually)Cost of materials to build one = $37.09 (a 28" x 30" sheet of Duraplex acrylic sheeting, a tube of adhesive, and 2 drawer pulls)