Thoughts on the Marantz TT-15S1?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by TheRavenPoe, Mar 26, 2017.

  1. sz117

    sz117 Active Member

    Location:
    New York
    Thanks for your quick reply! That was one of my first reactions - maybe the virtuoso MM cart is just more revealing and requires cleaner vinyls? I tried a few things ranging from brand new vinyls to older ones in NM/EX condition, they all seem to have significantly higher surface noise than Rega. Some of them sounded sharp or scratchy in mid/high range. Nothing really stands out in terms of imaging/soundstage, if not worse. I'm just a bit surprised and frustrated because a lot of people reporting black background and high resolution. Could this be a cartridge alignment issue? Other threads also mentioned VTA adjustment.
     
  2. Danilo

    Danilo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milano Italy
    I suggest you to read all though this thread <,you will find precious information for a perfect alignment of the cartridge. Surface noise could be due to an uncorrect VTA
     
  3. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    My guess is your albums aren't in great condition and perhaps pressings of less than desirable quality. The cart is indeed more revealing and more detailed so you will hear more imperfections unless you feed it cleaner and/or better pressings.

    There are also alignment and VTA issues which are possible.
     
  4. izgoblin

    izgoblin Forum Resident

    I've spent several months with the Marantz and wanted to share my impressions here. In my case, it was replacing a VPI Scout with an ATPTG33/II that I was having setup issues on. Another forum member here suggested that if I was going to replace my rig, I should get the TT-15s1.

    First impressions was that as promised, the setup was an absolute BREEZE. I can really be an idiot sometimes, but the instructions were very clear. This was the first time I had mounted a cartridge except for some $50 thing I had 20 years ago, and that process really couldn't have been any easier. The arm is designed to make alignment almost foolproof when the instructions are followed.

    As discussed earlier in the thread, there are a couple of perhaps odd design choices, but this was easily fixed by putting a mouse pad underneath the motor so that the belt wouldn't sit too low and slide off. Additionally, I got an external switch to connect the motor to so that I don't have to fiddle with the on/off switch on the motor itself. Considering how imperative it is that the motor does not make contact with the table itself, I don't quite understand why the hole they cut for the motor wasn't a little larger, but no big deal -- I heard some hum, centered the motor better and all was well. I have only played a couple of 45rpm records so far, but adjusting the belt for that is only slightly more annoying than on the VPI. I'm not sure why they didn't make some sort of lip on the pulley so that the belt would more easily stay in the desired position though. But all minor quibbles that can be easily worked around.

    That said, how does it sound? This table is DEAD QUIET. I got almost no motor hum from the VPI (and I turn my amp up loud, so I'd hear everything) and this is even quieter.

    As for included Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge.... eh, it's good. Good but not at all great. I found that you really need to have clean and well pressed records, otherwise record wear will be extremely apparent (and I really can't stand hearing it). There was little to no IGD on good records, but in my collection of previously owned LPs, those were few and far between. Overall tone was good, but I didn't find it all that engaging. When I had the ATPTG33/II set up nicely on my VPI, music was exquisite, and I would just sit there and listen in awe. I listened to multiple LPs (maybe 30 hours worth) with the Virtuoso and I never once got that feeling. My audiophile "demo" LPs all sounded weaker than I had heard them before. This difference was immediately apparent. I would say that for someone who is upgrading from a much cheaper setup, the TT-15s1 as it ships could be a fine upgrade. But I don't see how that Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood has any right to be an $800 cartridge.

    I ended up selling my VPI rig for a decent amount, so after reading all positive reviews of the AT-ART9 cartridge, I bought that and mounted it on the Marantz. So far I have only played a few records on it, but HOLY HELL do I love this cart already. If this cart needs to be "broken in", I can't even imagine how it could sound any better than it does now. The ART9 is a MASSIVE upgrade from the Virtuoso Wood.

    So those are my impressions of the TT-15s1: A good bang for the buck for those who want easy setup or are upgrading from a noticeably lesser rig. For those with picky ears who have already been through an upgrade or two, it may be a little too much to spend on a table if the sound of the cart won't suit you as it didn't suit me. That said, because the VPI was giving me troubles, I am glad I moved on to this one. Now that the AT-ART9 is mounted on it, I still feel like I got my money's worth - easily.
     
  5. Fifth-Chord

    Fifth-Chord VG+

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    Thank you the post izgoblin!

    The TT15 raised the bar of my listening experience and I love the turntable but the honeymoon with the virtuoso v.1 was short. It was a fantastic cart and I was enjoying midrange bliss and detail like never before. But soon my experience became much like izgoblin's above.
    I swapped it out for an AT440mlb. Immediately my tracking issues were vaporized. However the 440 is a bit thinner and not so good at handling the midrange and it's a little too bright. It's doing a great job but I keep thinking about how an upgrade will bring back a little of what I'm missing.
    I'm going to swap the 440 for my Ortofon 2m Bronze followed by going over the whole set up (level, cart alignment, VTF, tone arm alignment) again and try the virtuoso one more time. Maybe something was off.

    If that doesn't work I'm considering these new carts for the TT15:

    Zu/DL-103 Mk.II (upgrade level 1)
    AT-ART9 (as suggested above)

    Does anyone have a DL-103 on the TT15?

    Cheers
     
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  6. Davey

    Davey NP: Hania Rani/Dobrawa Czocher ~ Inner Symphonies

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
    The Clearaudio Satisfy arm is pretty low mass for the DL-103, I wouldn't think it a good match, the AT moving coil carts like the Art9 are much higher compliance. I use a Benz Micro Wood SL on my Clearaudio Satisfy carbon fiber arm and it sounds just about perfect, a little cheaper than the Art9, but comparable in many respects. Not as high compliance as the AT, though. Maybe look at the Benz Micro ACE if you want to get something a little less costly, around $500 from Hong Kong and pretty much the same motor as the more expensive siblings like the Glider and Wood. Or look at the newer AT-OC9X series.
     
  7. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Not supposed to slide off. Hmmmm,... is the pulley perhaps inverted? I was doing 3 things at once while setting it up and accidentally put it upside down which caused the belt to slip out. Once I flipped it around, the belt always stayed where it should.

    It should look like this with the small portion on the underside and the big one on top.

    [​IMG]
     
  8. motorstereo

    motorstereo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ct.
    I think he means the belt slips off the platter not the motor. I also had to raise my motor up a bit to center the belt on the platter.
     
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  9. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Yes, I understand. That is what my post pertains to as well. With the pulley inverted, I experienced exactly that. With it on in the fashion illustrated above, no such issues.
     
  10. IllinoisCheesehead

    IllinoisCheesehead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Hi all. New to the forum and happy to find this thread. Happy owner of a TT15 for about 7 months. Wish I had found this thread earlier, especially the posts about the cartridge mounting instructions being wrong. I just stumbled upon this myself when rereading the manual the other day. I even contacted Marantz support about it. They weren’t sure, but thought maybe the setup instructions were a holdover from when the cart and/or tone arm were designed differently than they are now where moving the cart to the end of the arm did result in the proper 17mm overhang, unlike the current configuration which does not.

    I’m on a quest for a new cartridge. The Virtuoso Wood was definitely a big step up from the Ortofon Red and Nagaoka 110 I was running on my previous Pro-ject table, but I couldn’t seem to eliminate the slight IGD and sibilance issues with it. And then through an unfortunate accident, I bent the cantilever. So now I’m trying an Ortofon Bronze 2M based on a lot of rave reviews online, but not that impressed so far, so it will likely go back. Sibilance and IGD is better, but it lacks the warmth I was used too.

    I was initially leaning toward the AT-ART9 MC, but tried to save some $ and went with the Ortofon instead. I guess the old adage of you get what you pay for is still true. The other cartridge I’m considering is the Clearaudio Concept MC? How does it compare with the ART9? Are there any others I should consider within the $800 - 1000 price range? I have it stuck in my head that I want to go low output MC.

    Final thought - as an alternative to buying a new cartridge, thinking about sending my Virtuoso to Soundsmith to be rebuilt with a new cantilever and stylus. Anyone here done that? What were the results?
     
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  11. wbass

    wbass Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    You can really easily replace the Virtuoso stylus with Audio-Technica ATN95 styli. I've done it, and it was easier than I expected. LP Gear sells a variety of stylus shapes in the line.
     
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  12. Davey

    Davey NP: Hania Rani/Dobrawa Czocher ~ Inner Symphonies

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
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  13. riverrat

    riverrat Senior Member

    Location:
    Oregon
    This!
    If I can do it, most anyone can.
     
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  14. IllinoisCheesehead

    IllinoisCheesehead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Thanks all for the info. I will give this a try. $35 for an ATN95E stylus is a cheap enough experiment.
     
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  15. Danilo

    Danilo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milano Italy
    Hello,
    Once I aligned the Virtuoso with an arc protractor designed for the Satisfy tonearm I eliminated IGD; Set the VTF to 2.4 g and you will get a flawless reproduction even with damaged lp grooves; and, yessss, I swapped the cantilever with an at 95 and to my ears there is no really perceivable difference with the original Clearuadio stylus
     
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  16. IllinoisCheesehead

    IllinoisCheesehead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Hi - thanks for the advice. I will try this after replacing the cantilever. I have not gone above 2.2g so far. I used an arc protractor off of vinylengine.com that was created for Rega tone arms but would supposedly work with any tone arm that is 222mm from pivot to stylus. Do you think that protractor is ok? Or is there another one you would recommend that is specifically for the Satisfy?
     
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  17. Litejazz53

    Litejazz53 Perfect Sound Through Crystal Clear Digital

    Let me mention a little tip that will probably extend the life of your motor and your belt on the Marantz table. I have a routine, and it's comes as natural as putting on a seatbelt when getting in my car. It has been stated that when initially turning the motor on the belt will chatter and chirp a bit, and I found that to be true, not every time, but occasionally. Best way to avoid startup stress on your motor and belt is to place your record on the platter, then give the platter a small rotation start with your hand as you tun the switch on, works like a charm, the belt never chatters and the motor is saved the stress of starting the platter from scratch as you have begun the forward motion of the platter with your hand, darn, it's so easy, I wonder why everyone does not do this? :shrug:
     
  18. warp2600

    warp2600 Forum Addict

    Location:
    Hungary
    Many of us use that Rega arc protractor for the Marantz TT. It does the job easily.
     
  19. motorstereo

    motorstereo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ct.
    I agree and I've been doing this to since 2007 on my CA Emotion which is the same design as the 1551 and I'm still on the same belt with no noticeable wear. One thing that used to bug me about the plinth was the hole that the motor sat in being too small. It always seems the motor would be touching the plinth at some point after turning on that no so convenient switch on the motor. My solution was to remove the small backside of the motor hole. This easy mod now gives more freedom of placement with no worries of the motor ever touching the plinth and transmitting vibrations.
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2019
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  20. Litejazz53

    Litejazz53 Perfect Sound Through Crystal Clear Digital

    I have had the same exact thoughts, that hole needed to be bigger, how could the designers not know that?? The only reason I have not given it more attention, when the motor does touch, I still don't hear any vibrations.
     
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  21. motorstereo

    motorstereo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ct.
    I didn't hear any ill effects either but it just didn't seem right to have the motor touching the plinth and I thought about doing this for about 10 years before I finally did eliminate the back piece. The switch on the motor was another bad idea imo and I've used a line switch from the beginning on that oversight. Once you get past the little idiosyncrasies though I think it's a nice sounding table.
     
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  22. Danilo

    Danilo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milano Italy
    I suggest you to download from Accutrak the protractor for the Satisfy tonearm, in order to respect the offset angle designed by the manufacturer. I used this protractor and got perfect alignment results
     
  23. formu_la

    formu_la I'm not a robot

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Any thoughts, recommendations on VTA adjustment for this TT? I just followed manufacturer instructions, but you know...
     
  24. IllinoisCheesehead

    IllinoisCheesehead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Hey all - regarding stylus replacement on the Virtuoso - what exactly are you trimming away on the new stylus assembly? What are the “wings” people refer to? Seems the YouTube videos that showed the how-to details have been taken down, and I haven’t been able to find any detailed photos online of the process, either. Would appreciate any guidance. I know how to remove the old cantilever from the cartridge, but I’m struggling to understand how the AT replacement fits on it. I think I’m going to spring for the VMN95ML stylus. I don’t want to mess it up.
     
  25. AKA-Chuck G

    AKA-Chuck G Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington NC
    The replacement should just snap right in if you have removed the cantilever and the part it is connected to-use a small sharp edge to pop it out. Then pop the new one in. You don't have to remove the wings unless the extra weight causes set up issues.
     

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