Davey; I’m wondering if this is a good test for motor noise: 1. I remove the belt 2. I turn on everything, amp and preamp at normal volume and maybe a little higher 3. I jam the motor so that it is touching the plinth 4. I drop the stylus onto the motionless platter 5. I start the motor 6. I do the same with the motor not touching the plinth I listen with my HD600 headphones and the only noise I hear is a very light hiss with the motor turned on, with or without the motor touching the plinth. With the motor turned off the hiss is absent. Maybe electric current in the motor cable. Maybe vibration backfeed into the turntable although it is resting on a sheesham Indian rosewood cutting board. I would say that the small hiss is indistinguishable to normal vinyl hiss. So how black is black?
I guess so, though I don't have a Marantz. I do have a Clearaudio Avantgarde, which is kind of a big brother, and does have a detached motor. I have the table feet and motor pod fixed to a glass/silicone sandwich baseplate with blu-tack to keep everything well situated, as opposed to the stock silicone rubber pads. BTW, for anyone interested, just noticed a Marantz with low hours Hana SL and Schiit Mani on USAM today in Hawaii listed for $1200. Mani is kind of a toss, but the rest looks good. Marantz TT-15S1 Turntable + Hana SL Low Output MC Phono Cartridge + Schiit Mani Phono Amp
I just checked the price for the OC9XML and it's $1000 at Amazon and I saw it for $729 at a different site. The SH and SL prices are unchanged so it's looking like this guy is beccoming the unintended premium. If anyone's thinking of doing this now's the time.
Still the retail list of $549 at most places, hopefully when it comes back in stock at the audio technica site they will have a new 15% discount code available for this year, like in years past.
Yes, the Satisfy is on the upper end of low mass and the OC9X series is on the lower end of high compliance, so a good match.
You're the man. I've had one of these NIB I scored for 1/2 retail sitting here forever and don't have much interest in the included MM.
Speaking of Cartridges, I am currently rocking the stock Virtuoso 1 with a VM95ML stylus ( a good upgrade actually) and am looking at moving to a MC cart in the future. I am willing to spend around $1500 or so if it will be a significant improvement in sound. Would something like an Art9 or Art9XI work well with this table, and would it be a significant step up from what I currently have? Any other suggestions of something that may be better? I mainly listen to jazz, world music, some rock and some vocal heavy music as well.
Well Davey turned me on to the AT OC9XML and I couldn't be happier. I didn't know records could sound this good. And I thought the stock cart was a killer combo but going MC per Davey's hint is the way to go if you have the cash. I bought a Music Hall pa2.2 and that was great but I listen mostly to headphones so I upgraded to a better phono stage and put the pa2.2 on eBay. And concerning changing carts on this table, it's a piece of cake, comparatively. If you go back far enough in this thread you'll see a recommendation for using a watchband repair tool for removing the wires. I lost an Ortofon when long-nosed pliers pulled the pins out of the body. A common Ortofon problem it turns out. I've got a little over 20 hours on the AT and it is already "broken-in". Happy listening! You will not be disappointed!
Question regarding this replacement ; how is it different from just buying the AT-VM95ML cart (which is only $20 more than the stylus alone)? Better generator in the Virtuoso?
many say the virtuoso is very similar or identical to this AT series cart. It simply is not. I am not that familiar with the technicals of cart design, but I know what I hear. I borrowed a friends 540ML while I was waiting on a new stylus to be delivered and it sounded good, but not as good as even the stock Virtuoso despite having the lesser stylus (of course I don't know how many hours were on the cart, but it seemed fine) I agree that it is a similar design and has many of the same characteristics, but it is clearly more refined and delivers more detail and sound stage. However the stock stylus on the virtuoso is not as good as the ML stylus and upgrading to the ML showed a noticeable improvement as well.
It just keeps getting better. That AT OC9XML cartridge has transformed the TT15S1 into a whole new world. The AT has a compliance of 20 which seems to be relatively close to the 15 of the Virtuoso. Their masses are similar so maybe it should be no surprise that this works. But the improvement is beyond words that I know to describe it. And if you look at the availability of the cartridge right now you’ll see that it is nearly sold out. So we are not the only ones that have come to this conclusion.
I've ordered this table to replace my old Rega Planar 3, it's a stretch but hopefully will last me years to come. I currently have an AT vm740ml, has anyone compared this to the Virtuoso cart that comes with this TT? I understand the virtuoso is elliptical compared to the microline of the AT and wondered if might be best sticking with the AT? Sure I can see for myself however I am considering selling on the Virtuoso to make some money back and would likely get less if opened and used, the alternative is to sell the AT as it's not too old. One other factor is I notice the Virtuoso is stated as 100pf, the AT at 100-200 and my phono stage is fixed at 100, has anyone measured the phono cables on this TT? Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting it
You probably need to measure to be sure, my old Satisfy Carbon is marked "Direct Wire" on the cable, and the tonearm manual specs it at 156pF/m, which is pretty high, but I haven't measured mine (I only use LOMC carts so never thought much about it).
Anyone have problems with the motor failing? Mine wouldn’t start a couple weeks back - just hummed. Gently gave it a nudge and got it to start. Was okay for a couple of weeks, then a few days ago while playing a record, the motor just slowed down to a stop. After lifting tone arm, gave it a nudge and it started. Today, wouldn’t start up again without help. Still under warranty, and just starting to investigate my options. Hoping I can just send the motor pod itself only vs having to send the whole table to a warranty center.
I've always given mine a little spin before starting to save wearing the belt. Never had a problem and still on the original belt. Sounds like your motor has some other issues though. Perhaps a call to them and see what they recommend; maybe it's as easy as a squirt of lube?
Have you tried a drop of oil on the drive spindle? Not normally necessary but bearing could have developed excessive friction. Worth checking the manual first. Also possible belt is slipping. Clean drive parts that contact belt with an isopropyl alcohol mix.
I haven’t tried the oil. Without knowing the construction of the motor, I wasn’t sure that would help and the manual doesn’t mention anything about doing that. Someone also mentioned that there’s a capacitor that stores charge and helps the motor start, and if that cap goes bad, the motor doesn’t start on its own. That would explain all the symptoms except when it slowly slowed to a stop after it already was playing fine at normal speed. For that one, maybe lube would help. The issue I’m encountering is they want me to send in the whole TT vs just the motor. You all know the big difference in size, weight, and packing complexity between those two alternatives, not to mention the potential that some tech bends the protruding stylus on the Virtuoso. And since the problem is intermittent, the worst case scenario (possible bent cantilever aside) is that I spend $90 to send the whole TT to NY, the motor doesn’t act up when it arrives there, and they send the whole thing back after doing nothing saying they couldn’t reproduce the problem.
Don't lube it unless they confirm it is allowed. Also some people including myself have noticed that the central core of the motor with the shaft can be shifted sideways. It looks like it is kind of suspended inside the outer case. It can be pushed back by hand, and it will stay centered. My point is -check visually, the the shaft is centered. If not-push it back.
Is there a way to purchase the same elipical stylus for the cart as what's already on it. Mine is getting up there in age and I replaced with an AT VMN95ML, which was a bad decision. They sound good but their build quality sucks. After about 4 months of moderate use I noticed the cantileever wasn't centered, so I put the original stylus back on. Since then I've learned that to be a big problem for the VMN95ML. Honestly, they sound about the same and the original stylus definitely has a more robust build quality, so I'd like to just replace it with the same thing. Any help finding one would be appreciated, thanks.
Argh, that's frustrating for them to put you in that "all or nothing" decision situation? It would be nice if they'd just sell you a new motor for $90 and ship it to you!
Yeah, it’s tough. I’ve got one more possible solution to try. The alternative if my last possibility fails is to just wait for it to 100% fail (where it can’t be coaxed to start at all) where I’m certain they’ll duplicate the issue. If that happens within the next 2 years I’ll still be under warranty. If it falls out of that, I *think* my credit card will extend the warranty by another 2yrs.