Marantz - TT-15S1 Manual Belt-Drive Turntable for Vinyl Records, Floating Motor for Low-Vibration, Cartridge Included - Transparent White

This is an awesome turntable at this price point..The cartridge alone is 1200$ if purchased separately.Tonearm is of the highest quality.Platter and ball bearings are of great great quality.

[Employee of bestbuy] This table looks absolutely fantastic, and is an overall sold performer. I have to give it a few critiques however... 1) Having to move the belt to different spots on the pulley for 45 and 33 is cumbersome, and until you get used to it, you will have the belt fall off the platter often. I wish there were slight grooves in the platter for the belt to sit, that would remove this from happening. 2) The motor can slide on the surface you placed it on, if it's too smooth, and then both contact the plinth, as well as not provide enough tension on the belt. I needed to use double sided tape on the bottom of mine (which now also required being mindful of the overall height of the pulley). 3) I'm actually not a huge fan of the included cart. I know it gets rave reviews, but it's too subdued for my taste. I like a brighter cart, and on my all tube system, this was simply too dull sounding. I've personally preferred cheaper nude fine lines from the likes of AT or Ortofon more than this one...but that's a matter of personal taste. It was a very quiet cart, which was nice for unforgiving recordings or rough records, but otherwise I struggle to like it.

I've been looking to upgrade my current turntable and the Marantz TT-15 looked like a significant upgrade. It is designed and built by Clearaudio and has extremely positive reviews for audio quality. The high end tonearm and cartridge alone make this a great value. Build quality is top notch. It really is beautiful; a real work of art. That brings me to my great disappointment. I REALLY wanted to like this turntable. The biggest drawback of this turntable and what ultimately made me return it was how fiddly and fussy setting it up was. I was expecting it to put some time into this (the reviews say as much), but I wasn't expecting to be as frustrating of an experience as it was. I took my time assembling it, adjusting the tonearm and cartridge, and getting everything aligned and leveled. The last part I installed was the floating motor and the belt. I turned it on and immediately the belt came off the platter. This was a common problem other owners have had, so I figured no big deal I just have to adjust the pulley on the motor until it's in the right position. I made adjustment after adjustment trying to get the belt to stay on with no success. Even more troubling, when the belt would slip off and I turned the motor off, it would send a surge to my power center and trip the breaker, shutting off everything connected. A motor from an $1800 turntable should not do this. Finally, I started the belt on the 45 cog and then moved it down to the 33 and it stayed on the platter. However, my success was short lived. The power switch is located on the motor itself. With it being a floating motor, that means it can move around each time you turn it on or off, and the tension on the belt will change slightly if the motor moves. Of course that meant the belt slipped off once again, the breaker on my surge protector tripped, shutting off my entire system. I sat quietly in defeat for several minutes before boxing up the Marantz and returning it to the store. I'm sure there are many happy owners that could put up with the quirks and drawbacks of this turntable. I'm sure it sounds great and it certainly looks the part, but it was far too fiddly and frustrating for me. It's a shame, I really wanted to like it.

good but belt is unstable. Difficult to set up and maintain

I'm so happy with the Marantz-TT15S1 turntable! The cartridge and diamond stylus are phenomenal paired with the new 180g vinyl, remastered studio recordings and Martin Logan Motion 15i bookshelf speakers. Together they bring out every sound you never even heard in the original vinyl recordings! Dave Matthews' "Under the Table & Dreaming" (1994) and Led Zeppelin's debut album (1969) sound AMAZING, like I'm hearing them for the 1st time!!! I'm still getting used to the unexpected sounds the stylus picks up in the deeper grooves of the thicker vinyl. Everything is floating in formation on the beautiful transparent white lucite base, stainless feet, floating motor and ebony wood tone arm. BEAUTIFUL technology!