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Buying a new TT today

So I’m pretty hellbent on buying a new TT today! Or should I be?!?!? 
I started off kind of sour on vinyl several years back when I ignorantly bought a cheap TT that had a built in phono stage.... Talk about a disappointment! And a buzz kill for vinyl!
Anyway a year or so later I bought a Project Carbon Debut and it blew my mind!!!!  The step up in most aspects of the TT, carbon fiber tone arm/heavier plinth/much heavier platter/motor and remote position/better cartridge in a Ortofon m2red, along with the fact the it was now running through my Integrated’s Phono Stage was just such a leap in sound that I never expected, that now I’m looking for yet another leap like that again lol
Anyway, with pocket flush with cash and headed to two hi-fi shops I pause....
In my new price range, $2,000 or so, should I be looking for a new TT? Or a new cartridge for the TT I have ?
thoughts.
264win
264win OP
51 posts
 
@gasbose 
I just realized that not only were you the last to post and to try to bring this back to the original discussion, but you were the only one to recommend doing both....
Buy a TT and a cartridge for the Pro-Ject! Nice job at reading my future lol I might appoint you my sage lol 
cd318
2,636 posts
 
Well, it's certainly a stylish deck. Looks like a Clearaudio rebadge, very pretty. 

As you say it will be interesting to see just how big a step up it is from the now upgraded Debut Carbon fitted with the Bronze cart.

It would be great if you can keep us posted. Most of us have been there ourselves but it's still fascinating to see how others approach the same journey.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Hey Chakster - you may be correct about the speed of belt drive tables in general if their power supplies are not great, but on all Rega's mid tables and above, the speed is fine with external PSUs. I have an app that measures it - right on the money for 33 1/3 and 45 rpm speeds.

We're reading about speed stability issues here on audiogon very often, also about grounding issues and many other issues with belt drive turntable at that cost. 

How often are you gonna change the belt to make sure your speed is stable over the years? This is a weak part of belt drives too. Another weak part is very low torque.  


big_greg
6,554 posts
 
I don't have any knowledge of whether KI was involved with the Marantz TT-15S1, but would be surprised if he did.  Maybe the design of the plinth?  By all accounts, it's a rebadged Clearaudio Emotion.  I owned the Emotion and it's a very nice table.  I had a couple of quibbles with it.  The first was that the motor had a tendency to move and I was always fiddling with it to keep it from touching the plinth.  I put a thin piece of sorbothane under it to keep the motor in place, which helped a lot.  Another was that there is a second (optional) ground location underneath the table which was always coming loose.  Not sure if the TT-15S1 has that also.  I ended up taping that in place.  A nice table over all and easy on the eyes.
aj523
360 posts
 
GasBose and OP
On behalf of sogogear and myself, definitely apologize for hijacking the thread and will refrain after these last comments. I just got into 2 channel TT vinyl during this pandemic and I absolutely love it and wanted to express my uncontrollable upgrade fever.

I was definitely not smart about it. My advice to others: stretch your budget and go for the best TT you can afford, since that’s where the analog signal starts (this isn’t digital) and then upgrade the rest of your system over the years. AJ out.
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