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Marantz TT15/ Clearaudio Satisfy for MC carts?

I’m putting together a second system which I’m very excited about. My new Integrated is the Naim XS3, which drive my Harbeth Compact 7 (non XD) speakers. So on to my question...I recently heard the TT15, and was very impressed. I would say it’s now the #1 choice to be my analog source for this system. I can’t imagine doing much better for the money. I have learned from reviews that the TT15’s Satisfy arm may actually exceed the performance of the (Verify?) arm that comes on the Clearaudio Concept. But my concern for the future is how the Satisfy arm will do with MC cartridges. The supplied Virtuoso MM sounded very impressive running in to the Naim in the dealers showroom. But I would still like to gather opinions to see if the Satisfy arm will also play well with MC cartridges. Btw...for those who are not aware, the TT15 is made by Clearaudio.

fjn04

Showing 1 response by bjp9738

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bjp9738
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I can't speak to running a MC on the TT15, but I did own the TT15 for a few years and it was a fantastic table with overall performance that I think is above it's price tag.  The supplied Virtuoso cart is very good, albeit a little noisy in the groove.  I did a mod at one point and removed the stock elliptical stylus and replaced it with an AT VM95ML microline stylus.  (From what I understand, the CA Virtuoso is made by Audio Technica.)  It's easy to do, lots of videos and instructions out there on the web.  The ML stylus gave me better tracking and a nice reduction in surface noise.  I never really had a burning desire to replace the Virtuoso with a moving coil.

The key as others have pointed out is choosing a cart with the proper compliance that mates well with the Satisfy tone arm.  I use the cartridge resonance evaluator tool over at vinylengine.com.  At 8g effective mass, the Satisfy is a low mass tonearm, so you'll want to look at carts with higher compliance.  I've read of several people having a lot of success with the AT ART9 cartridges on the TT15.

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