Marantz TT15/ Clearaudio Satisfy for MC carts?

Mo-Fi is coming out with a new table, and judging from the photo, it's pretty sweet looking. A  bit more than I want to spend, but since we are on the subject...It's supposed to be coming in around $6K. 

bjp9738- This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much. I will check out my EMT TSD 75...I believe it’s high compliance, so it should mate well with the Satisfy. I believe what you mentioned about the Virtuoso being a bit noisy in the groove makes sense. It wasn’t obvious, but now that you mentioned it... I had also heard that the AT stylus can be installed on the Virtuoso. That would be a perfect scenario for this system, because I want to keep it sane and casual...meaning don’t pour much money in to it in the future...and don’t sweat things such as an LP not being perfectly flat. This is something I obsess over when playing the table in my main system. But the cartridge on that table was over $4K. So when (for example), I'm dealing with big dollar cartridges, I can’t help myself from being obsessive. So it’s not only that I’d like to have the future option to go MC, but I already have the Charisma (Denon) 103, and the EMT mentioned above. So I’d love to be able to play one of those, but I’m afraid the Denon may not be a good match. So I will have to brush up on my knowledge going forward. BTW- the Naim phono is indeed MM only, but I have a step up for my high impedance cartridges, so I’m covered there for both MC’s. Cheers -Don

I'm trying to keep this system as sane as possible. I have around 7k in to it so far...the Ton Trager stands didn't come cheap. I'd like it to be a well balanced system that will be less than 10K after the turntable. At the end of the day, I'm sure there are used options that were $5K new, and are available for $3K. That would be ok, but I'm not quite sure what table to target. tablejockey- I really enjoyed the Amadeus, but no longer own one. I had two here at one point. If I can reach the WT performance with a more user friendly (less finicky) table, that would be perfect. But I'm not sure I would want to go back to the WT. I'd likely go JA Mitchell, a Kuzma Pipe Bomb, or a GEM Dandy. BTW- I moved from the WT to a  Kuzma Stabi Ref 2/ Ref 313 arm.  I picked that up 3-4 years ago. It's likely my LAST table, but that's for my Tube/Horn setup. 

Absolutely agree...I had no issues at all with the Virtuoso. I have very little experience with MM carts, but this one was quite positive. It's more about choosing the right table and arm. And it's my bad for not making it clear that I'm not 100% set on the TT15. But if I do go for it, I'm not sweating the cartridge at all. Perhaps this is a naive outlook, but at < $1800 for the TT15 package,  I consider the Virtuoso a throw in. Beyond that, there is always next month, next year, and the year after...

I think it would be hard to go wrong with the Marantz. I even bought a $20 gizmo from Amazon, which is a grounded female outlet, wired to a male grounded plug. This comes with a mini hand held remote enabling you to turn on/off anything plugged in to it.... Sort of a heavy duty version of the ones Home Depot sells for turning a Christmas tree on/off via a remote. This device will allow me to bypass the power switch which is located on the rear leg of the TT15. So no chance of moving the motor like a few owners have mentioned. Another interesting option would be the Merrill GEM Dandy, but since Jelco is no longer making tonearms, that has become a pricier proposition. The Mo-Fi Studio/Ultradeck tables also look interesting. The shop where I listened to Marantz also had the Mo-Fi. They felt the Mo-Fi was more laid back sounding. I think my system balance with the Compact 7’s would appreciate the more lively TT15.

The Mo-Fi ad says $6K for the Table, and $5K for the phono. If it’s $3K, I think my search is over. Chayro...I totally agree with you. Just so I’m doing my best to communicate.....I went to the dealers to hear the Naim XS 3. I purchased it on the spot. He happened to be using the TT 15 as a source, which sounded very good. If not, I wouldn’t have purchased the Naim. All that aside, if I choose the Marantz, I have no reason not to buy it from the dealer. I enjoyed my time there, and he was extremely nice, and quite knowledgable. So again, no reason not to purchase the Marantz from him. One other point I should note is that this is my second system. I have (for me) a reference table in my main system. So while I’m not a setup whiz, I do fairly well with my own setups. However, there is no doubt a dealer with good setup skills would be most valuable to me. Cheers -Don

Very cool of you to reach out. I've yet to make the purchase due to finances. I am getting close though.. I am considering AVID, Thorens TD 150, and the Marantz is still in the running. I think the Thorens is the front runner now. The standard mystery tonearm appears to be an EMT. Its got some heft at 14 grams and should be a nice match for my TSD75, which is one of my backup carts from my main setup. The Avid tables are nice, but apparently I have to go up to the Diva SP in order to get a switchable (push button) 33/45 speed change. That may be a deal breaker. So that leaves the Marantz. and the TD 150, which costs $1,000 more. The Marantz of comes with the Virtuoso cart, so I suppose one could say the difference is more than $1,000. But in the end, I will choose the table which is better suited to my tastes.