Hi litespeed
if you have any questions about the 1500C, please feel free to ask them.
I do not use the auto lift setting (you can defeat it). In practice it seemed to be clipping the last few seconds off longer albums.
Do try the preamp, I was pleasantly surprised with it and liked it more than my Parasound z phono preamp.
The Ortofon blue is much better than the red, not even close. The Goldring (E3) is pretty good for the cash.
Rich