@soundermn I definitely am considering a Marantz TT-15S1 because of the Clearaudio Virtuoso cat. I have heard really good things about both, but not actually listened either. My plan originally was to sell both the Alva and the Pro-Ject, which ideally would give me enough for a $1500 table with cart.
@mulveling The Clearaudio Concept would be ideal, but it starts at $1600 and the Marantz using a higher end cart. This is the main reason for the "most important part" question about a table. It seems the cart option is generally what pushes the table price much higher. Looking at those two tables and what they come with standard, it seems the Marants with a $950 Clearaudio Virtuoso MM cart ($1499 total) is a much better deal than a Clearaudio Concept with only the $250 Concept MM ($1600 total). With these two models in mind, would you say the Concept with the Concept MM cart is better than the Marantz with Virtuoso MM? It would seem that two carts made by the same company, but one is $700 more, would sound much better musically, so the cart would have a much greater impact on listening experience. That would be my hypothesis, but again, I haven’t listened to either tables yet.
@mulveling The Clearaudio Concept would be ideal, but it starts at $1600 and the Marantz using a higher end cart. This is the main reason for the "most important part" question about a table. It seems the cart option is generally what pushes the table price much higher. Looking at those two tables and what they come with standard, it seems the Marants with a $950 Clearaudio Virtuoso MM cart ($1499 total) is a much better deal than a Clearaudio Concept with only the $250 Concept MM ($1600 total). With these two models in mind, would you say the Concept with the Concept MM cart is better than the Marantz with Virtuoso MM? It would seem that two carts made by the same company, but one is $700 more, would sound much better musically, so the cart would have a much greater impact on listening experience. That would be my hypothesis, but again, I haven’t listened to either tables yet.