Buying a new TT today

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.  

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.

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.

I have to respond to Chakster's question about belt wear/speed of table.

There is an app (RPM) where you can test the rpms on your table. Mine is at 33.26 and 44.9 respectively, the slightly slower rotation due to the weight of my iPhone on the platter versus weight of a record I am sure. You know the physics fact that measuring anything reduces it's speed if some (even minuscule) weight is added to it. Even with that , it's off by about .2%. Exactly the same at both speeds.

The higher level Regas use 2 parallel belts so there is even less worry about elasticity of the belt. On my last Rega, after 9 years, they guy said it was fine, but just replace it for $30 since I was upgrading the arm. These are not rubber bands, but highly developed perfectly cylindrical belts that are short (unlike others I've seen that look stretched on unnamed belt drive tables made in NJ) and chemically manufactured to maintain their elasticity over great stretches of time.

The lower torque is all part of the Rega philosophy which makes sense. Lowest possible weight of the platter and table connection to the arm base and the highest rigidity will give you the least amount of effort possible to spin the platter. No record weights or big heavy contraptions to "add stability". With less force there is less friction, effort and torque which leads to much less internal noise absorbed by the arm/cartridge transmitted through the system. That's why they sound so completely transparent. Give it a try! You might see the light like I did 20 years ago.

I recently purchased a Rega Planar 10.  The RB3000 tonearm is a revelation.  The plinth/drive/entire assembly with their exotic materials make a very significant difference.  I thought that I knew my vinyl collection very well.  I am now hearing information that I never had heard in the past.  Details and nuance that is amazingly, well, just there.  It's like a new discovery.  I carried over the same cartridge from my previous deck, a Lyra Delos.  So the cartridge, and also the phono stage (Manley Chinook) remained the same.  Apples to apples.  The only change was the turntable.  It's an amazing performer.  It's also a significant step up in price.  If it fits your budget, go for it.  You will be very happy that you did.