Editor's Note

• Original review date: October 2017
• Launch price: $1,500 / £1,400 / AU$3,000
• Target price: $1,799 / £1,799 / AU$3,090

Update: February 2024. Of all the turntables launched in 2015, not only is the Marantz TT-15S1 top of the heap, it's also aged like a fine wine against the competition – and as you'll see, its price is only on the increase because of that. What you need to know is this: the TT-15S1 is still one of the best turntables on the market and in the world of spinning plates, it is still a relative youngster. From its thick acrylic platter to the detailed setup instructions, if you can afford it, it's emphatically still money well spent. You won't get the Lenco LS-410's Bluetooth speakers squirrelled away in the base, but this is higher-end hi-fi. Here, separates is the way to go. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

Marantz TT-15S1 Turntable: one-minute review

The recipe for the best turntable seems simple. You need a rigid chassis that dampens vibration, a motor that keeps good time and a needle that can track record groves well. While the basic formula is the same for all turntables, the devil is in the detail. 

While most record collectors will be satisfied with the excellent sounding Audio Technica AT-LP120-USB or the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon, there are better turntables for those who truly value audio fidelity. 

One such turntable is the Marantz TT-15S1. Yes, it’s over three times the price of the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon, costing $1,500 (£1,400, AU$3,000) but it sounds monumentally better to the trained ear. While the Pro-Ject was merely good at retrieving detail, the Marantz wows by digging into the grooves and extracting detail you never noticed before. It’s also a work of art.

It seems almost absurd to call the Marantz TT-15S1 a bargain, but that’s exactly what it is. Here’s why.

Marantz TT-15S1 Turntable: Design and features

The Marantz TT-15S1 is stunning to look at. Its plinth is made out of a single piece of frosted acrylic with three beefy feet to dampen vibration from speakers and footsteps. This acrylic plinth has two cutouts for the tonearm and the motor. 

Speaking of, the tonearm itself is a work of art and comes out of the box wired and ready to go. You simply have to drop it in the hole, line it up and tighten a single set screw. If you’re using the included turntable mat, you’ll need to use the felt spacer included to space the tonearm up so that the vertical tracking angle is appropriate. 

The motor itself is completely detached from the plinth to control vibration. It seems odd at first but it actually works very well. The motor simply sits by itself and is connected to the frosted acrylic platter via a clear rubber belt. 

Speed changes are done manually by putting the belt on the appropriate pulley (33 ⅓ RPM on the smaller pulley at the bottom and 45 RPM on the bigger, upper pulley). This isn’t a big deal as the belt change takes a few seconds. However, there’s no ability to play 78 RPM records, which is a shame.

The platter, similarly, is thick and heavy, and sits on a suspended spindle. 

Combine all of these elements together and the Marantz TT-15S1 has an incredibly dark background when playing records: There’s no hum from the motor, no audible vibration from the platter or plinth. All you hear is what’s on the record and nothing else. 

Marantz includes a simple felt slipmat in the box and a Souther Clever Clamp in the box to help stabilize records. You have the option of using the included flt mat or putting records directly on the acrylic platter. We recommend using the included mat as it sounds much better. The Souther Clever Clamp may work for stabilizing terribly warped records but it doesn’t make much of a sonic difference on normal records. 

While the included slipmat and clamp are perfectly acceptable, upgrades like a proper record weight and mat like the Herbie’s Audio Lab Way Excellent II make the Marantz sound even better. 

Marantz TT-15S1 Turntable: Setup

Setting up a new player is nerve racking as it requires assembly, however setup here is actually quite simple as Marantz includes a very well written set of instructions with pictures to guide you through the process. 

The included Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge was designed to work with the Marantz’s tonearm and simply needs to be seated as far forward as possible.  

You’ll likely need to tweak the turntable a bit after set up to make sure you’ve really dialed in the geometry so be patient. It’s a shame Marantz doesn’t throw in a basic cartridge alignment tool in the box, but you can pick one up for cheap. 

Thankfully, since the Clearaudio cartridge was chosen for this turntable, it sounds great out of the box when dialed to Marantz’s instructions.

One thing to note is that he vertical tracking force isn’t easily determined by simply balancing the tonearm and adjusting the weight to the appropriate setting. We highly recommend picking up a vertical tracking force gauge like the Shure SFG-2 to properly set the weight.  

Marantz TT-15S1 Turntable: Performance

For the amount of money the Marantz TT-15S1 costs, it had better sound excellent. Thankfully, it does. 

The first time we dropped the Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood on a record, our jaws dropped as the turntable provided such dark backgrounds and dynamic range that we spent the first night rediscovering our record collection. 

All the work that Marantz and Clearaudio (the TT-15S1 is built by Clearaudio to Marantz’s specifications) put into damping and isolation paid off. The TT-15S1 provides silent backgrounds, which lets the music stand out more. Violin strings reverberate with authority and there’s an excellent sense of space.

It’s this sense of space that separates the Marantz from entry-level hi-fi turntables like the Proj-ect Debut Carbon. The cheaper turntables just can’t match the sense of space or the inky dark background of higher end turntables like the Marantz. 

The Marantz TT-15S1 paired with the Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood provides an exceptionally neutral presentation. This means bass lovers will be disappointed by the lack of bass emphasis of this turntable. Bass is deep and textured but lacks the impact that some listeners may desire. If your audio system is a bit on the warm side, the TT-15S1 would be a complement to bring it back to neutral. However, if your system is already bright, the TT-15S1 may exacerbate the highs. 

Mids are excellent and female vocals like Norah Jones and Sia sound incredible with tons of texture and timbre. To many, the neutral presentation of the Marantz may sound a bit boring and at times too detailed. The TT-15S1 is unforgiving in the way it digs details. If a record was poorly mastered, you’re going to hear it. But for properly mastered records, the TT-15S1 is hypnotic.

Marantz TT-15S1 Turntable: Final verdict

The Marantz TT-15S1 costs a lot of money but considering its design and audio fidelity, it’s a steal. To put it in perspective, the included Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge costs $1,000 when purchased separately. 

The turntable is not perfect, however. Setup requires a few additional tools to really dial in and it’s annoying that no dust cover is included. The included slipmat and record clamp are merely OK but the turntable deserves better. We also want to caution treble-sensitive listeners and bass lovers to look elsewhere as the TT-15S1 is uncompromisingly neutral.

But all of these cons are simply minor annoyances. Taken as a whole, the Marantz offers budding audiophiles the chance to chase higher fidelity without having to buy a turntable that costs as much as a car. 

For audiophiles who are ready to graduate from entry-level hi-fi turntables, the Marantz TT-15S1 should be on your short list. 

First reviewed: October 2017 

Editor's Note

• Original review date: October 2017
• Launch price: $400 / £349 / AU$550
• Target price: $499 / £399 / AUS600

Update: February 2024. OK, Pro-Ject's naming strategy can be a little confusing, so do note that there's now an also-five-star 2020 Debut Carbon Evo model and a 2021 Debut Pro to consider. In addition, certain Debut Carbon models (such as the Esprit) now support Sonos streaming too, to rival the 2023 Victrola Stream Carbon (we did warn you it's confusing). For us though, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon edges it across the board, hence its continued inclusion as one of the best turntables on the market right now. And owing to both inflation and its continued relevance, that 'target price' is actually a little higher than its asking fee at launch – progress, eh? That said, it's still a stone cold bargain in the sound-per-pound stakes. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon: Two-minute review

If you’re wondering what’s the difference between a cheap, inexpensive turntable and ones exalted by audiophiles, it comes down to design, damping, materials and the phono cartridge. A $99 turntable will play records just fine (probably), but you’ll want to spend more if sound quality is your goal. 

$400 (£349, AU$550) may sound like a lot to spend on a turntable, but entry-level hi-fi turntables like the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon are actually a bargain when seeking out the best turntables.

In the case of the Debut Carbon, the turntable comes with the excellent Ortofon 2M Red phono cartridge as well as a lightweight and rigid carbon fiber tonearm – parts that separate the Pro-Ject from its competitors and the benefits pay off in sonic performance. 

Said simply, if you’re serious about record collecting, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon is one of the best entry-level hi-fi turntables you can buy. For the money, you’re getting a beautiful, well-built turntable that sounds excellent. It’s easy to setup and use, even for absolute beginners. 

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon: Design

Our Pro-ject Debut Carbon came in piano black but Pro-ject offers a few variants of the Debut Carbon in white, gray, yellow, red, green, blue and purple. It’s nice to see a legit turntable manufacturer offer colors that aren’t black or silver to show off your personality. 

The turntable platter is made out of medium density fiberboard (MDF), which offers good damping for noise isolation from footsteps and vibrations from speakers. The turntable rests on non-adjustable rubberized feet that also aid in damping the turntable from vibration.

Take a look at the motor and you’ll find that it’s decoupled from the turntable via a rubber suspension system. This design ensures that the vibration of the motor doesn’t transfer through the platter, your record and to the needle. 

Speaking of the platter, it’s heavy made of metal, topped with a thin, felt mat. The platter is shockingly heavy but that’s a good thing as it is one more way Pro-Ject fights noise and vibration. The only downside is that you’ll have to pick up the heavy platter every time you need to switch from 33 ⅓ and 45 rpm. Switching speeds requires moving the belt between the upper and lower pulley, which is an annoyance but not a deal breaker. 

The defining feature that separates the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon from the competition is its single-piece carbon fiber tonearm. Beyond simply looking good, carbon fiber helps fight resonance with its stiff construction and natural damping abilities. It’s also lightweight and helps with tracking records smoothly. 

Lastly, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon comes with a clear acrylic dust cover. It’s attached to the turntable via two metal rods and doesn’t affect the sound quality of the turntable, though you will hear the thud of the cover when you close it when a record is playing, but that’s normal. 

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon: Setup

There's nothing worse than buying a new record player and having no clue where to start. Thankfully, setting up the Debut Carbon is simple, even for beginners just getting into the hobby. This is due in no small part to the included manual which simply and clearly explains where everything goes. 

The most difficult part of the setup was balancing the tonearm, which simply requires you to make sure the tonearm is level before setting the tracking force. 

Setting anti-skate is a bit different with the Pro-Ject, as it uses a small weight on fishing line to fight the needle’s natural movement to go toward the center of the record while it plays. It’s not as easy to use as a dial but you won’t be fiddling with your anti-skate much unless you’re constantly switching phono cartridges. 

Around the back of the turntable, you’ll find RCA outputs and a ground peg, which means it’s super simple to replace worn cables in the future. Pro-Ject includes a beautiful cable in the box for you to connect to your phono preamp. Note that the Debut Carbon doesn’t include a phono preamp so you’ll have to pick one up on your own. 

There’s no need to align the cartridge as the included Ortofon 2M Red comes mounted to the tonearm out of the box. This is great for beginners as aligning a phono cartridge can be the most difficult part of setting up a turntable. 

If you do decide to switch cartridges sometime down the road, however, Pro-Ject includes a simple protractor in the box. 

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon: Performance

If you’re spending $400/£349 on a turntable, it had better sound good and we’re happy to report that the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon sounds spectacular. 

Every little attention to detail for damping has paid off as the Pro-Ject doesn’t pick up any noise from the motor and does an amicable job of neutralizing footsteps. However, you’ll want to make sure you place the turntable on a solid surface or buy an isolation rack to completely eliminate the sound of footsteps.

The included Ortofon 2M Red does a good job of pulling detail out of records. It tracks nicely and has good dynamic range. Whereas cheaper turntables like the Denon DP-300F make cymbals sound splashy and harsh, the 2M Red makes them sound smoother and more life-like. While you won’t get the micro-details and expansive air that more expensive phono cartridges are capable of, the 2M Red is a perfectly good starting point on your audio journey. 

In terms of tonal balance, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon and Ortofon 2M Red combination sounds neutral with crystalline highs and velvety mid-range. Bass is adequate but may disappoint audiophiles who prefer a slightly warm tilt. 

We talked a lot about Pro-Ject’s attention to detail when to comes to damping and it pays off in sonic performance. The turntable is extremely quiet, which lets you hear more of the record itself instead of the hum of a motor or the subtle vibration of an a poorly damped turntable. 

The carbon tonearm definitely helps cut down resonance, allowing you to hear more of the record and less of the equipment that it’s playing on. 

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon: Verdict

The Pro-Ject Debut Carbon is well built, beautifully designed and just sounds awesome. It’s not the most resolving turntable but you wouldn’t expect it to be at this price range. When looking at the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon as a package, it’s hard to think of another turntable in this price range that can top it. 

While it's still incredibly easy to use (especially for anyone used to setting up more complicated players), you are giving up conveniences like auto start/stop, an anti-skate dial and a built-in phono preamp but for audiophiles, none of these downsides matter as the turntable’s sonic performance vastly outweighs its minor trade offs. 

For those who want a set-it-and-forget-it experience, check out the Denon DP-300F. It doesn’t sound nearly as good, but it’s the simplest way to start listening to records with its automatic tonearm and built-in preamp. 

While it's not the cheapest record player on the shelf, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon is still an incredible value. We can’t recommend this turntable enough. 

First reviewed: October 2017

Editor's Note

• Original review date: October 2017
• Launch price: $329 / £245 / AU$417
• Target price: $429 / £349 / AUS550

Update: February 2024. The Denon DP-300F isn't the newest deck on the block (although for a turntable, a late Noughties release is hardly old), but it's still very much a current contender and class-leader in the affordable turntable arena – and for our money, it remains one of the best turntables around. Owing to both the current financial climate and its continued success, the 'target price' is actually a little higher than its launch fee (not unlike the LPs you'll want to play on it), but if you're looking to dip your toes into vinyl, keep it on your radar. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

Denon DP-300F: Two-minute review

The vinyl resurgence is here to stay and as a result, many audio companies are releasing turntables. This makes choosing the best turntable quite tricky, as there are a ton of good options – especially for those first getting into vinyl. 

That being said, if you’re just starting out, the Denon DP-300F is an excellent choice because it's fully automatic i.e. you can simply press a button to start and stop playback rather than physically move the arm. It also means that when you’ve finished one side of the record, the tonearm automatically lifts and returns itself to resting position, preventing premature needle wear. 

While audiophiles won’t be impressed with the $329 (about £245, AU$417) Denon DP-300F, beginners who aren’t looking for the best sound quality will likely find its sound good enough, especially for those who don’t have high quality speakers or headphones in the first place. 

Denon DP-300F: Design

The DP-300F is an all-black turntable that looks borderline generic, yet manages to be beautiful at the same time. It's coated with a black paint that’s not quite piano black but almost a dark gray with what looks like metallic flake in it. 

The turntable is belt-driven, which means its Aluminum platter is well damped from motor vibrations. The plinth (the base of the turntable) is relatively well damped but it picks up more footsteps and vibrations compared to entry-level hi-fi turntables like the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon. 

The plastic tonearm is a straight design and features a replaceable headshell, making cartridge swapping simple. You can buy additional headshells and attach other cartridge and needles to experiment with the sound. Denon even includes an extra set of headshell leads in the box. 

Thankfully, the Denon DP-300F doesn’t require a manual belt change in order switch from 33 ⅓ rpm to 45 rpm. Instead, there’s a button next to the tone arm that you can press to switch between the speeds. 

While 33 ⅓ and 45 are the most common, there’s no support for 78 rpm playback, which isn’t a very common record format nowadays anyway but might've been a nice extra had Denon been able to squeeze it in. 

Next to the speed button are buttons to switch from 12” and 7” records – but if those sizes don’t work for you, you can manually queue the needle yourself via the tonearm lever. 

Our only gripe we had with the design of the Denon DP-300F is that the switch to toggle the built-in phono preamp on and off is under the platter, which means you’ll have to lift the mat and rotate the platter to access the switch. It’s a pretty minor gripe as you likely won’t need to hit that switch very often. 

Denon DP-300F: Performance

The Denon DP-300F comes with Denon’s own DSN-85 cartridge and stylus, both of which are on the low end of the sound spectrum. As a result, the turntable produces average sound quality. Highs lack extension and bass doesn’t have the visceral impact of more expensive cartridges. Cymbals sound splashy and the soundstage is a bit confined, but you wouldn’t expect a $40 needle and cart to please audiophiles. 

Where the Denon DP-300F shines is in its easy setup and playback controls. If the prospect of manually queueing your turntable’s tonearm seem like too much work, you’re going to love the start/stop button on the Denon. 

To get it started, simply place your record on the platter and press “Start” and marvel at the tonearm move itself into position. The tone arm will also auto-return once one side of the record is done and the platter will come to a stop, making it easy to simply turn the record over and hit “Start again.” 

In terms of damping, the Denon is about average. If you live in an apartment with wobbly floors, you’ll cause the DP-300F’s needle to skip since the turntable can’t isolate itself from quite as much vibration as more expensive decks. Again, you wouldn’t expect a budget beginner turntable to be great at damping. 

The only other downside, if you care, is that the Denon DP-300F doesn't come with a USB output for digitizing your records. However, many of today’s records come with codes to download MP3s of the record but crate-diggers may miss the USB-out feature found in the Audio Technica AT-LP120-USB.

Denon DP-300F: Verdict

If all you want is to listen to your records and not have to worry about queueing, premature needle wear or digitizing your records, the Denon DP-300F should be at the top of your list. Its features get you listening to your vinyl records as soon as possible instead of having to fiddle with complicated components and manual queueing … just don’t expect it to sound as good as some other manual, entry-level turntables like the AT-LP120-USB or Pro-Ject Debut Carbon. 

For the price, the Denon DP-300F is on par with other entry-level turntables in terms of performance but bests them in terms of features. While there are cheaper automatic turntables like the Audio Technica AT-LP60, the Denon offers a better tonearm and lets you swap out cartridges, which the Audio Technica doesn’t. 

The bigger and more complicated Audio Technica AT-LP120-USB sounds a bit better than the Denon but at the cost of simplicity since it doesn’t have auto queueing. However, if you don’t connect with the Audio Technica’s styling or features, the Denon DP-300F is a great alternative. 

First reviewed: September 2017