I've had this table for a couple weeks now. So these are some random comments, if you want to know a detail, ask.
First off, I have to say this table/cartridge combo is a relative bargain, perhaps especially so for those in Canada. You get a Clearaudio-built all-acrylic table (white), the CA Satisfy arm ("ebony" version), and the CA Virtuoso cartridge (ebony wood version). With the Marantz name on the plinth. I guess Marantz commissioned the table because it's not exactly like anything CA has their own name on, seems to be roughly a significantly tarted-up Emotion.
The combo comes really well packed. It's all in pieces and you have to assemble it, not at all difficult but takes a while including the cart setup depending how picky you are. Finish of everything is excellent. Comes with some bearing lube, and two belts (one spare) with gloves to use when putting them on, and a screwdriver for the cart and some Allen keys for the tonearm.
Platter is 28mm thick with a recess for the LP label. It is so finely made and balanced you can't even tell it's spinning. Take the clear silicone belt off and give it a push and it'll spin for many minutes (I don't know how long, got tired of waiting for it to stop...), ceramic bearing. They don't say to do it from new, but I put 4 drops of lube in the bearing, I couldn't see much in there.
Arm is mostly aluminum, black-colored wand, tungsten and ruby (IIRC...may be sapphire though) bearings, magnetic anti-skate. VTA easily adjustable, but no scale for it. VTF is by rotatable counterweight. I found the required anti-skate difficult to determine...the HFNRR record seemed to show I didn't need any (??) at 2.25g VTF, so I backed the AS knob all the way out and just left it there, to be looked at again later (those magnets are pretty darn powerful). Arm cable capacitance is 110pF, in the ballpark of a stock RB300. Cable length is at least 1m, I didn't measure, continuous to the cartridge connectors. Decent enough gold-plated connectors, very tight-fitting. There is a ground wire molded into this cable assembly, for connection to preamp ground terminal, and there's also a separate ground wire that comes from the TT bearing assembly.
They don't give you a protractor, but presume you are installing the included cart, and if you follow their directions it turns out pretty well re VTA and alignment without additional "tools". The arm is mounted the same distance from the spindle as a typical Rega (222mm), so you can use a protractor for that for finer tuning. Azimuth is adjustable, and though the manual doesn't mention this, anybody who needs it and looks for it will find it.
Cueing lever is fairly long. Cart drops rather quickly (but safely) considering how high up it sits at rest.
Included info for the Virtuoso is possibly inaccurate (older data sheet??), or at least doesn't match other Virtuoso info I've seen. Since I don't know for sure, I stayed closer to the more common info re recommended VTF (2.25g +/- 0.25g) and recommended loading of 47k and 100pF, and I have to say this works very nicely, but it's all I've tried. The cart weighs 6g. Resonates somewhere between 9 and 11Hz, so call it ~10Hz. Stock VTA is somewhat tail down with a regular thickness LP, and was still slightly tail down with thicker ones.
The motor is a German-made AC synchronous. It is mounted in a heavyish cylinder which has some minor electronics inside, plus the power switch and the attached 3-conductor line cord. This motor assembly sits on your shelf and pokes through the plinth without touching it. Acrylic pulley for 33/45. This is the only area of this whole TT with which I have criticism. The motor is inherently a bit noisy. Not noise you can hear through the amplification, but I can easily hear it from not far away. I opened the can and took the motor out, and it's the motor, not a resonance from the assembly "can", the bearings I guess. It is a fairly low-torque motor, and other "similar" I have in a P3 and TD160 are deadly silent. I don't know if this means anything, certainly doesn't matter from a reproduction POV best I can tell since the output was exceptionally quiet, but it was unexpected in a TT that otherwise seems to have great attention to little details. Maybe it'll quieten up with more use...perhaps I'll investigate further but best to leave well enough alone during the warranty period since it's obviously not "broken", just me being picky.
The motor can has non-slip feet on it, but since you want to position it in the center of the plinth cutout, and have to handle it to work the power switch, it will probably tend to move a bit. I cut out a circle of thin cork shelf liner and fit it inside the "ring" of non-slip button feet, yet is the same height as them. This added a much larger area of non-slippiness to the can and it does stay in position very well now. The belt rides right near the bottom of the platter at 33, so you have a fair bit of leeway to raise the can if you wanted to put something else thicker/better on the bottom, though IMO it looks better the less the motor is exposed.
Using a stopwatch and taking numerous measurements, platter seems to spin 0.1% fast at 33.33rpm when not playing a record. With a strobe disc it is pretty hard to notice any movement, but there's a very tiny bit if you watch for a while.
There is quite a lot of spindle length available, much more than I'm used to. A mat of some type of compressed felt (I think) is included, it's not soft and floppy like the Rega felt one, for instance. I didn't use it. There is also a Souther Clever Clamp included. Now this works pretty well, but it sells for $33 and it's just a little piece of plastic...yup, they can see audiophiles coming from miles away, dollar bills falling from their pockets as they walk... Anyway, you pretty much need a clamp due to the smooth and slippery acrylic platter, even if using a mat I'd guess, besides for the reasons you got the acrylic platter in the first place. The Clever Clamp is pretty clever actually, I'll give them that, and I kinda like that it's clear so I can still read the label. It'll do for now, though I don't know how tight it'll stay over time, and it sure doesn't match the build of the rest of the TT.
The TT sits on three fairly large polished aluminum footers, adjustable for levelling. I was surprised by how good the isolation was just sitting on a shelf. Compared to my P3, it was 1 or 2 orders of magnitude better isolated, both on the same "raw" shelf (I have my own test LOL). Sufficiently good that I didn't have to do anything else if I didn't want to...but I did, and in my situation it required little effort and surpassed the best results I ever got isolating the P3 with a lot of effort. YMMV
How does it sound? I don't usually comment about stuff like that re gear, as everybody has their own taste, and there's way too much airy-fairy talk and hyperbole used. But I honestly mean this, and it totally surprised me: I have not been so impressed by the sound of any piece of audio gear I've ever bought. And this is at the low end price-wise. It was not a subtle "you have to listen carefully" improvement. I hear people say "such-and-such draws me in and I can't leave"...yup, it finally happened to me! So I'll just say it's "wonderful". I don't know if it's the table, the arm, the cartridge (supposedly an excellent MM) or all, but the combo truly works well. A lot has to be the cart though. The cart is changing daily, but it even started out great. I would never have spent this "much" on a cart by itself (it lists for ~$1k in Canada) and now I'm kicking myself for years of deprivation. It tracks like a champ, and appears very immune to surface noise too, really is as good as people say.
I haven't managed to hear any of the Clearaudio (or related) gear so it's good to hear an owners perspective on one.
