Marantz Tt 1800

Here’s something you don’t see very often – the original 1979 Marantz ESOTEC Tt 1800. It never made it to market outside its native Japan, likely because it was too expensive to produce, and instead the Micro-based Tt 1000 appeared in 1980, using a quartz-locked, direct-drive motor in the same main motor unit chassis.

The Tt 1800 was a belt drive – spun by a long piece of cord from an external motor unit [not shown]. Its brass platter was massive, and together with the high quality motor must have made for superb speed stability. This Tt 1800 resides at Marantz’s corporate headquarters in Eindhoven, but isn’t used. Instead, the Tt 1000 serves as the company’s top-end vinyl reference in its listening room, complete with a gold plated SME Series V. Sadly, this Tt 1800 hasn’t spun its platter for many years…