additional processing and customs charges on goldring 1006 or nagaoka mp150

PLX1000 is a nearly identical copy of Technics SL-1200MKII. I could mount the 2M Blue on it blindfolded.

Screws go right into the threaded Ortofon body. With Nagaoka, you’ll have to mess with nuts.

For a quick and dirty job, use the provided protractor to set overhang. Cartridge should remain straight in the headshell.

Sticking with the big boys like Ortofon and Audio Technica is a very good idea.

United States has some of the lowest duty rates in the world. Consumer electronics is less than 3%. I never got charged for anything under $500, or so. But did get charged for items closer to $1000 and above. For example, there was a fee of $100 on a $5000 audio purchase. You have nothing to worry about. The world surely takes advantage of this. 

Speaking of MC cartridges. Some people do prefer them and it's fine. But just note, no MC cartridge sounds like tape. If you want that master tape sound, it has to be MM/MI. 

The best cartridges built today are Ortofon 2M Black, Audio Technica VM760SLC, and Nagaoka MP-500. 

There's nothing wrong with aluminum pipe cantilevers. Some of the best cartridges ever made used aluminum pipes. I sonically prefer them to boron rods. Rods always add coloration that's not on the original tape. Same applies for ruby, sapphire, diamond, etc. 

Boron pipes are the best. But they might as well be unobtainium today. Resonance character of a pipe gets the sound right IMO. 

Effective mass is similar to Technics, 12g or so. It's medium mass. It will work with any of the mentioned cartridges in this thread. 

I’m not so sure about beryllium rods being better than boron pipes. Audio Technica took a different approach, ML150 used a beryllium rod and higher end models such as ML170 and ML180 used boron pipes.

Very few cartridges used beryllium cantilevers as they are incredibly toxic during manufacturing.

Most of these cartridges are very difficult to find in good working condition and are expensive. Best for OP to get either a modern Ortofon MM or modern Audio Technica MM.

Current MMs may not have boron pipe or beryllium cantilevers, but nude stylus profiles and motors are state of the art.

BTW, Ortofon 2M range is of the moving iron type. 

Speed of sound in beryllium and boron is very similar. 

But boron could be grown around a rod and made into an extremely thin, incredibly stiff, and light pipe. 

All beryllium cantilevers that I'm aware of are rods. 

I've heard both and prefer pipes. 

There's just simply nothing better than boron for cantilever material. Japanese got it right. Boron is only 20% denser than beryllium, but boron is 50%+ stiffer.

Beryllium cantilevers only come in a rod form, whereas boron can be made into a pipe. Pipes are potentially lighter and pipes can be made with a wider diameter increasing stiffness even further.

Propagation of sound in both boron and beryllium is similar. 

Aluminum and aluminum alloy pipes are standard. They propagate sound faster than any other less exotic metals such as steel, copper, titanium, etc. Aluminum has low density and can be made into a wide diameter pipe resulting in very high stiffness. Ortofon 2M Black does just that. 

I would imagine aluminum alloyed rods to sound terrible... But I don't think I've ever heard a cartridge with one.

Carbon fiber cantilevers sound very bad to my ears. So do ruby and sapphire. 

Just because several manufacturers used beryllium for their top models, it doesn't mean that boron is not the ultimate cantilever material. 

BTW, some of your mentioned beryllium cartridges make wonderful sound. 

Boron, beryllium, aluminum... There were a lot of great MM cartridges during that decade.