Advice needed in Spain

Rob, I know what you mean about the endless quest for the last tweak that will give you that last bit of something you feel you're lacking. I think it's part of the audiophile disease complex :-)

In my experience, one can read all the reviews available on a cartridge but that only goes so far in telling you whether one is right for you and your setup (unfortunately.) Taste in cartridges is as unique to the individual listener as taste in music, wine, or significant others. It's been my experience from being an analog fan for forty years or so that one has to resign themselves to learning to install cartridges themselves and be prepared to try a few before hitting on the right one.

That said, you've got a list that is all over the place as far as characteristics. You list a mix of high and low output cartridges. Do you already have a phono preamp and is it as capable a performer for a cartridge with .4mv as 5 mv.? As you no doubt know, the capabilities of the phono preamp are a huge part of the total performance of an analog rig.

Sorry about that, it's so easy to goad the affliction isn't it. I don't have any personal experience with your phono preamp, but I did buy and sell several phono preamps before I found the one I use now. A few of the ones that came and went were highly reviewed but were just "mehhh" to my ears in my system. I will say that I think a good general rule is that you usually get a better bang for your buck with a great phono preamp and a "lesser" cartridge than the other way around. Hang in there, you'll eventually get where you want to go (although it can be aggravating at times.) Another good moderate price phono preamp to keep an eye out for is a Heed Quasar. Not well known but worthy of consideration along with the Graham Slee products.

Whatever turntable you decide on, I'd suggest passing on the idea of a Goldring 1042. Despite the decent reviews, I found it an underwhelming average at best sort of cartridge when used in either a VPI Scout or with a Rega arm on an Acoustic Signature turntable. Nothing bad about it, but nothing very inspiring or exceptional either. I figure they must get paired with turntable "out the door and ready to use" packages because Goldring sells them at a good price in bulk to turntable manufacturers. I'd go with Dynavector or Ortofon cartridges myself. If you mean to avoid "tweaking various bits" by only choosing a turntable with a pre-mounted cartridge, you're really limiting your options.