Analog Upgrade - Where to start?

At the risk of totally being off track here, and not to diminish the high likelihood that a cartridge change will indeed give the OP what he is looking for, does anyone think the combo of Pass XA60.8 and Avant-Guard a strange one? I clearly don’t know AG speakers well enough to know if they like high current SS amps but I do know they are highly efficient and to me that usually suggests tubes as a better (but potentially noisier) choice.  Are there impedance curves a better match with SS?

I think you have to go with some generalizations to point yourself in your preferred direction.  As @mulveling describes earlier there are the vDH, A90, Lyra type carts and then there are the Koetsu type.  I would put SoundSmith somewhere in between that continuum.  If to have the right arm and phono stage you should be able to try those different types and see what you like.  Start used lower in the line and go from there?