Best Cartridges for the Money You've Experienced

I had both the Shelter 501 and the fantastic 901. Both of these can deliver analog magic for a song. My ears and other fellow audiophiles tell me that if you don't listen too critically, you won't hear much of a difference between the Shelters and those megabuck pickups from other manufacturers.

Regards,
Aisip

My cartridge experience is thin compared to others. I loved the old shure series of MM cartridges(v15 series) and felt they were a great buy for the money at the time (mid 70 to 90's). I finally upgraded to a Van Den Hul frog, zyx airy3s and finally a universe. I think for the money the airy3s is a great cartridge, but the universe is better cartridge. Now having said that, the shure v15 type 3 was a great cartridge for 10% of the cost of the airy3s.

Koetsu Tiger Eye Platinum Diamond...
It is no surprise at it's retail ( who buys at retail though!). But to actually hear it...It replaced my ZYX Universe which I thought before that I will never part with. The immediate effect is that you turn off your sub - you get all the bass that you will ever need through your speakers. It brings about much bigger sound stage. Then is the lush, musicality and warmth which Koetsu line is so famous about. Nothing equals life performance but this brings you MUCH closer to it. It more than matches the dynamics and lower level details that the Universe is so good at.
If there is something better I'd LOVE to hear it! Anybody?

Lyra Argo

Several months ago I would certainly have said Denon DL103. However, the increase in performance for the money is unbelievable when going to the Argo. The Argo has the punch, life and boldness of the Denon with added refinement and resolution I would not have expected for this price.

The Audio-Technica AT440MLa I just bought. Wow! What a difference over some other cartidges I've used, including some higher end makes that should be ashamed of themselves. This is the real thing!

The magic of this cartridge is it's ability to play the tracks towards the end of the record without the inner groove distortion that I hated so much. I can't explain how happy this makes me! Another great thing is it's very light tracking force, which saves on both record and stylus wear. The only drawback is that it's so light it can skip easily, from vibrations, so now I'm going to have to find a way to isolate my table better. No dancing just yet!

I've heard complaints that this cartridge is too bright and CD like, but that doesn't bother me because some of my LP's needed to be brightened up, and I don't despise CD sound anyway.

Probably the best MM cartridge at any price. If I decide to upgrade, I'll probably stick with this brand.