cart for Systemdek IIX


I used to really be into vinyl and had a Nottingham DAIS and shelter 90x at some point I got bored with it and sold things off, things were never the same after getting rid of the 90X cart, it was magic and at some point I thought it was picking up to much surface noise or something and sold it and tried something else, I think a Dynavector XX2 and it was just never the same and I ended up selling my whole rig many years ago.  On my way up to the Dais I had a Nottingham Horizon and gone from Dynavector 10x5 to 20X to 17D2.  I thought they were all great especially the 17D2 as I recall.  All MC carts!  I've had this Systemdek laying around forever and it has a Grado on it.   I recently bought another phono stage and plugged it in and it sounds pretty darn good.  I have 1000s of records so I'm getting the itch back to play them again.  I had tried this a couple years ago, I bought a VPI nomad that was an all in one unit that I could just plug in to my preamp, it had a phono stage and I think Ortofon Red cart.  I came ready to roll out of the box. Well that setup just left me cold.  It never sounded good I tried and always thought why am I wasting my time this sounds a lot worse than my digital.  So I still get a bit of that off putting felling I think comes from the MM cart but to a lesser degree with this systemdek IIX and Grado cart.  So sorry long way to ask a question of what is an ideal cart upgrade for the sytemdek IIX with profile tonearm?  I suppose it's overkill to go to far expensive with a cart for this table and arm?  My phono stage is a PS Audio New Wave.   I don't know a lot about this table and arm so any advise is appreciated.  I give the long story to make a point that I have enjoyed some very nice analog sound in the past and also the rest of my system is pretty far up there.  IT could end up being a springboard for something bigger but for now I thought it would be fun to see what a cart upgrade would do.  
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I’m also in the process of upgrading my SYSTEMDEK IIX. I bought it nearly 20 years ago and have kept it stock with its Profile 1 tonearm. It came with a Grado Reference wood bodied MM phono cartridge and sounded quite nice. However, the bearings in the tone arm have become worn out, as is the cartridge stylus. I purchased a new old stock Jelco 370 fluid damped tone arm which I will eventually have installed. The Jelco was manufactured in 1984, the same year my IIX was built.

I also need to upgrade the phono cartridge at some point.

The llX can sound quite good when set up properly (hence its nickname "the poor man’s LP12). So I am hoping that it will be the last TT I need.