Cartridge Opinions - Sorry

Coltrane, as long as it does not hum on your turntable!

Rauliruegas, there is a slight change in VTA with tracking error but it is so slight that it is most probably meaningless. The current standard VTA seems to be 92 degrees. I use a usb microscope and set VTA so that the oncoming surface of the stylus is exactly at 90 degrees. This seems to work well. I went through the process of changing VTA in about 20 minute increments up +- 1 degrees and could not hear a significant difference. This was with a Clearaudio Da Vinci a cartridge with a fine line stylus. 

I think he makes 4-5 cartridges a week at most. 

I'm not sure either. He builds each cartridge himself and has quite a lab.
I suspect a lot of the performance comes from manual tweaking and testing. The more expensive the cartridge the more attention it gets, the better the performance. I suspect this is impractical to do on a mass assembly basis. Every cartridge would cost 20 grand. The most expensive part of any cartridge is labor. If this is the case, how long can this type of performance last? How fast does it degrade? Is it worth it in the end? The best part is the cartridges are not supplied with a stylus guard! I just broke the cantilever of my 20K cartridge:(

I do not buy used cartridges Raul. It is too risky. I am tempted to buy an Allaerts cartridge. Hopefully he will still be in business when I get the chance. I have other fish to fry first. I REALLY want to get a Schroder LT and put it on a Dohmann Helix 2. Dream on.

First of all Raul, I did not denigrate the SME arm. It was a great arm in it's day. It is not as good as some others by virtue of it's geometry. I generally reserve denigration for uni pivot arms. I hate to say this but that turntable system? is a mess. You need to clean that up. A record clamp that massive is not necessary with vacuum hold down. It is bad for your bearing. Belts that long are also a problem.
I am grad for you that you can afford a Formula 1. Maybe some day I will be able to also. 
Value is an important issue for most of us. We want to get the most for our money but we also expect performance to be within a certain envelope. Those of us on a budget or who are married look for the least expensive item that will get us there. I am more likely to trust the opinion of someone on a budget than someone who can spend anything they want. For those people if it is more expensive it has to be better. 

Cleeds, I was joking. That cartridge costs $20,000.00 therefor it must be the best cartridge made right?:) I doubt I'll ever get close to one. Go to his sight and read the specs. If I told you you wouldn't believe me. 
I think Mike Lavigne has a Jan Allaerts cartridge. Not sure which one. 

As for my opinion on this subject, the differences between most well made cartridges are relative to the flowery descriptions I see, minor.
The most obvious is output and dynamic range. Next is tonal balance. Some cartridges lean a little bright others a little bass heavy. Ralph is right. As long as a cartridge is tracking everything you throw at it, any preference is personal. MC cartridges in particular are vastly over priced and many do not represent a good value. Take a look at the Nagaoka MP500. Here is a cartridge for $800.00 with a fine line stylus, a boron cantilever and great reviews. I would bet it is a better rock and roll cartridge than most MCs. Soundsmith and Grado both make excellent reasonably price cartridges. The Kiseki Purple Heart is just as good as cartridges costing $10K  Price is absolutely no indication of quality when it comes down to MC cartridges once you get to a certain level of quality. The Ortofon Quintet Black S, the Clearaudio Essence and the Van Den Hull DDT-2 are excellent examples of cartridges using the best modern tech and materials at reasonable prices. After this it becomes purely a matter of taste, ego and tonearms. We have some fabulous tonearms on the market now but that is another subject.

And just what are those very good reasons rauliruegas.
First of all everything you have said is anecdotal. Ralph's opinion of how the Grado sounded is also anecdotal. His opinion on how a tonearm should be set up is not. Tonearms and cartridges are very simple devices. I bet even you could design a moving coil cartridge if you put your mind to it. If you want a good cartridge you have to get yourself a Jan Jallaerts MC2 Formula 1. It easily out performs any cartridge ever made but you'd better have a very quiet phono stage. I can easily make the Formula 1 sound awful. Just put it in the wrong tonearm and set it up like most casual users. I am sure the Grado sounds better in Ralph's Triplanar set up as well as I know Ralph can. From what I have read so for I would rather have Ralph set up my turntable than you. 
You are always entitled to your opinions. I just wish you wouldn't try to shove them down everyone else throat's. It seems you have been a bit more forceful lately. What is stressing you out?