Cartridge or cable upgrade

You all rock. Thank you for all the advice and guidance. Some further questions:

1. How thick a mat should I get if I go the Herbie Mat route?

2. Yes, the table is probably the weaker link in the system, but at this stage I'm not sure how invested I want to get in the analog side of things. However, if I do pursue it, what's a good table that would be a step up from the 5.1? Figure ~$1000 used.

Excellent advice, Zd. I've never really been unhappy with my table and researched a bunch of them heavily before deciding on the Pro-ject. One dealer clicked his tongue, shook his head, and insisted that I HAD to buy one of his Well Tempered tt's if I wanted to get ANY fidelity in the analog world, but the $1300 was out of my reach, especially sans cartridge.

That's kind of why I wanted to change the small things - cables, low-priced cartridges, even a heavier platter?

Thank you all for the myriad avenues of advice and direction!

Now, let's assume that a new tt is out of the picture for now insofar as I'm guessing I would have to spend ~$1500 or so for a decent upgrade. And assume I have a few other bills I'm paying off before I go full throttle into the tt route.

So, with that in mind, and knowing that, like almost all of us, I'm more or less happy with the sound but "know" it could be better, just like the greener grass on the other side of my fence, should I

a. stay put and enjoy the music

b. try some sets of different cables - BlueJeans, Morrow, AudioQuest, maybe even Mapleshade - to see what happens (I'd recommend Clear Day, but Paul doesn't make shielded phono cables)

c. Invest in a 10X5 or a Grado Sonata 1 and, if I can't tell a difference, sell it.

d. stay put and enjoy the music

"Logic Zd543."

Kik - I have no idea what that means...

Ah. Of course. I've emailed LSA to see what they say about a step-up. There's no pre-in on the LSA (it's an option for about $400, I believe, plus shipping both ways), and the existing phono, from all accounts, is quite good.

Any step-up recs?

You all have been tremendously helpful. I'm mulling the AT-150 or the Dyn 10x5 or the Ortofon Black. I knew the 5.1SE wouldn't be a Lyra or Koetsu-caliber table, but I wasn't really looking for that initially.

I don't know whether i'll be going server or vinyl ultimately, though I suspect the latter if only because I still use my Smith-Corona manual typewriter that I've had for 20 years.

In particular, thank you to Kiko and Al for their thoughtful and patient advice.