Cartridges: Complete Scam?

I would have to agree with others on this post was started by a rookie. The post started off strange and got worse by claiming that by using Magico speakers with a crappy amp the system would sound great just because of the speakers. Far from it!
This poster needs to understand that 1 piece of the puzzle doesn't make the whole puzzle. You can't buy a $500 amp and use a pair of $50k Magico's and think the sound will be any good.
It's called synergy! You can't throw darts at pieces of equipment and think they will sound sound as a whole. For example, you want to buy this $2k cartridge, does your phono preamp have the adjustability to make the cartridge perform? Does it have the appropriate gain needed? Do you need a head amp? 
Using your TT, IMO, you probably won't get better sound with a $5k cartridge. A better cartridge will need a much better tonearm, and a better tonearm will need a better TT. I moved up from the VPI JMW 9 tonearm to the $3k VPI 10.5 3D arm, which improved the SQ by quite a bit, and this was on my Hanns T-60 TT.
There are big differences between cartridges: MC/MM/MI, vintage vs. new, etc...  I remember using an Ortofon MC-20 back in 1978 which was a good cartridge back then. I bought a new MC-20 anniversary model 8 years, using a much better system than in 1978, and the MC-20 sounded pretty bad compared to the newer model cartridges. I sold it off pretty fast. 
There are diminishing returns in everything you buy in many different areas. But IMO, you have to get higher up in the audio equipment food chain before you can claim diminishing returns. 

19lbs or 23 lbs for a tt is nothing. Mine weighs 150 lbs and I’ve seen and heard a few that are much heavier.
i wouldn’t put a lot of your stress on weight of a tt, it’s the whole package. I have friends that put $3-5k cartridges on tonearms and it just doesn’t work out. If you go out to vinyl asylum and check out the analog database on tonearm and cartridge specs, you will see which cartridges will match up with which tonearms. I know that soundsmith does a lot of their testing with vpi gear for example, but that doesn’t mean that their $8k cartridge will work fine with the vpi gimbal arm either.
1 more thing, years ago I used a grado sonata cartridge on a music hall mmf7 I think tt and I couldn’t get rid of the hum. Went to another tt and the hum went away

Madivid0 - I don't think you get it! IMO, you are the person that will create another thread asking if expensive cables are a scam? Expensive speakers are a scam? Expensive amps are a scam? on and on. You probably put down the people that buy more expensive equipment than what you can afford. There are many of you that think their $200 amp sounds as good as a $70,000 solution amp, or your $300 NHT speakers are every bit as good as a $100,000 pair of Magico/Wilson/others...
As a replier stated, what don't you like about your system which is a valid question to ask. If you are happy with a $200 cartridge, great, keep it and go on. If you aren't happy, then listen to other cartridges in your price range. If you can't hear a difference in cartridges, then either your system doesn't have high resolution or you can't hear the difference, don't blame vendors that price cartridges out of your price range.