Do I buy an upscale TT?

@fsonicsmith  A great tonearm with a great cartridge on a competent drive will do the trick. You have to consider the cartridge and tonearm as one unit.

The variation in the quality of cartridges is quite substantial. The more expensive cartridges are more carefully constructed with better components especially diamonds. Some cartridge companies like Lyra, MSL and Ortofon maintain their quality as you go down line, others most definitely do not like Audio Technica. I mention these companies because I have the most experience with them. 

Audio Technica ART1000 is a great cartridge, possibly the best I have.  And I have three high end Ortofons, A95, Anna and Verismo. 

Doesn't it really start with the stylus / cartridge?

@clearthinker I am wed to Ortofon and have recently become quite interested in the Verismo, it is no longer a curiosity, I would like to experience.

I have a good recollection of a A95 in use and am very familiar with a Windfeld PR in use, but can't recall encountering the Anna.

The Verismo is the one I am now looking on as the cutting edge for the Ortofon Design, it does make it known newer materials are in use for parts that have a critical function.

I am also going to get myself a demonstration of a MSL Platinum and Mutech Hayabusa.

The Verismo and Hayabusa, are the two I suspect, that will the shortlist to be decided on. It would have been nice if more was available, but getting a demonstration of a Cart' comes with challenges.

@pindac 

You would of course be welcome to listen to Verismo here but (1) I live in UK so am probably a ways away from you and in my experience (2) there is limited benefit in auditioning cartridges for purchase in unknown systems and (3) yes it is impossible to get a loaner cartridge to put in one's own system.  One way forward might be to take one's present cart and install in the dealer's system to compare with the cart under review.

I have found the match between cartridge mass and arm mass to be at least as critical as resonance matching,  In particular, don't put a light cart in a heavy arm.  A90, A95 and Verismo are all very low mass (Verismo a tad heavier).  They suit my Simon Yorke Aeroarm (very short parallel tracker) extremely well.

I can give you a taste of Verismo vs. A95.  They both have the same Ortofon family sound characteristics.  Very accurate transducers, but perhaps a little light in the heavy patches.  Verismo does a bit better there whilst retaining all the truthfulness.  You say you haven't heard Anna.  This is far heavier both in mass and in its sound character, very very solid and authoritative.  My mistake, it didn't suit the Aeroarm at all, so I run it in my Zarathustra, an SY product from the 1980s, very heavy platter, sprung, with a Zeta arm, also high mass.  It goes very well.  So Verismo is only one 'cutting edge' at Ortofon.  Anna is cutting, but a rather different edge.  They rate it as possibly the best they have done and there is now an uprated version.  If you have a high mass arm you should definitely hear it.

I do also recommend you to try the AT ART1000.  It is a really good piece, state of their art, with more authority and weight than the A90-Verismo line but little if any loss of accuracy, very clean, and a very well-balanced sound stage.  Delicate to handle, it has a unique suspension system.