Is a Fluance RT 85 turntable worthy of a moderately priced moving coil cartridge?

I always encourage having an arm with a removable headshell like your Fluance to allow comparison and ready use of alternate cartridges, friend’s cartridges, alternate stylus shapes, cantilever materials, tracking forces, importantly a true mono cartridge if you get into Jazz as so much great music was very well recorded in Mono prior to 1958.

Your headshell removes, a cartridge change to one with an advanced stylus tip will make the biggest improvement.

Ortofon Blue is what is limiting you now (not the TT) because of it’s ELLIPTICAL Stylus Tip primarily, and it’s aluminum cantilever secondly. It’s specs are decent but not great.

• Channel balance at 1 kHz 1.5 dB

• Output voltage at 1 kHz, 5cm/sec 5.5 mV

• Channel separation at 1 kHz 25 dB

• Frequency response + 2 / - 1 dB 

• Tracking ability at 315 Hz

  80 µm

• Compliance, dynamic, lateral 20 µm/mN

• Cantilever material Aluminium

• Stylus type Nude Elliptical

• Stylus tip radius r/R 8/18 µm

• Tracking force range 1.6-2.0 g (16-20 mN)

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For imaging, look for wide channel separation, tighter channel balance, lighter tracking range, then read reviews of those few, try to get a sense of it’s sound, enough to try, and if possible buy from a source allowing trial/return/exchange.

perhaps go for MM with a replaceable stylus, say a Shibata tip, on a Boron cantilever (stiffer than aluminum but not so easy to shatter like stiffer materials). After that, a move up in TT, ARM, and ready to try a MC non-replacable stylus.

Stylus Shape Info

I like this MM for $450.

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-magnet/vm750sh

I tried this as my 1st MC cartridge, now $600, look on eBay for under 500.

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-coil/at33ptg-2

Like it so much I had AT put a new stylus on it for less than half price.

I’m taking a chance on a used AT160ML because of it’s super stiff (worrisomely brittle) Beryllium Cantilever which allows it to both deliver superior bass, and track at only 1.25g

most re-tippers discuss the majority of stylus they replace are un-evenly worn, thus the alignment was not right and more likely the anti-skate was not set properly.

do you have the few inexpensive tools and skills to change mount/align, set anti-skate properly? If not, a friend or pro? live near me at 07062? You wrote that you like the hobby, I encourage learning to do it yourself.

beercanshooter, well anywhere really, but possibly Texas?

You know the answer already. Go ahead. It just will not perform as well as it could in a better turntable. 

Here you go from a new company trying to break into the market. Le Son SL1 MKII, high output M/C with a boron cantilever and a Micro Line stylus for an entry level price of $499.00. Just ordered mine to install in my headphone system on a Rega RP3. Enjoy the music

No.