What is the most obvious tweak / upgrade for this type of turntable before spending substantial money on a better cartridge?
Sorry, the others must have been so eager to post they missed this one entirely.
There’s a couple really cheap yet effective tweaks / upgrades that will improve this table a lot. I have a very old SL1700, hasn’t been used in years but I tried all this and know it works.
Dirt cheap yet super-effective: put the table on a sand box. Doesn’t have to be huge. More is better but an inch or two of good packed sand is fine. Mix it with a little mineral oil so it packs down and stays put with no dust. Used since like forever because it works- and is cheap and easy to do.
For only a little more money but even bigger improvement: springs. Every size is there on eBay but it takes a lot of searching to figure it out while Nobsound springs are adjustable to a wide load range and only $30 which is why I recommend them. Yes Townshend are a lot better, but they cost more than your current rig. True, they will elevate the performance of your current rig to where you can’t believe. But still: money.
Next after these two is fO.q tape, thick or thin your choice, either way about $60 for enough to make a serious improvement in your system. Tone arm, platter, plinth- try small pieces, see how it sounds, slowly gradually add. Also works great on speaker baskets, and inside components on circuit boards, etc.
From here on, either you get into more expensive tweaks like Synergistic PHT and ECT. Now you are looking at around the $200 range where you could get decent phono leads. If you do go phono leads do NOT get anything that goes to RCA and makes you have to buy an interconnect. DO get phono leads that run continuous from cartridge to phono stage.
Something to keep in mind. All the other stuff, sand box, springs, PHT, maybe even the tape, if you ever do decide to sell and upgrade tables these tweaks can all be kept and used, again and again, forever. Phono leads, not so much. No one gonna buy a table without them, nor give you what you paid for them in resale, nor are you going to want to use them in your next table. Phono leads will almost certainly improve the sound. They will also absolutely certainly be a total write-off one day.
Might still be worth it. But go into it eyes open.