Looking for the best moving coil cart that is around $5K used

I did a similar thing. I disregarded expert advice, and spent on cartridge, tonearm, and turntable, in that order. It was a mistake on so many levels.

First, a TT gives you more bang for the buck. A better TT should give you less noise, less sibilance, more clarity, etc. If it doesn't, then something is wrong, probably setup. Very few people do it right; for example, how repeatable are the settings of the torque screwdriver that your expert uses? (German units don't drift; much).

And that's just one of dozens of potential issues. Ever wonder how far off the perpendicular the stylus and cantilever are? (Even my higher end  Koetsu is off). Well, that's why you need azimuth adjustment. Stable azimuth adjustment.

Second, cartridges wear out. Only a factory rebuild preserves the house sound, at least at the level you are considering. With a defective tonearm, that could be unnecessarily frequent. Think more dollars every so often, whereas TT do not wear out. Nor do tonearms. A good tonearm will retain its settings, whereas some tonearms will not even allow the necessary adjustments in the first place. Which may be the source of your discontent.

So I suggest that, if the mass market stuff doesn't work for you, try something else. Consider Trans-Fi. I understand that their mag-lev TT is something else; I know that their air bearing tonearm is something else, as I have two of them. ($1000 each - what a bargain!) All within your budget, if you buy from the factory. Google them.

Good luck.

I should also have noted that in the real world of physical measurements, speed is always an average. So speed can be spot in when measured over a few seconds, but nevertheless have huge variation when the average is taken over a few milliseconds. The ear hears clearly to 20KHz, so a 50 microsecond average is clearly audible, let alone the problems with beats, which push the threshold further yet. This is the old statistical problem of measuring with one number, the mean. It says nothing about the standard deviation or higher moments.

Well handyman, you say the speed is spot on because the TT is direct drive. I don’t think so.

TT generate lots of noise, which means vibration, and speed variation. It is only a question of the spectrum and amplitude of noise. For example, there is an inherent noise from the motor: cogging. Its frequency is some multiple of 1.8 seconds / number of poles. Then there is bearing noise, whose frequency is some fraction of 1.8 seconds. Then there is noise from the power supply, at idiosyncratic frequencies.

All of this noise is attenuated by the moment of inertia (rotational "mass") of the platter. Noise is nevertheless there, and it presents as artificial brightness, sibilance, high frequency edge. Its reduction is one of the main goals of high end.

If you don’t agree with my analysis, fine. But this is wholly objective: can your tonearm support fine azimuth adjustment, to a few minutes of arc? If not, your Urushi deserves better.