MC Cartridge: Elliptical; around 0.5mv; track 1.25-1.75; Affordable

Most re-tippers either cannot or will not rebuild a suspension. Don’t buy a cartridge that is likely to need a new suspension or a rebuild of its old suspension. That would be a mistake. Changing the cantilever and stylus type can be done, and that is a whole different can of worms.

Elliot, Basically this thread consists of you naming products you saw on the internet after suggestions were made by Chakster and others, with not much comment about whether you really want to buy it or can afford it or fit it into your system.  That is what I meant when I wrote, "Is this a question?"  My post came right after you posted a URL for a Jeff Rowland phono stage that your friend was going to give to you on longterm loan.  If that happened, what more do you need?  If you were to take possession of the Rowland, you would not be needing any SUT OR a pre-preamp.  So what is all this about?  "Channel separation" and "channel balance" are not a way to judge whether you will like the sound of a stereo cartridge.  And my general advice to you is not to buy a "vintage" phono cartridge, because aging, even in the box, does affect cartridge suspensions.  Chakster is a very experienced collector; he knows what he is doing and can get away with buying old cartridges.  I've done it too.  But I have also been "stiffed" once or twice.  I don't think you want to start out with a major disappointment.

My opinion is that HOMC cartridges are usually inferior to LOMC cartridges, MM cartridges, and MI cartridges.  HOMC is at the bottom of my totem pole.  But that is merely my opinion.  You need a phono stage, preferably one that has both MC (high gain) and MM (low gain) phono inputs, so you can play around with cartridges of different types until you find out what you like in your system.  Or of course you can use an MM stage plus or minus a SUT, to the same end.

A SUT is nothing but a transformer. As such it is liable to faults associated with transformers used at the interface between any two stages. Most commonly an effect upon bass and extreme treble response in the form of attenuation or loss of detail. There’s no free lunch. Do some reading. 
The Denon transformers are “good”, but are the specs correct for your cartridge and your phono stage?

Is this a question?

I certainly don't doubt the ears of you guys who say you have zeroed in on THE correct load for your MC cartridge.  I have universally found that there IS a load resistance that begins to degrade the sound of an MC, usually one that is significantly less than 10X the internal resistance of the cartridge.  Above that too-low value and at 10X or higher, I hear very little difference in relation to load impedance presented by the phono stage, but if there is a difference, I tend to prefer 47K, in fact.  (I don't use 47K with every MC, just occasionally, for the very reason that I don't hear much difference once I get above 1000R.) This is using at one time or another my Atma-sphere MP1 (tubes), the J&R Phonolinepreamp (SS), or the Manley Steelhead (hybrid) with such cartridges as Koetsu Urushi, AT ART7, Dynavector 17D3, ZYX UNIverse low output version, and Ortofon MC2000 or MC7500.

Somewhere up this thread I read that your phono stage has a fixed input resistance of 100 ohms . Then I read that the Dynavector 301 has an internal resistance of 40 ohms. If both of those numbers are correct, and if you absolutely cannot change the input resistance of your phono stage, then this match is a no go. you want the input impedance of the phono stage to be about 10 times that of the internal resistance of the cartridge. This is a basic rule that you should commit to memory. It can be “bent” at the cartridge to phono stage interface but not by that much.What you would hear in this case is a dull sound and an apparent loss of gain.

VTF per se is not directly proportional to record wear, although it is a factor, and these days you can find MC cartridges with  “exotic” stylus shapes for under $1K. So, like jperry said, how much do you want to spend?