Purple Heart = Purple Rain?

Tommy, you would shock to hear how little difference there is between a $160 cartridge and a $2000 cartridge. Between the $2000 cartridge and the $5000 cartridge there is even less. The best policy is to stay away from the cottage manufacturers and stick with the larger better funded ones. Their QC is usually much better. I examine each cartridge under magnification and I can say that Ortofon, Clearaudio, Soundsmith, Audio Technica and Lyra make precision products and I can not imagine that you would go wrong with any of them. Between these companies there is a good mix of MC, MM and MI cartridges, something to suit everyone. 

tommy, if you have a unipivot arm on that table you would be much better off with a high compliance Soundsmith.