Should I try a MC cartridge and phono pre?

When I went through the MC stage of life my TT was an Empire 598, and later a Sony PS X800. Neither are reputed to be SOTA, but in both TT the MC sounded great. I have since gone back to MM (for practical reasons) but the TT was never an obstacle to MC performance. On the contrary, the higher tracking force used with MC (at least the Ortofon I used) would tend to make it LESS sensitive to arm characteristics.

Dougdeacon...To be more precise, the limitations of my TT did not prevent me from hearing a rather significant improvement with the MC pickup. Perhaps the MC would have been even better with an exotic high end TT, but the MC in the existing TT was something I could afford, and was reasonable value for the money. The TT upgrade is for the "cost-no-object" folks.

Incidentally, the Shure V15MR is what I had before, and what I have gone back to now. Recommended for those who retain vinyl as a secondary source. Darned good sounding, practical, trouble-free, inexpensive.

Use of a transformer is a good idea. I used one for a while, and thought that I would hear an improvement when I got a preamp with MC input. No so. Transformer was just as good.

Iseekheils...I never had any hum problem. Actually, because the MC circuit is much lower impedance than MM it is LESS sensitive to magnetic fields that cause hum. Same reason why transistorized preamps, with 50 ohm output impedance are less likely than 600 ohm tube preamps to have hum pickup in interconnects.