Tonearms: Ripoff?

So what do you think of it? 

Ahhh... you must be enjoying it

I just went through this entire thread. Originally, my search began to find examples of cartridges that work well with the Reed 2A Cocobolo 12" that I have mounted on my Luxman PD-444. It currently has installed a Lyra Kleos. The primary tonearm is a Triplaner MK VII U2 with a Soundsmith Sussuro MK I. Originally, the Kleos was on the Triplaner and then I wanted to see what the Sussuro would be like on it.

What I want to end up with is a mono cartridge on one tonearm and a stereo on the other. The search continues.

I too bought the Reed here on AudioGon and I have both the Feikert and SmartTractor alignment tools.

@jeraldej

 I just went through this entire thread. Originally, my search began to find examples of cartridges that work well with the Reed 2A Cocobolo 12" that I have mounted on my Luxman PD-444.

Very interesting, did you mount it on original Luxman armboard or on custom made armboard ? I have Reed 3p "12 Cocobolo, but it is not mounted on Luxman. I was thinking about thicker custom made armboard, i have many original LUX armboard too, but they are all have some holes.  

Alright. I'm resurrecting this topic because...I may have been RIPPED OFF. Not by anyone in specific but by being led down a false path re turntable systems and their upgrade paths.

My old turntable system:
MoFi StudioDeck
AT-AC9ML/II
Ifi Phono 2

I was really pleased with the dynamics and overall quality of good records. From this experience I went down an upgrade path which lead me to the following:
Triangle Art Concerto + upgraded platter (about 3 times thicker).
TA Zeus
TA speed controller
Reed 2A tonearm ($2k used from Audiogon)
Hashimoto SUT (from builder on eBay)
Chinese all-tube phono stage + common NOS tubes and Herbie tube rings
Smartractor for best possible alignment.

So, fast forward to several days ago. I noticed that the iPhono 3 Black had been released and was getting super positive reviews. There was a big jump in performance from the 2 matching the doubling of price. So I thought, why not try it out from Amazon I can always return it if needed. So I brought back out the StudioDeck. I was going to use this for phono break-in. This would also be a good opportunity to test my old deck and cart directly against the new and vastly more massive and expensive system. Now, I did set up the StudioDeck in another room and ran a pair of AudioQuest Forests across the room into my preamp (a cheap MBL 610 clone). The StudioDeck would have the advantage of not being in the listening room but I figured that in net the TA setup would still be better.

So I listened. First thing I noticed is that dynamics were pretty much EXACTLY the same. The old setup with the iPhono 3 seemed darker and little less detailed, but the experience was more-or-less similar. So basically....did I get savagely RIPPED OFF? In reality if MC design is good and the tables are setup right / run at the right speed are these systems basically all the same? So what's the deal? NONE of you guys realized this, some of you apparently with many years of experience?

Is it just the phonos? Is the cheap clone phono the bottleneck? I did put myself in the waiting list for a Don Sachs phono, will that be able to reveal a real upgrade? Will this iPhono 3 be able to show the upgrade after it burns in? Such a small upgrade for such a high cost seems like a flat out scam. Can any of you guys help me understand what's going on?