Where to start with vinyl

Wrong... High output cartridges are much easier to deal with. Its really a tradeoff. Yes you might get very slightly more detail with a low output, because of the fewer windings on the coil, however rf, hum, noisy power, etc. can and usually does swamp that detail.

I'm not saying that modern low output cartridges are bad..they are excellent...but so are some high output moving coils. If one has a less than state of the art pre-pre, the high output cartridge allows the unit to work what wonderders it has rather than not being able to do its job properly at all. Like someone said earlier, it is a tradeoff..you give a bit of detail up, but also you give up lots of hum and noise. Which would you give up Plato..