Why do better MC cartridges cost a fortune?

Why does everyone have such a problem with value pricing. If company X wants to sell something that delivers a 1% increase in perceived performance over anything else they have then they are free to (and by economic theory bound to) charge as much as the market is prepared to pay for that improvement. The manufacturing costs or other fixed costs are irrelevant, as long as they are covered in the long run. And, As others have pointed out, in the context of a six figure analog system changing the cartridge is in fact one of the cheaper ways of upgrading.

Come on @inna to use AirTight as an illustration. At the same time they added the $15K Magnum Opus they also brought out the $2.5K PC-7 at the bottom end so bringing the cost of entry to the line down. The same is true of most manufacturers in that we are seeing options added that expand the range at both ends

@inna I might argue a $10k cartridge is a better investment than most other pieces of kit

consider you buy one and when you’ve got your 1000 hours or whatever in you retip/rebuild for $6k or get the same $4k discount off the new top of the line, many cartridge manufacturers also offer trade in for comparable cartridges from other lines

if you try the same whenever ARC upgrade their top of the line amps you’ll be out much more - the moment you plug a brand new amp or speaker in you’ve lost 20-30% of its value straight away

the one real downside of cartridges is that it’s really hard to get them reliably on the used market as they do wear so the cost of entry is high ... but once you’re on board it’s not such a problem

now if we really want to discuss the $10k burning a hole in your pocket I’d like to see you compare a $2k cartridge and a Herzan platform under your table with a $12k cartridge and no platform. I’d wager the former would outperform the latter ... 

Herzan make active isolation platforms that eliminate subsonic interference. They really work with turntables but the cost of entry is $10k.

Unfortunately the sad truth is that at this level every last thing makes a difference so it’s hard to say what is the “last” thing to change 😁

Active isolation like the Herzan (or similar from many others including KSI who make Vibraplanes) offers 99% isolation in all six dimensions. Passive such as Vibraplane maxes out at 95% or so and more effective in vertical than horizontal. Also latter requires a compressor for air supply. Cost is 30-40% of active however and certainly will give great results, as will other passive approaches such as Minus-K, do note however that the latter need to be loaded as specified for best results whereas active platforms perform under any load. So, many ways to slay the isolation dragon 🐉