Moving from MM to MC

Some cartridges to also think about are Clearaudio Aurum Beta S, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood--used.  Either would be about $300-400.  If later on you wished to upgrade the sound, the Cartridge Man Music Maker III is very nice sounding and more detailed than most of the MM's.  I picked up one used on Agon for $500.  It lists for $1295.  None of these would need a step up device.  I've had the Clearaudio cartridges in a very fine Maplenoll Ariadne straight line tracking air bearing TT/arm combo.  Any would be a large step up in sound quality to the Shure.  I had the V15 back in college.  OK is all.

The advice I was given by my local store is invest in the cart and not all the things you need to make it sound good.  That's why I went with a $700 MM and not $200 on a MC and another $500 to make it compatible with my amp which already has a phono stage input.

I agree that there are lots of mm/mi to explore that are worth investigating. But maybe consider a ho mc. I like the Dynavector 10x5 quite a bit. Pricey now but maybe a lightly used one. Not fussy to get up and going, nice all rounder. 

I presently have two 103R's mounted on two different TT's (with different arms). A Pioneer PLX1000 (medium-weight arm) and an Ariston RD11S/Grace 707 (light arm). Arm mass is NOT critical! Excellent results in both cases!

@bstatmeister - I’m not going to get into the MM/MC debate because we all have our own preferences, but if you want to get higher resolving sound, I would start by replacing your phono stage. Any of the Simmaudio Moon products will be a huge improvement over what you have.

The LP110 is a great place to start and will work with either MM or MC carts - so you can move forward from there
http://simaudio.com/en/product/110lp-phono-preamplifier/

See what it does for your sound first

I made the mistake of buying budget phono stages. When I got the Simmaudio MOON - it opened my eyes to what vinyl has to offer.

As for your arm - if you are interested - you might want to take a look at the Audiomods arms. They actually do a custom mount just for your turntable

http://www.audiomods.co.uk/technicsarm.html

The audiomods arm is a superb upgrade that you could aim for down the road.

AND don’t believe anyone that says putting the Audiomods arm on the 1200 is a foolish move - I have heard what the arm did for a friend with that very table and it is an excellent upgrade that brought the best out of the table.

In your shoes I would start the LP110 first - and only then, consider a cartridge upgrade.

Regards - Steve