Need help with phono cartridge selection

I am sure everyone who has responded is trying to be helpful.  Here is an analog to your question:  I have never painted my house before, what color do you think I should paint it?

Your question is really impossible for anyone else to answer for you.  You could put each of your choices on a 3"x5" file card, mount them on a wall, stand back and blind fold your self and throw a dart with the choice made for you by the dart.  Literally any of the cartridges on your list would be a fine choice for a first step and none is likely to cause the least trouble. 

I agree w Bill, except don’t put the OM series on the list…. I’m using a Bronze now as a spare…. a wonderful rock n roll cartridge as it has a whisker of saddle….

I like Audio Technica Cartridges, the sound, and several have very good channel separation and tight channel balance: combined they give excellent imaging.

I like the AT540ml for beginners, in your case, within your budget, I would move up their line to the VM750SH with Shibata Stylus

30 db channel separation, 1.0 db channel balance

soundsmith stylus shapes article

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cartridge alignment?

do you or a friend have the few inexpensive tools and experience to mount and align a cartridge? any advanced stylus shape that will definitely give better performance requires careful setup.

+1 @billstevenson First, welcome to the ‘Gon!  Unfortunately I can’t help with your cartridge question, but I’d say for this and future posts you should always share what equipment you have now, what specific improvements you’re looking for, and what sound characteristics are most important to you.  This will greatly help people to make recommendations that are inline with what you’re looking for otherwise you’ll get stuff that’s all over the place and not necessarily consistent with your specific tastes/goals.  Put another way, the better/more info you give upfront the better and more effective recommendations you’ll get here.  Best of luck in your search. 

Of the cartridges you selected I think the VM540ML and the 2M Bronze are best. If you can push a little harder the Goldring 1042 is a dynamite cartridge. It has a Gyger S stylus on a boron cantilever punching way above it's price point. It is the equivalent of the 2M Black LVB at a little over 1/2 the price.