What are your favorite phono cartridges?

Lewm/Raul - if you check my standouts I dont own any of them. I do agree with Skos1 and Raul's MM opening comments - it is a matching game. For me for example Koetsu Onyx Gold vdh with Sumiko The Arm, EMT vdh with Breuer, Decca London Maroon Garrots with Zeta.
Lewm - you implied in the MM thread that you never could get a good sound out of the Koetsu, so I was a bit surprised.
Raul - what are your 4 reference cartridges ? It would be useful to know when reading your views on the rest.

For me the best I've had and yes it's a matching game for arm and cartridge IMHO is my Brinkmann EMT-Ti (totally different from a standard EMT which I've heard and wasn't that impressed with). And yes it sits bolted on a Brinkmann 10.6 arm.

(Dealer disclaimer)

**Which EMT did you hear, and what did you not like about it?

The EMT-Ti is a modified EMT cartridge from Brinkmann. vdH also modified the EMT years ago and offered it.
It has an aluminum mount, a vdH Diamond, and a few material changes inside, also a screw for fine-tuning (for Brinkmann, not the regular user).
The EMT's were former Studio Systems, dirt cheap (use & throw away), now they are High End products :-)

Dear Dover, The apparent difference between Sumiko 800 and Breuer is that Fletcher designed 6 counterwights for his replica of Breuer while Breuer made just one. One of those weights, marked as 'K' was meant for the Onyx . The dealers probable sold those weights to their customers depending on their carts. So only (the happy) few own all those weights. A machinist made 3 missing for me.

Dear Dover, Either I misspoke or you misunderstood my comments about Koetsu Urushi. Prior to the MM/MI odyssey, I was very happy with the Urushi. It was my only cartridge for 4-5 years. I still think the midrange is to die for and that the bass is not so soft as that of lower level Koetsu's, e.g., the Rosewood and its variants. However, after sampling a wide range of cartridges on several different tonearms in the past 2-3 years, I would concede that the Urushi can be beaten. I need now to go back and listen to it again on some of my present rigs, especially the SP10 Mk3/Reed 2A, because I think those complementary pieces may lift the Urushi up a notch or two in its performance. I have yet to hear ANY cartridge that has a clearly "better" capacity to reproduce the midrange frequencies, however, but this is based on now distant memories. (You know how the fog of romance can color one's fading perceptions, over time.) I have never yet heard the Urushi via my present modified Sound Lab speakers. I also rebuilt and upgraded my amplifiers since the last audition of the Urushi. So, all bets are off at the moment.

Koetsu Urushi..I have yet to hear ANY cartridge that has a clearly "better" capacity to reproduce the midrange frequencies,

That is simple. Look for a cartridge which has no high frequency area, a very limited low end and you have another midrange-pusher. A Linn LP12 is similar, btw.

Syntax - the older Koetsu's generators were held inside the body with paper shims. The Garrotts would glue the generators in & replace the stylus with microscanner profiled diamonds. These modded Koetsu's were far quicker and more transparent than original, without losing the "midrange magic". I suspect the modern Koetsu's of today are quite a different cartridge now.

About 12 years ago.....I had a Koetsu Urishi 52nd Anniverary.
Not only did it have limited bass and treble extension......the (supposedly) famed midrange was about as flaccid and uninspiring as a rectors' retirement village.
I have usually only been able to sleep listening to my system when the vinyl was sounding its very best.
The Urishi was the exception.
And no question marks were hurt in the above statements.

'Et tu Brute'! Without a single question mark? My 'son'
Nikola will inherite the Urushi as well as the (slate)
plinths, Julius Lew.

I am exceedingly pleased with my ZYX Universe. Mostly plays Classical and Jazz.