Advice on Phono Cartridge

I was tempted to try one of the "2M" carts but it was pointed out to me by another Akito owner that they won't fit on my arm. Weird but true.

As it it won't physically fit?  That seems weird.  Why is that?  Length of the head or something?

Yeah…it seems to be too large for the Akito's wires to make the bend around to the tonearm clips…or something...

IIRC, the Akito has a rather short headshell which makes it difficult to impossible to mount some cartridges.   Linn carts from back in the day (Karma, Asaka, Troika) all had the same small dimensions thereby almost necessitating the use of their own carts on their tonearms.

I hate the spoil the show for some of these very expensive carts, but in a recent review of 9 MM carts the Audio Technica ATN150MLX finished first, and the Ortofon 2M Black finished a close second.  The others were not even close.  I have a special import Audio Technica AT-7V $159 at LP Gear, which has the ATN150 cart with a less attacking stylus.  I have since used my AT440MLa stylus and it sounds even better, but someday I will eventually buy the stylus from ATN150.  I say this because Audio Technica, Grado, Ortofon all build common carts with a multitude of upgrades you can make.  Rega carts can't even have the stylus changed, so be careful with some of these specialty companies who say theirs is the best.