Want to upgrade my cartridge from 2m blue to black

Agree with Stevecham source first. Put the money aside until you can chip in some more for a new turntable. No need to put racing slicks on an Accord.

The 2m black will need to be properly adjusted to get the most from it with shibata stylus. If you cannot adjust both your stylus rake angle and azimuth properly you will be wasting your money.  If your confident in adjusting those 2 parameters and overhang with tacking force. You will hear a difference.

The OP's turntable Music Hall 2.2 is almost like Pro-Ject Debute Carbon designed for use with Ortofon 2M Blue or Red, those turntables suplied by the manufacturer with Ortofon cartridge as optimum and cost effective solution. It's a low budget turntable.

There is absolutely no need to change a turntable if the OP would like to upgrade it right now, all he need is just spare stylus with better profile, that's it. The stylus from Ortofon Black can be used with his Ortofon Blue cartridge. 

It's not a problem to make perfect alignment of any cartridge on this turntable/tonearm. I did that for a friend, but his choice for upgrade was Stanton 881s mkII (much better than any Ortofon MM). It was huge upgrade in quality compared to Ortofon Red. 

Some posters should really turn on the common sense here

P.S. I told my friend that he could sell his Pro-Ject in the future to buy more expensive Technics DD, but he's just fine with his Pro-Ject and the music sound good in his system, there is nothing wrong with that types of turntables for people who don't want or not ready to buy a better and more expensive turntable. They are happy to spend more on the records. 



 

The cartridge for the red and blue stylus is the same. The cartridge for the orange and black is the same but different and an upgrade to the red/blue cartridge. An orange and black stylus will fit into the blue cartridge but you will not get the best performance from that cartridge.  I had a Music Hall 2.2 and installed the orange and it was great...still have it for my Prime. I suggest you get the orange now it will be a noticeable improvement and then later you can just replace the stylus to the black either for your 2.2 or a new turntable that you will most likely get in the future. 

No, the Ortofon black stylus cannot be used with the blue cartridge body. This according to the Ortofon website. They list two swaps for the blue cartridge stylus; one is the 2M silver. I can't recall the other one but it wasn't the black. The site plainly states on the detail page for bronze and black cartridges that those styli are swappable. The detail page for the blue cartridge does not show the black being able to fit the blue body. If you want to take a chance on ruining a nearly six hundred dollar stylus, go for it.