Hi,
I didn't mean to imply that you should go to a top grade cartridge, but that the arm and table certainly would do justice to ANY choice, even the best available cartridges.
As for upgrades, I don't know if it is possible to actually buy a particular arm and then have it upgraded later vs. buying an "upgraded" arm with better bearings, like the ABEC 7 bearings. Same thing with the arm wiring.
The friend with the SME/VPI does a lot of tinkering and also moves that arm and a Graham 1.5t between the VPI and a Technics table. On both tables, he gets the same basic performance (we both actually prefer the SME 309). I generally think that the arm, and certainly the cartridge, makes a bigger difference once you get to a reasonably good quality level. If the VPI has been giving you pretty good performance, perhaps you should think of upgrading it to the highest HW-19 status and spend the big dollars on a good cartridge.
I didn't mean to imply that you should go to a top grade cartridge, but that the arm and table certainly would do justice to ANY choice, even the best available cartridges.
As for upgrades, I don't know if it is possible to actually buy a particular arm and then have it upgraded later vs. buying an "upgraded" arm with better bearings, like the ABEC 7 bearings. Same thing with the arm wiring.
The friend with the SME/VPI does a lot of tinkering and also moves that arm and a Graham 1.5t between the VPI and a Technics table. On both tables, he gets the same basic performance (we both actually prefer the SME 309). I generally think that the arm, and certainly the cartridge, makes a bigger difference once you get to a reasonably good quality level. If the VPI has been giving you pretty good performance, perhaps you should think of upgrading it to the highest HW-19 status and spend the big dollars on a good cartridge.