Cartridge for Graham 1.5

I have the Graham 1.5T (on a VPI TNT) and have been using the Ortofon Jubilee for the last 10 months. Great sounding cartridge and a big step up from the Crown Jewel (aka shelter 501) which I used for a few years.
The Jubilee sounds full bodied, robust and uncolored - ie without ever tipping into warmth. It has great bass definition and natural highs with no brightness. Dynamics are a significant step-up from the CJ - as is soundstaging and image focus. It's also the best tracking cartridge I've owned, almost never loses it's composure, making it very relaxing to listen to.
This doesn't really convey what great music maker the Jubilee is - it's a thoroughly enjoyable and involving cartridge to listen to. In my system it stomps on the CJ in this respect. It does require careful setup to extract the best and is a little fussy about VTA/VTF/azimuth - perhaps due to the stylus shape.

I have a Koetsu Rosewood Signature in my 1.5t. The arm has the 2.2 bearing upgrade. The combination sounds transparent, dynamic and very sweet. The Koetsu was quite cheap because it needed rebuilding. I had that done at Benz in Switzerland. The total cost came in under your budget.

I've got a Graham 2.1 with a Helikon mono cartridge (on a Sota Sapphire tt). Great synergy - - wouidn't expect any less from a 2.1/stereo Helikon match.

Thanks for the imput so far. It helps me and I hope others.

I did a search on the Jubilee and note its compliance is 16 and 10.5 grams. Seems like that would be a good mechanical fit. You believe it to have good synergy with the 1.5?

The Lyra Helikon : 8.0 grams
Compliance: Approx. 12 x 10 x (1/1000000)/dyne at 100 Hz
Seems a bit low on compliance and light from what little I have been able to find here. The Skala$$$ has the same compliance and 1 gram heavier You have had great success with this on the Graham 1.5?

I did not know a Koetsu would be a great match with the Graham. I could not find much on it accept low/med compliance. Lucky you on that find, Benz rebuilt it like OEM? Do you remember the rebuild price? I have plenty of time and if lucky could maybe do the same.

I am also looking at the Dynavector XX2, ZXY R100 and Sumiko Celebration. But seems like everyone suggests use with the SME V and I really don't want to change arms.
I like what I hear currently but I believe a better cart can bring more pleasure. I am not good at all describing sound or what I like but I do like to experiment some and listen to quality pieces in my system. I guess transparent with problems of omission rather that comission it that makes any sense.

Regarding matching of the Jubilee to the 1.5 - I've tested the resonant frequencies with the HFN&RR test record and get a nearly ideal 10-11Hz for vertical and horizontal resonant frequencies. The cartridge is very well behaved in the Graham.
Actually theory would predict that the 16µm/mN compliance would produce a lower resonant frequency around 8.5Hz (assuming an effective mass of 11g for the Graham and 9.5g weight of Jubilee) - maybe the so called "Wide range Damping" used by Ortofon has something to do with the actual result.
I'm sure the higher compliance of the Jubilee contributes to its super tracking performance.

Don't read too much into specified compliance figures, I've had great results with cartridges speced around 12µm/mN. Funnily enough, the Denon 103R (5µm/mN but specified at 100hz not the normal 10hz) also produced resonant frequencies of ~10hz in the Graham - and also tracked superbly (though not up to Jubilee standard).

Don't know if he still has any, but I got my Jubilee from Juki in Hong Kong for about US$1K. Might be hard to beat its sonic and tracking virtues at that price.