Cartridges: Complete Scam?

Without a list of your equipment there is no way to determine weather or not you could notice a difference at any level of cart. Ie: TT phono pre, arm, amp, speakers ect. Give us a base point to start. 

@madavid0

Where do you find rare cartridges that compete with the finest modern cartridges?

It’s all abouit digging, same with rare records, can be different sources in different countries. One of my facebook friend discovered NOS (New Old Stock) stash of very rare JVC Victor cartridges along with Audio-Technica cartridges in Las Palmas. Those units were brand new, never used, forgotten stock in the old record shop. In the same shop he has bought Kenwood L-07D an extremely rare direct drive turntable. The guy came there for the vintage records, not for equimpent or not even for the cartridges. The price for a stash of those rare carts was nothing compared to the market value today (he has bought everything). It was about 3-5 years ago. You never know where you can find stuff like that for cheap, but if you can’t do that yourself, some honest audiophiles selling it for reasonable prices, but normally it sells quickly!

The prices only goes up (not down) since some amazing cartridges have been discovered in Raul’s thread on audiogon and approved my many serious audiophiles (and tested against modern MC). 10 years ago the prices even for vintage MM cartridges were so incredibly low, so the smart users of this forum purchaced many of them. Now we know the top contenders for sure. Some of those cartridges were extremely expensive in the time when they were made (in the 70's and in the 80's). Where you can find it? How do you know which one to buy? Do your own search at least read this forum before posting what you’re posting.

If you know nothing, can’t find nothing, at least respect those private sellers (audiophiles) who discovered a rare units, shared their knowledge online, made honest grading, provided pictures etc for their customers. Anytime you buy anything on ebay you’re fully protected and full return is guaranteed by "ebay buyer’s protection", so even total idiots are protected. Ebay is always on the buyer’s side if you fill a claim. It’s hard to imagine a better service for the buyers. Do you think in this situation the seller will try to offer a non working unit or to rob a customer? It’s impossible. People who keep telling you it’s a risk to buy used cartridges knows nothing about it, really! In the worst case buyer can waste time, but it’s impossible to lose money on it (return is guaranteed by ebay’s buyer protection). It can be a nighmare or pain in the ass for the dishonest seller, but not for the buyer.

But actually it’s nice to read the description and ask question before buyin’ anything to maske sure what you’re buying. I have no idea why you’re talking about discogs here, selling records is not like selling a high-end cartridges! But even on discogs everyone is protected because you pay via paypal and you can always ask for full refund if you’re not happy with grading etc. People may have 10 000 records in the shop and can make mistakes in grading, but it’s hard to imagine anyone has even 1000 cartridges.

I love these discussions and most of the responses. With all things considered I gave up chasing Audio Nirvana long ago. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. In the world of audio sound there are countless high end and ridiculously expensive pieces and components and ways to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars in search of the very best sound reproduction money could possibly buy. I always say if you have it then smoke it!
Chances are pretty darn good your ears are the weakest link and if the truth be told you likely can't honestly hear all that much difference between a decent $200 cartridge played on the same table and arm as a $2,000 cartridge. It is all good and it is all OK because some here can hear the difference if the change the wires from their amp to the speakers while most cannot.
I will always be a staunch believer that once you put together a decent system the room acoustics have a great deal more to do with how pleasing the sound is than most of the rest. You can put a really great system in a really terrible room and I assure you, it will sound terrible. After many years of working in loud environments and loving loud music it is my Audiologist who tells me the real truth and that I can't hear for $heet any way. I am still perfectly fine with my Altec Model 19s and a Luxman PD 121 TT with SME arm and a Denon 103 MC cartridge with a step up matching transformer. Just decide what sounds good enough to you in your listening room and sit back while you spin some clean vinyl.

Madivid0 - I don't think you get it! IMO, you are the person that will create another thread asking if expensive cables are a scam? Expensive speakers are a scam? Expensive amps are a scam? on and on. You probably put down the people that buy more expensive equipment than what you can afford. There are many of you that think their $200 amp sounds as good as a $70,000 solution amp, or your $300 NHT speakers are every bit as good as a $100,000 pair of Magico/Wilson/others...
As a replier stated, what don't you like about your system which is a valid question to ask. If you are happy with a $200 cartridge, great, keep it and go on. If you aren't happy, then listen to other cartridges in your price range. If you can't hear a difference in cartridges, then either your system doesn't have high resolution or you can't hear the difference, don't blame vendors that price cartridges out of your price range.

@chakster and @lewm,

Thank you for your replies! I should have written that there are huge differences between new cheap and expensive LOMC cartridges. 

I did not intend to compare what seems to be apples and oranges to me (vintage carts and new carts) and should have made that point clearer in my post.

I agree with Chakster that a vintage MM (if properly matched to the tonearm) can provide results that are as satisfying as a new setup costing many times as much, however there's a great deal of knowledge and a somehow steep learning curve when it comes to the used market.

I also recently came accross a vintage AT Signet MK-111E that was an absolute steal at a little over 300 bucks, considering that it most likely smokes any new LOMC costing 10 times as much, but I don't think that it's fair to compare new MSRP with vintage prices, at least not for the purposes of determining whether a 2/3k LOMC is a scam compared to a much cheaper new LOMC cartridge.

Best,

Luiz