Help me make a decision! Turntable overload

You should get the specs of the tonearm and use the vinylengine calculator to see what mass cartridges are a good match for your arm to yield a resonance in the green section (ideally ~9-12hz). If you are confused by my comment please don't rush on your decision. Read up, bro! Or you could get a great cartridge that's a poor match for you arm. 


Somebody mentioned a Denon 103R being a good match w/his PLX1000, if the math works, that's a well known workhorse with great pace, punchy bass and decent performance overall. Some like Zu Audio have modded them by replacing the body with wood or metal and those have a lot of fans. They are in your target price range. 

Hana is another brand with a number of models close in price (one should match your arm) and seem to be great values as a newer company trying to build a reputation. Cheers,
Spencer

I'm having a hard time finding the effective tone arm mass...  this is all I can find:

Arm typeUniversal type S-shape tone arm, gimbal-supported type bearing structure, static balance type
Effective length230 mm
Overhang15 mm
Tracking errorWithin 3°
Arm height adjustment range6 mm
Stylus pressure variable range0 g to 4.0 g (1 scale 0.1 g)
Proper cartridge weight3.5 g to 13 g (single cartridge)
– When shell weight is used: 3.5 g to 6.5 g
– When only balance weight is used: 6.0 g to 10 g
– When sub weight is used: 9.5 g to 13 g

Sounds like I can put almost anything on it?  

I am quite interested in the Denon 103R.  Not sure how I'm going to be able to hear a side by side comparison (although I'm looking for a shop). Can anyone try to describe the differences between the Denon 103R MC and the Ortofon Bronze MM for me?  I read that MC are superior to MM, but why?  

Pioneer tonearm designed for modern mid compliance cartridges, definitely not for extremely low compliance MC like Denon (which require superheavy tonearms), people never learn the basics.

The superiority of the budget MC over MM is a myth, seems like you know nothing about cartridges. At least you should know that Denon 103R has a conical tip (the worst diamond profile ever which can not extract the musical information from the record grooves) and it must be re-tipped every 300 hrs. Zu Audio and related companies are not cartridge manufacturers, but the Denon is cheap MC designed in the 60’s that can be upgraded by third-party to earn money, the upgrade makes the price up to $700 at least, but for this money you can buy amazing MM cartridges like AT-ML170 or many other vintage MM of the golden era with stylus life span up to 2000 hrs! To learn more about MM read this article in TAS magazine. And them do yourself a favour and start reading MM thread where all the best MM already discovered for lazy people.

I like some MC cartridges too, not all MM are better than MC, but the cartridges you have mentioned here is bad choice. Sometimes i think that reviewers knows nothing about cartridges when they are raving about something like Hanna or Denon 103.

Any cartridge with conical tip must be avoided if your target is details and resolution which makes vinyl magical.

Thank you Chakster!  Diving into those links...  The more I read, the more I realize how little I understand abut this stuff.  Honestly, I had no idea there would be such a steep learning curve.  I'm all about it, I just wanted to get up and running without making a big mistake out of the gate.  Definitely looking for a shortcut so i can start listening to my records.  I'm starting to get the feeling that this hobby could get expensive...  

Normally the cartridge comes with a weight. So you can compensate a little for light tone arms or light head shells.

I have a Denon 110 high output MC on a refurbished Pioneer Pl-550 and I like the old school FM sound it gives. I am not looking for resolution from vinyl.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/6257