Is there usually a dramatic difference between $5k and $10k cartridges ?

rossb, what table/arm/phono stage do you have ?

House sound is more important. This sounds right to me.

If you don’t have the turntable, arm, phono cables and phono-stage to support a high-end cartridge you might not hear much of a difference between $5k and $10k. A $10k cartridge might just as well expose the flaws of the system as anything if you don't have the supporting gear.

OTOH: if you have a maxed out analog front end, one can take good advantage of the higher end cartridges and get pretty big bang for the buck. In that case going from $5k to $10k can produce marvelous results. That’s how I feel about where I am with mine.

@jasonbourne71 No. An engine costs at least $1m. The cheaper ones are compromises for the poor.

Let’s assume an engine for a BMW automobile costs $10K to build. 

Some $10K cartridges are very very good.  Some other cartridges that can be had (used, usually) for under $1K are also very very good.  To the point where an experienced audiophile with an excellent system and good ears might prefer the latter to the former, since in the end it is a subjective judgement anyway. However, the analogy between an expensive cartridge and an expensive automobile engine is useless.

I am on the same page as @ghdprentice.

Absolutely there is a highly audible difference between even very good cartridges and ones that, performance-wise and price-wise, are a significant leap forward. This holds true for electronics, speakers and nearly every kind of audio component.

The only problem is, that unless someone has a system that operates at the same level as a 10k cartridge, they are unlikely to hear everything it does. I sometimes wonder about all the "snake oil" comments, and what type of system they are using to evaluate the "snake oil" component. All too often, they have $700 receivers which are not remotely high enough resolution for them to hear what the 10k cartridge is doing. I have almost never heard anyone with say, a 15k system, who doubts the audible differences in any type of component, whether a Shakti Stone, portable line conditioners, tonearms, cartridges, or power cables. The better the system, the more audible the changes, and the easier it is to hear those changes.