Phono Cartridge for Luxman PD-171 Turntable

The Jelco Tonearm is a derivation of the Jelco 250S. It is capable of extracting lots of details and place each instrument in an orchestra. Very good allrounder and easy to use as all Jelco tonearms. For me it is a bit on the light side when it comes to bass performance. Pair it with vartidges thar have some flesh on the bone.

A Jelco 850 will be a good improvement. A SME M2-9R sounds more fluid and warm. A SME 309 will work if its sound is to your taste. A Jelco 350 has abit more substance.

I tried all of them an now have a SME M2-9R mounted.

if you stay with the original tonearm, try Benz, Van den Hul, Goldring Ethos. I would avoid Lyra, even so that I like them. AT i did not try on the Luxman but I would avoid. 
 

it also depends on the Phonostage you are using and obviously the Loudspeakers.

The Hana SH (High Output) is an extraordinary value at $750. Not only does it sound great, image and have great dynamics, it is an excellent tracker and doesn't require a separate MC preamp. 

I own a PD-171 and use a Dynavector 20xl2. Quiet, no surface noise, dynamic w/plenty of detail. I have it hooked up to the Luxman CL38U SE tube preamp. I'm using the phono from the CL38. 

I’m using two Luxman PD-444 turntables with 4 tonearms, i think you need a mid compliance MM for your Jelco, but even higher compliance should not be a problem. Some modern cartridges just not good, other are great. Purchased over 50 different cartridges i could recall a few models that you simply can’t go wrong with (they are all from the golden era and better than many new models i owned): Pickering XSV/4000 (Strereohedron stylus tip), Stanton SC-100 WOS (Stereohedron stylus and Sapphire coated cantilever), SONY XL-50 (Super Elliptical tip, Boron Pipe Cantilever), Victor X-1IIe (Elliptical tip, Titanium Pipe cantilever), Grace F9 (with Luminal Trace or LineContact stylus) ... all those great cartridges can be found in perfect shape for $400-800 (depends how lucky you’re).

Ortofon cadenza blue 

Audio-Technica AT150MLX on Amazon for $349 would be as high as I'd go.

I have seen a dealer running the EMT tsd-15 on the PD-171. Analog Planet just mentioned that the Luxman table is also available with a newly designed Frank Schroeder arm.