Table/Cartridge price ratio

Of all the equipment in audio the cartridge hits the point of diminishing returns first. One can buy a well designed cartridge for under a hundred dollars. One can buy a very, very, good cartridge for a few hundred dollars. Beyond that the improvements, if any, get very expensive indeed. Generally the additional money would be better spent elsewhere.

So, an $800 cartridge is WAY beyond the point of diminishing return!

Depends on the tonearm.

It is impossible to evaluate and/or give advice for any cartridge(s) without the tonearm.

The tonearm/cartridge and amplifier/speaker matches are the most critical in any audio system.

Table/cartridge price ratio is not a useful measure.

I've never heard two cartridges that sound the same so generally you will never get the same results with two different cartridges in the same rig.

The only component I hear more variation in from model to model, vendor to vendor, is the speakers.

I think that once you have a very good cartridge, the differences are largely a matter of taste, like with speakers.

I think good cartridges these days start in the $250 range or so for MCs, less for MMs. Either are capable of good performance, though I tend to prefer MCs as a group over MMs.

I'd have to say in my experience I totally disagree with Samujohn. There is a huge difference between 500 and 3000 dollar carts, more money gets you more magic usually. Now you can have a great time with a 300 dollar cart, just don't fool yourself into believing that the 3000 dollar one sounds just about the same IT DOES NOT! That said I don't know that you'd want to spend that kind of money when you are playing with a 1500 dollar table/arm setup. You may be better to upgrade that and stay reasonable with the cart for a while. So no 800 for a cart for your setup would not be overkill.