Upgrade from Rega Elys 2

I see. I would suggest then to stay with MM cartridge. Rega Exact would be a logical step up, Nagaoka 500 may be an excellent if expensive choice.

The Nottinghams are slick-looking and may be on the list of upgrades in the future. The problem is I'm in the central US, they're a UK company, and auditioning such a beauty would be near-impossible. 

As far as I know, there is only one distributor/dealer in the US - Hollywood Sound in Florida. I talked to Larry, the owner, a few times but don't know how he sells outside his area. He really likes Nottingham and strongly prefers MCs with them. Problem is that good MC are expensive and require better and quieter phono. I cannot justify paying, say, $1500 for top of the line Goldring MC or close to $2000 for Lyra Delos, as examples.

Pear Audio tables/arms could be worth considering as well, they are in fact very much based on Nottingham design. I have not auditioned them but heard high praise, especially of their top of the line set-up.

oranfoster, thanks for the info.

Audiosalvage, I have a Herbies Mat on my P3-24. Very happy with it and the price is reasonable.