Upgrading the stock cartridge on Macintosh’s MT5 turntable

thank you 

You can certainly do better than the Blue Point. That tonearm was designed for cartridges with a compliance around 15. The Blue Point is 15. The Ortofon MM cartridges are around 20 which is too high for that arm.  The Clearaudio cartridges are 15-16 and will match perfectly. The Maestro V2 is an excellent MM cartridge. As far as tracking is concerned it will run circles around the Blue point. 
Grado cartridges will also work very well and are generally a bit warmer than Clearaudio designs. 
You can use low compliance cartridges by just adding weight to the head shell but these are generally low output moving coils and you would have to add a step up transformer.

Very interesting recommendation...I have been looking at the ClearAudio Charisma V2.  Any thoughts v. The Maestro V2 for this tt? Thank  you for your time.

JW

Jworth, the Charisma V2 should work perfectly. It is a little stiffer at 17u/mN but it is also three grams heavier than the blue point. So it all cancels out. It has Clearaudio's best stylus in it. I have never heard one but it should be killer. The Maestro is excellent so you would have to assume the Charisma is even better. According to Clearaudio's spec the Charisma will track at 90 uM which is fabulous. Very few cartridges can track that well.
If you get it do let us know how you like it!

Mike

Does anyone know a good cartridge that would work with the MT5 that is being used with the phono stage on the McIntosh MA252? I really want to upgrade from the Blue Point #2. Thanks!