How to choose a cartridge you can't hear on your system?

This post is bringing out some good points. One can only really cross reference from brand experience, discription and referral.

I think when you take into account real wage inflation from say 30 to 50 years ago but also consider the smaller demanded  for this medium, the price points are still threw the roof for some cartridges.

I grew up in the guitar building and repair business, and in the last five years I've been building on a small scale guitar pickups with a family friend. Although we are not dealing with exotic stylus we do use various high quality ( often US made ) wire types and alnico magnets. It does take some care and patience  in assembly and soldering. The price for example for a pair of 2" x 1/2" long magnets is $8.00.

My point is not to insult or doubt the quality or purchasing of the uber high end cartridges. I'm just a bit stunned by it and feel  from a personal stand point  one can get high up the latter with vintage and mid price cartridges from bigger manufactures past and present.

chakster is correct with his opinion.
Price is no guarantee for good Performance. The differences in a cartridge family are subtle, mainly differences in the amount of coils, the kind of diamond and maybe the body. When I look for a cartridge I try to listen to it first somewhere to get an impression.
...and this MM nonsense.... well, each his own religion but after 20 years of trying to push the sonic curtain, to listen to a lot of Systems and having contact to manufacturers there is ONE rule:
Do not believe what some "manufacturers/experts" will tell you. Sitting in the front of a computer, everyone can write whatever he wants. I did visit a lot of them and you can not imagine how deaf they are in reality and how lousy/shrill/compressed their System is. In all those years, this shocked me most. They do "something", they find Fans for their "something" and after a while they believe in their average "talent" and think they created something outstanding.

syntax, perhaps look at what you just wrote.....is it possible that this very opinion might....just might, apply to YOU!! ...:0)