Cartridges: Complete Scam?

Get a decent Grado or Ortofon and call it good.

@ thehorn
Just a little edification on why maybe the op is getting such replies
Take a look at the titles of the treads he has initiated so far, see a pattern?

Cartridges: Complete Scam?
Basis Turntables: Worth it or Ripoff?
CD players = dead?
Class D = Trash?
Rega and ProAc: Bad?
Anticables: Scam? 

The impression given so far by the op is that he is basically anti audio and the majority are wondering just what the heck he is doing in these forums at all.
Or that he has some agenda, you chose.

Also even where members have taken the time and trouble to put together a pretty meaningfull informative reply the op has blown those posts off and carried on his merry way of insisting all of audio is some type of huge scam.

There will always be the haves and the have nots, its life.

Hope that illuminates the attitude now being displayed towards the op somewhat.
Have a blessed day!

Wow, there are so many issues alive in this thread.  At the heart of the matter, the OP is looking for rational explanation for what makes one thing better than another; absent said explanation, the product, or class of product is a "scam" if it costs a lot.  But, things are not so easy to explain. 

First of all, there is virtually no consensus on what sounds good.  Sound reproduction is so far from perfection that the combination of strengths and weaknesses of any given product will affect listeners in so many different ways.

Secondly, there has been no comprehensive way to measure or analyze sound reproduction.  As an analogy, consider Cremonese string instruments.  Here, there is fairly strong consensus 16-18th century instruments from certain makers in Cremona are among the finest ever made.  Yet, the "secret" to why they sound so good has eluded scientists that have been studying these instruments for many years.  Compared to a speaker, a violin should be a piece of cake to analyze and to copy.  The speaker is like a violin, in that it is a resonating body, but, it is a whole lot more, has to do more and is a much more complicated mechanism.  In short, there is no simple logical or scientific analysis that can be applied to why audio gear sounds the way it does.  Just because one cannot explain why product X sounds better than Product Y does not make the purveyor of product X a charlatan for charging more than the price of Product Y.  The fact that some may not even agree that product X sounds better does not change things.

The OP quickly surmised that higher-priced cartridges are a scam because the majority opinion of the first half dozen postings was that they are a scam.  As a scientific method for determining this issue, I think most of us will agree this survey methodology is a wee bit lacking.  It is amazing that the OP demands much more rigorous support from those who disagree.
 

So researching what it takes to correctly align a cartridge — VTA, rake, tracking force, protractors, microscopes, listening tests, etc...let’s be real here. Are you guys who are proud of your dumpster recscues and vintage cartridges REALLY doing all of this? Or do you just sort of line things up by sight, fiddle a little, and call it good?

Do I seriously need this $500 protractor jig? Do I seriously need a microscope?