Choosing the right cartridge....

I have the VTPH 2A, love it with my Koetsu. The Herron has plenty of gain for its .4mV output. There are probably plenty of phono stages people will notice seem to work well or not so well with certain cartridges. I rather doubt that is the case with the Herron. 2 or 2A I bet its fantastic no matter what the source. Now when it comes to cartridge/arm that might be a different story. But cartridge/Herron I would not worry about.

While there is no doubt I would be in "nirvana" with the Koetsu, the best cartridge for any individual will depend on his musical preferences; analytical for rock, and a Koetsu for jazz and female vocalists are the first generalities that need to be made before one goes into arm compatibility.

Actually I’m a huge Koetsu fan; they’re absolutely my favorite cartridges. For me it just worked out that I keep Koetsus on the main rig with my VAC phono stage plus SUT, and the Ortofon/Shelter on the 2nd system with VTPH-2A. Yes, the Herron will do well with Koestu too - its MC stage is really good, but I still prefer MM mode plus a great SUT for Koetsu. Most Koetsus tend to price themselves well above the Herron, though - and at that point you’re "all in", and then I definitely prefer VAC as the partner. But a Black or Rosewood might make a perfect match with VTPH-2A for a reasonable budget (I just haven’t heard those models). Now that this suggestion was posted by a user, I have to join in endorsing it. 

Koetsus are not genre specific. I listen to a lot of hard rock and heavy metal (when it’s well recorded enough) with mine. Never heard anything do this material as well as a Koetsu. Analytical cartridge for metal? Yuck! :)

The Cadenza Bronze is the one Ortofon model that "gels" with me as a Koetsu lover. Their higher end cartridges strike me as too much like high-end digital. I also like the Shelters for this reason.

Speaking of MM, I drank the Kool Aid from Chakster and Raul and purchased a Stanton 881S with D81 Stereohedron cartridge on Ebay. There was a bidding war and I was lucky to get it for $250 from the re-tipper guy on Ebay (even though he is a Stanton re-tipper, this example was original D81 Stereohedron stylus). He had pictures of the stylus and it looked great. So I took the plunge. Great cartridge, once I got the Azimuth dialed in with my oscilloscope.

As far as resonance frequency, with my test records I am somewhere between 9-11 HZ lateral and 12-14 Hz vertical which I think it's reasonable for a high compliance cartridge with my tonearm. It tracks extremely well on test record torture tracks.

Jury is still out, but I think it is as good as the Ortofon Black, which my son has so I have heard it. I don't think it has the resolution of my Lyra Delos, but man it can jam, great midrange and bass. Only thing it is really tall, so I really had to raise my arm compared to the Delos. I have a Spiral Groove SG2 turntable with Spiral Groove Centroid arm with Allen Perkins new counterweight (it had weights on either side now for Azimuth adjustment), Avid Pulsus Phono, Herron VTSP-3A(r03), Music Reference RM 9 MK II Amp and Wilson Sophia II speakers

Pleasantly surprised, great recommendation from Chakster and Raul