Yeah, definitely what uberwaltz just said.
The leeway in my prior statement is in what constitutes a "reasonably good deck". I've heard the Concept (even with the cheap Concept MM), and I think that table just makes the cut. I'm not so sure about anything else in that price range bundled with an arm & cart as a package. I'm not so sure about the Marantz model - and if it were my money I'd definitely go with the Concept over it. Clearaudio (mostly) nailed it with their present lineup, which you can see given their popularity and longevity.
I'd also be giving the new Technics decks a look, though I have no experience with them. I think they're pretty interesting.
Cartridges are wear items, and they can be easily destroyed with a simple accident. I say go a bit further with the table/arm/phono before you experiment with more exotic cartridges. THEN the arm/cart quality & matching will absolutely be the most key determinant to your resultant sound quality, you may wish to explore MC cartridges, etc.
The leeway in my prior statement is in what constitutes a "reasonably good deck". I've heard the Concept (even with the cheap Concept MM), and I think that table just makes the cut. I'm not so sure about anything else in that price range bundled with an arm & cart as a package. I'm not so sure about the Marantz model - and if it were my money I'd definitely go with the Concept over it. Clearaudio (mostly) nailed it with their present lineup, which you can see given their popularity and longevity.
I'd also be giving the new Technics decks a look, though I have no experience with them. I think they're pretty interesting.
Cartridges are wear items, and they can be easily destroyed with a simple accident. I say go a bit further with the table/arm/phono before you experiment with more exotic cartridges. THEN the arm/cart quality & matching will absolutely be the most key determinant to your resultant sound quality, you may wish to explore MC cartridges, etc.