So here’s something interesting. In my search for new TTs in the same price range I came across some good reviews of the Fluance reference series.
The RT82 ships with the Otofon OM 10 and lists the following specs:
Tonearm effective weight: 28.2g
Headshell weight: 10g
Cartridge weight: 5g
Cartridge compliance: 20
Just for giggles I put these into a resonant frequency calculator and got 5.4 (!)
That can’t be right, can it? Am I missing something? ...
... What about something like the AT VM540ML?
I was also looking at the Grado Silver/Gold or the Otofon 2M blue in the same price range.
You have to calculate your tonearm/cartridge resonance frequency with actual Test Record, buy Hi-Fi Test LP for it. It is also depends on suspension condition if the cartridge is not new.
You must know a cartridge dynamic compliance measured at 10Hz (not at 100Hz). If you see 100Hz in the manual simply convert it to 10Hz by multiplying on 1.7
More about tonearm/cartridge resonance here.
The "WOW" factor of the cartridge in your system pretty much depends on Stylus Profile and Cantilever Material. If you want extended frequency response, less record wear, long stylus life span and overall better quality you need something line MicroLine and Beryllium cantilever (not available for any new AT model), this is exactly what you can have with Audio-Technica AT-ML150 OCC for very reasonable price. For example the AT-ML170 is absolutely mind blowing cartridge and AT-ML180 is simply amazing but very expensive and impossible to find. There are many reasons why the AT-ML150 OCC is better than AT VM540ML, but one of the main reasons is Beryllium cantilever, Ceramic Base and OCC coild wire and OCC terminal pins. Actually the AT-ML150 OCC was in production and in stock in the shops until the 90’s, even after production of Beryllium was restricted by ecologists. I think the AT-ML150 OCC can be found for $350-450 depends on condition, i bought at least 3 of them over the years, then upgraded to 170 and 180.