Upgrade My Turntable - How Much Do I Need to Spend?

Goodlistening, I guess you can listen, but I would appreciate it if you would re-read the last several posts about using a mono switch. It was Elliot (not I) who claimed that noise due to vertical deflection of the cantilever (not "volume", the term you used in critique) was doubled if you use the mono mode switch on a preamp to play mono LPs with a stereo cartridge. And I disagree based both on physics (see my post above, please) and my direct experience. Mijostyn may be technically correct but his statement lacking detail and is irrelevant to the issue, which is what happens when you use the mono mode switch to play mono LPs with a stereo cartridge. I have done this hundreds of times, and high frequency noise is always reduced compared to levels that occur when you play a mono LP with a stereo cartridge and use no correction.

Here is a statement I found on another website that is relevant to the mono discussion: "A true mono cartridge has only one coil and is designed to respond to lateral signals only. It does not respond to vertical signals. A stereo cartridge strapped or otherwise manipulated to become a mono cartridge still responds to vertical signals. The introduction of the vertical signal causes distortion and phase anomolies that are not fully canceled by summing the 2 signals. The anomolies are audible. That is why many consider a true mono cartridge (one coil only) to be superior to a stereo cartridge adapted to mono."

So this statement conforms to my own claim that the response in the vertical plane is cancelled.  However, it also mentions that cancellation is imperfect in that it causes "distortion" (without saying what sort of distortion) and phase cancellation (of course it does, that is how the vertical response is cancelled).  But these considerations do support the notion that using a separate "true mono" cartridge may be additionally beneficial, which in part supports Elliot's experience.  But surely the noise resulting from vertical deflection of the cantilever on a mono LP is not doubled.

@lewm 

Is it possible for you simply to admit you made a few innocent but incorrect claims earlier on in this thread? I’m sure you’re a fine person regardless. I only corrected you so as to help others who may be newbies.

Thank you all for your experience on the matter and your advice.  

On a side note, it's always interesting to see how a thread like this goes off course onto a tangent that is far from the original question:  how big of a step up do I need to make with my turntable to take full advantage of the other components in my system?

I do appreciate all of the points above and am considering these factors in my decision.

goes off course 

if a thread stays on course, we did it wrong :)