Best investment; cartridge or line stage?

@thecarpathian 

Thank you for the kind words. Most courteous.

Made some parts, subcontracted others. Turntable and tonearm, all my designs, my fabrication, subcontract much of the woodwork. The latest wands are natural fibre composites, for which I make the cores and subcontract the epoxy work. Off-the-shelf whenever possible: e.g. New Way air bearings and shafting, Igus carriages. Battery power supply is more complex than it looks, my design, layout, and fabricating. Same with power supply for the main monoblocks. Other electronics, mainly my layouts, parts selection, fabricating, and a better man's amplification schematics.

Not engineering - math and science. Now retired and learning some of the stuff my more practical father could have taught me.

I also think the Rega Tonearm is 'good enough', until you move up to a far superior TT.

You will DEFINITELY hear an improvement, BETTER, with a new cartridge with an advanced stylus shape.

A different Phono Stage? I would love to hear the existing and new cartridges thru that Sutherland TZ Vibe Phono Stage, your system or mine.

If the Sutherland sounds great, why even think about changing it? Have you heard something elsewhere that makes you think it is not great? Unless a POC, phono stage differences  are about PREFERENCE, not better..

I highly recommend, after you break your new cartridge in, and saved some money, buy a Phono Stage with return privileges. It may prove how great your Sutherland is.

Don't forget, the Sutherland has adjustable gain settings. Medium/High/Low

Compared to other sources, streaming, CD: where is the Preamp's volume setting when playing Vinyl? If preamp volume is higher than the others, change Sutherland to higher gain. It preamp's volume is higher than the others, try lower gain.

@milo0812   Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water ...

Another county heard from. Everyone hears differently. I think that you should listen to other systems and other components as much as possible - but you already knew that. One last piece of advice - don't hurry! Good equipment will still be available in 6 months or a year.

@terry9 yes indeed, I'm not sure crossing the street in heavy traffic is wise 😱.

@elliottbnewcombjr So the interest in moving up the Sutherland line comes from a conversation I had with the owner (we both live in KC, go Chiefs) when I bought the TZ vibe. He said the difference in the TZ and the little loco was significant. Different tech. He advised I go straight to the little loco instead of buying then taking a hit on resale of the little loco, but my wallet did not support the thought at that time. Before I made that jump, I thought I better consider cartridge vs phono stage.

resale of the TZ