Cartridge upgrade

I’m biased. The Kiseki Purple Heart NS is one of my favorite carts. I was a dealer for many years. FANTASTIC cartridge!

IMHO, you need a better table and arm.. The Chinook is SWEET, so no problems there.

@OP The Marantz is a effectively an entry level Clearaudio using technology from their earlier decks. Putting a cartridge priced at the level of the Kiseki on it is overkill. As a point of reference, you should have a listen to the new Concept Signature with something like a Hana ML on it and then consider an upgrade path from there. You can always sell on the Marantz to add to your upgrade fund.

@rfauto That is a fine little table and you can put any cartridge you want on it although you might have to add a little mass for some cartridges. It appears that Kiseki is pulling out of the American market as the usual retailers are not carrying them any more. You might look at the Audio Technica ART20, the Lyra Delos, The Soundsmith Voice and the Grado Statement. I would get The Soundsmith Voice because its tracking ability is top notch, it is very dynamic, it is high output which will give you a vastly better signal to noise ratio, Soundsmith's service is second to none and retipping is way more reasonable than any other cartridge. Buy it directly from Soundsmith. 

You can only expect top notch performance when the cartridge is set up correctly. You will need an alignment jig preferably for Lofgren B or A. The tone arm has a calibrated counter balance which is fine. Set anti skating so the arm drifts slowly towards the spindle between grooves in the run out area or on a blank side.  

Lots of conflicting advice in this thread.....

What other kind of advice is there?

id say get a better cartridge but don’t spend $3400. There are many great cartridges out there for under $1500 that will handily outperform the Clearaudio.