Cartridge - sweet spot on the cost/sound curve?

What about the Hana EH or EL? Both MC but EH with high output depending of your phono stage capabilities. Hana makes great products at a very complétive price point. I have owned two Hana SL in a row. The EH is often in the list of annual best buys.Another option is to get a SL at a discount as Hana is replacing it with the Hana SL MKII…while quantities last. Good luck and keep us posted.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I will do some detective work over the weekend to figure out where the imbalance comes from - duh Oh moment! I should have figured that out myself.

THANKS!

@elliottbnewcombjr 

Just a word of caution - there were several series of Shure V15 made, and they do not necessarily share compatible stylii. The V15 Type IV was the first with the built-in brush.  I inherited a V15 Type III and was looking for a Jico boron cantilever / Super Analog Stylus but I could get a complete AT540ML cartridge for the same price, so I did.

Then I spotted a Jico SAS/B stylus a bit cheaper from a seller in Japan, but they shipped a NUDE stylus worth only half as much instead!  Still fighting that one ...

Just responding the the title. The sweetspot is determined mostly by your financial situation. 

It is also determined by how good your table/arm/phono stage are. And by the rest of your system, for that matter. $500 cartridge in a $100k system is definitely not going to be the best value but $5k one can be.