Almost Time to Replace My DV-20xl

somewhat close, but you do get what you pay for.
I heard the best line about cartridges the other day...buy the best cartridge you can stretch for. so many people buy lesser cartridges and then try to resell or whatev, and lose big money. so if you're going for it, do it big!

Consider a Level 3 Soundsmith Re-Build [ $350.00 ] of your Dyna . You will be suprised at the outcome . It will compete with most $1500-2000 Cartridges .

You can buy a Used Cart. on AgoN to get you thru the 2 to 3 month wait for the Re-Build . Then you will have a backup just in case .

Just make sure the cart/arm "synergy" is such that it tracks well, and/or the cart is not only musical, but a good "high-velocity" tracker. I owned both the Dyna 20xl and xx 2 and neither tracked very well with the JMW arm. Admittedly, I was enamored of the xx2 because it offered marginally better "fleshing-out" of the final 1/3 of rec's, but it often times there was either gross mistracking which caused "buzz" or high-velocity mistracking which caused vocals and choral music to "whiten."

If you can bring these records to a dealer, I wouldn't part with any money until you can hear for yourself: For gross mis-tracking, try the last mov't of Beethoven's "Spring Sonata" (Ashkenazy/Perlman/London Records). The piano should remain full and stable. For high-velocity mistracking try the Karajan/Freni/Pavoratti "La Boheme" end of side 1, at the climax of Freni's "big" aria. The sound should not thin. These are two easily acquired Lp's. Other "real world" torture tracks would include the "Missa Brevis" from Britten/Willcock's/Argo "Rejoice in the Lamb," the final ascending "whistle" from Varese' "Poem Electronique"/Columbia. I could go on....

My dealer tried a couple of different alignments and I tried different pressings but no luck until I moved to a "cheap" Audio Technica 130E. Even if you still spring for the $$$ carts, I can tell you from experience, it will be eye-opening.

I'm not too concerned about the arm interface; I have a Dynavector 507 MKII and it's beefey enough to handle any cartridge, especially one like the Xv-1s that is pretty heavy.

My main issue is that ever present issue of diminshing return as you move up the line. The Xv-1s is a good bit more than double the cost of an XX2 but is it 'twice' as good....

If you still use that VPI I suggest you not spend much on cartridge; better save on table upgrade. Turntable is the most important part of the analog front end no matter what some foreign audiophiles here say.