The greatest MM and MI cartridges ....

Greedy no way! "greed is good" to some extent? Irrational, maybe we all are all in some way a little bit of that and a lot of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Agreed, two years is too long. I know this waaaay off topic however I'm curious Nandric as to your source for a stylus for the 881S as it is my current "house" cartridge and I am on the brink of placing an order with LP Gear for their version of the shibata for this unit. It saddens me at $ 167.00, I just know it just won't be the same but hey it's allegedly in stock, new, a japanese shibata and sources for the real deal STANTON stylus dried up many moons ago!

How come no mention of the Pickering XSV 3000 and 5000 Series of cartridges?

I found the Sound Smith CL rebuild for the Virtuoso wood to be vastly superior to the stock version. Ive had both in my system for extended listening and never found the original aluminum cantilever romantic sounding. The retip retains the CA house sound but with greater detail and tighter bass. This is of course in my system, Im sure differences heard reflect phono pre etc. Ive owned several of the previously mentioned MM's and would say the SS virtuoso is my favorite so far although I still prefer a couple of my MC's overall.

OK. Here's a vote for the Pickering XSVs. I've got both a 3000 and a 5000. Stanton 981LZS is my fave of the Pickering/Stanton group.