What benefits to expect from tonearm upgrade

I agree with you Kiddman.

Gondo101, my experience was that images resolved into individual instruments, and there was no smearing. It was easy to follow the musical line from individual instruments. The difference between the Basis modified Rega arm and the Basis Vector arm on my Basis 2000 turntable, using a Shelter 901 cartridge was immediately noticeable and very significant. I was stunned because I did not think it would make a huge difference, but it did.

Some years ago I upgraded (so I thought) my resident cartridge for a well-reviewed and highly recommended replacement. What was all the fuss about the latter I wondered - it sounded dull and uninvolving on my RB300. The I upgraded the RB300 for a Michell Technoarm (a much modified Rega RB250) and immediately heard why the new cartridge was so highly regarded.

Moral of the story: upgrade your arm first and then select a good cartridge to match it.

Gondo101,
If you are happy as you say with your ortofon arm then a logical upgrade could be one of ortofon's own,or even Jelco's 12" versions.

Stringreen, you have not listened to the right arms then. There can be dramatic improvements.

Omsed...I might have missed an arm or two, but I have either owned or have been very familiar with most arms that are mentioned on these pages...yes, the highly regarded ones. Sure...going from a Webcor arm to a Graham arm brings more to the table, but in my experience a change of cartridge to a better one, brings greater rewards than a change of arms.