Any arm/cartridge ideas?

The Rega would probably be your best bet; $500 doesn't buy much of a tonearm these days.

keep the arm and get a better cartridge.....grado....nice turntable/arm combo, and better than a lot of expensive tables

Jaybo,

Ideally($), I'd go with just a cartridge upgrade if that would do the trick. The two dealers I talked to kind of ragged the stock arm, which was why I was asking for some, hopefully, objective advice. I've never made any upgrades to the table before.

I really like the sound of Grados in other people's rigs, but I've heard that they induce hum in tables like the Systemdek with unshielded motors. Any experience there?

My phono preamp is a Cambridge Audio 540p. The rest is a Cambridge Audio 540a integrated driving KEF Cresta 10's and a Dayton Audio subwoofer. Like I said before--mid-fi--but I get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

As far as getting a used P3 or a newer MMF or Project, I rather like the suspended design of the Systemdek. And the phono preamp won't handle low output MC's.

I dumped my rega 3/rb300 like a hot potato after hearing the systemdek w/stock arm. I also have a Sumiko arm which seemed slightly darker than the Profile. But I'd just upgrade the cartidge- hard to beat the systemdek/profile combo. Lots of other upgrades on theinternet for the systemdek. I've tried a few. Some worked for me some didn't.
Only way to upgrade from the systemdek is to spend some HUGE bucks. Have fun and good luck

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I've decided to keep the arm stock and have purchased a Shure M97xE. It's a cheap but hopefully substantial upgrade over the Basik, and, like Viridian said, this'll leave me plenty of surplus to buy some decent LP's. It is all about the music anyway, isn't it?