You need a good tonearm. I had 2 10x5's that sounded good but are junk as far as construction goes. A highend cart won't do as well as it should without a good arm.
How good does a TT have to be for a good cartridge
I have often wondered would you get good sound from a really good cartridge on a decent but not super good table. I am not an analog fanatic. I do own two fairly basic modern tables. One is a plain VPI Scout and the other a Music Hall MMF 5. Could I expect great sound from either one with a very high caliber cartridge that might cost lets say $3-5K . Is this an example of not being able to put lipstick on a pig?