Some cartridges to also think about are Clearaudio Aurum Beta S, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood--used. Either would be about $300-400. If later on you wished to upgrade the sound, the Cartridge Man Music Maker III is very nice sounding and more detailed than most of the MM's. I picked up one used on Agon for $500. It lists for $1295. None of these would need a step up device. I've had the Clearaudio cartridges in a very fine Maplenoll Ariadne straight line tracking air bearing TT/arm combo. Any would be a large step up in sound quality to the Shure. I had the V15 back in college. OK is all.
