Dear @atmasphere : """
Any cartridges that are notably good performers? "" that's the OP question and I can't read nothing about in your post.
Btw, It does not matters all what you posted about cartridge/tonearm combination ( that all audiophiles know its importance. Only rookies are ignorant about. ) the cartridge self tracking abilities is the must important issue.
We can have a near " perfect " cartridge combination with a resonance frequency at 8hz-9hz but says almost nothing if that cartridge was designed with 6cu on compliance, it will be a very bad tracker and that " string rigth " never will show up. I said " strings rigth " but could be any other performance characteristic. What if that 6cu additional comes with conical stylus shape instead VDH or Shibata one?
A cartridge is a whole unit and as its tracking abilities is important are other important characteristics as motor design or suspension and quality level excecution of that design.
Everything the same : cartridge abilities is the name of the game.
"""
Once the signal is properly tracked, you have to get it to the preamp where it gets properly amplified and equalized . """
curios but instead to talk about that " amplified and equalized " subjects you gone for a way less important " road ":
""
The inductance and capacitance conspire to throw things out of whack: they create an electrical resonance """.
@daveyf """
Many phono stages are not that compatible or resolving enough ...."""
well neither people touched the amplifier resolution or cable resolution or several other links in the " prolific " audio system chain.
The best linephonostage/cables/amplifiers/ speakers/TT/tonearm can only reproduce ( always with degradation of the signal that pass through each link. ) what the cartridge pick-up.
The star in an analog room/audio system is the cartridge it self ( other than the LP. ) and all the other links in the audio system chain work as slaves of that cartridge.
Yes important slaves, but that's all.
R.