Phono cartridge suggestions sought

Thanks Raul, and ive enjoyed reading your extensive information on cartridges btw

I humbly suggest the Nagaoka MP500. Sounds excellent to me. Well rounded.

boron cantilever if I remember correctly

+1 with rwortman. VM540ML is the same stylus as the VM740ML, and nearly the same cartridge body, at a couple hundred dollars cheaper. I have two VM540ML cartridges and I’m amazed how good they sound compared to lesser cartridges. The micro line profile is also the longest lasting at 800 to 900 hours, and you can try the Shibata or special line contact styli if you want, using the existing cartridge body. 

A vote for Sound Smith! I'd get whichever one of theirs you can afford, and enjoy knowing that it doesn't get any better (maybe equal, but not better).

I'm 71,

My cartridge/stylus comments are below, but consider them in the context of my aged attitude:.

Practical over esoteric; fine quality is good enough; chase great recordings, discover new artists, rather than tweaks.

I believe analog process records/reproduces overtones correctly, resulting in more involvement than digital even if analog involves more noise.

Similarly, that is why I prefer Tubes to SS. (Thus concentrate on efficient speakers to reduce power demands, which gets big, hot, expensive using tubes.

Primary, far and above anything else, is speaker matching and placement in any given listening space, very often unrealized.
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TT: mass mechanics/cartridge alignment most important, effects results more than cartridge/stylus 'quality'. Just yesterday, I re-checked my recent cartridge alignment, and found it ever so 'off', I re-did everything, listened, improvement far beyond any cartridge/stylus change I have used. That's after years of alignment experience. The mechanics are most important.

I have moved from elliptical to Micro-Line (both Shure and AT), back to Elliptical (current Shure M97xE). Always MM, never MC, avoiding adding the challenge of another amplification stage.  I've heard esoteric MM and MC, brought my own familiar LP's to friends, demos, showrooms. I'm sticking with M97xE.

After years of Thorens/SME/Microline: both my spare virgin Shure ML and AT ML sit unused in the drawer, I prefer the elliptical. 

I  found ML added a frequent need of deep groove cleaning that I found tedious, in the way of spontaneous listening sessions. Many times ML resulted in more noise than elliptical, especially AT without the brush.

I definitely want Shure's brush (anti-static, anti-skip, an additional level of soft touchdown). I also find the brush reduces the gunk on the stylus, reducing frequency of StyLast, thus consumption of the fluid is prolonged (not the reason, just the result).

Misalignment, aside from less than optimal results, is a cause of groove damage. IF Micro-Line is misaligned, my instinct tells me ML will do more damage to grooves than elliptical, and, if bottom groove damage has occurred, using elliptical slightly higher in the groove can produce more satisfying results. That's instinct, certainly not facts.