Tone arm vs Cartridge upgrades

If you're interested in some "food for thought", check out the Funk Firm videos on YouTube. Lot of good info, IMO, on tonearm material resonance and so on.

I own an older FXR arm with internal X bracing.

Are you getting maximum performance out of the current arm/cart thru the "best" phonostage?

Your table and arm seem to be a well proven combo that people seem to pair together more often than not so I would stick with that proven duo and concentrate on the cart since you have noted it is long in tooth. I would look closer at the phono stage, would love to know which one you have now, and how well it would do with a new cart, and don't forget about a good arc protractor and proper set up tools to get everything just right. Enjoy the music

@tablejockey 

+1 excellent question.

I have had good and high end turntables for many decades. Although I do not have direct knowledge of your components specifically. For the most significant pop… the cartridge. A $2K cartridge will likely make the biggest difference.

But a question. Are you trying to systematically put together an audiophile analog leg? If so, then the answer might be different. You want to look at where you want to be in a few years. This would definitely put a greater emphasis on the phono stage, because this will set the base sonics for the whole leg. You will want to choose other components on this basis of what your phone stage, preamp,  amp and speakers sounds like, and your tastes of course.