"You spent how much on that cartridge?"

My turntable is 30 yo, the tonearm the latest model in a series I have owned with the turntable and a new optical cartridge/equalizer. Most of my records are from college in the 70's and into the next couple of decades, but after that I got real busy and something had to slide. The albums are still in great condition and I am delighted I get to hear them on this level of a system.

My cartridge cost about 1/2 what my turntable cost.

@2psyop That's probably a great ratio to go by when upgrading or not knowing which direction or brand you're going with. Mine is about a 1/2 as well. 

A ridiculous assertion on multiple fronts! There’s no hard script to enjoying this hobby. When someone makes such a claim, I immediately think they either outright disdain vinyl -or- have a "cheapskate" system and think everyone else should too. Why worry what they think? Anyways, small & well curated collections can be much more enjoyable than large libraries full of junk. I ended up with ~3K LPs and I’d say at least one-third of that is junk I could cull (e.g. if the CD / file version sounds better, it’s junk). 

I probably have around 30 cartridges lol. Rotating those...and phono stages...and SUT - keeps the listening fresh and exciting for both audiophile and musical sensibilities. 

ALSO some of the less expensive cartridges can become favorites too. It’s far from a linear progression up with price, though it very much SEEMS that way on your first ascension. That said - Koetsu Blue Lace is still my best cart. And on the other hand - I can enjoy listening to just an Ortofon 2M Blue (blue is a nice color), too! Vinyl rocks.