"You spent how much on that cartridge?"

@tcutter   I don't believe the number of records is a relevant factor in the price of your gear, unless you own a trifling small number of records. 

I own fewer records than many audiophiles because I didn't like to buy an LP unless I liked at least half the record, and I'm pretty choosy.  So I would tape the songs I liked from friends' records or from FM rather than buy an LP with one or two songs I liked. 

Consequently, I own maybe 200 rock/pop LPs, ~100 classical LPs, maybe 50 jazz LPs, and ~40 other kinds.  But a high percentage of these are audiophile-quality--half-speed mastered, etc.  So even though my vinyl collection is a tenth of some other members' here, I still have a $3k cartridge for my turntable, which cost about $3k 40 years ago when I bought it. 

I imagine many who own thousands of LPs only listen to a small fraction of those.  Some collector types have trouble letting go of things (Freud would call them anal-retentive, but we don't have to go there, necessarily).  I would urge those aging collectors to recognize that there is now a resurgence in vinyl sales, and so it's a good time to sell what you don't listen to.  And with the current oil shortage, that will probably further worsen the quality of vinyl to be manufactured in the next few years.  (I'm old enough to remember the lousy vinyl on some US records as a result of the '70s oil embargo.)

Many current records are based on digital recordings/remasters anyway, so it's arguable whether it even makes sense to buy those.  But if you're sitting on a bunch of all-analog vinyl that you don't listen to, why not share it with others so they can discover what good records sound like.

OK, let's give people newer to the hobby some reasonable options that will not hold them back.  In my opinion you could put just about any cartridge at any price on a Rega P8 or a Technics SL1500G without a constraint.  Likewise the Clearaudio Concept Signature Turntable.  How about some other suggestions below say $5K US?

If I were to start over with a vinyl first mentality I would spend as much as I could (50% of budget)  on the cartridge and then build everything else around it.

Socalm, the general consensus among long term addicts is that a merely good cartridge on a first rate rig will outperform a great (expensive) cartridge on a mediocre rig.

Likewise the Clearaudio Concept Signature Turntable.  How about some other suggestions below say $5K US?

I like the Clearaudio Concept a lot, but for a big caveat that the magnetic bearing "Concept arm" can be a nightmare unless you’re on solid concrete slab (and even then...). IMO you want a Satisfy or Tracer arm on that deck. Also IIRC some of the motors / controllers were having issues, hence the revision to "Air" status.

I think the Rega and Technics are also good suggestions. Is it too repetitive for me to suggest vintage SOTA again? If that 1980s SOTA Star III wasn’t my 1st deck (circa 2007), there’s a good chance I don’t become the analog crazed maniac of today lol. I had it rebuilt by SOTA to Nova V specs some years ago (before all their cool materials & Phoenix Engineering upgrades), and that was nice to get the vacuum clamping working again - but really vacuum aside, it sounded JUST as good in its original state. That deck cost me $2K including FR64fx arm, and I added a new Benz Glider L2 for $800. What a starter set!

From my earlier comments, the 15K / 30K deck was Clearaudio Innovation Wood and later Master. The cartridges were Ortofon Cadenza Bronze and Benz Wood / Zebrawood / Ebony. And later an Air Tight PC-7 (which listed $2500 and is a very similar Excel build to Hana Umami Red). Fine carts to be sure, and they performed their best for me on these decks, but e.g. the Koetsu "magic" doesn’t suddenly manifest in these other makes. And likewise I bet you could find plenty of audiophiles who would prefer those over the Koetsu, too (very subjective). Cartridges have very distinct sonic fingerprints, like with speakers.