Was your first cartridge relatively expensive?


I'm thinking seriously about buying my first analog rig. I've never set up a turntable system before and obviously my biggest fear is breaking/damaging the cartridge.

So I've got some questions for you guys. Was your first cartridge relatively expensive? In hindsight would you have bought a cheaper one to "learn" with? Would you recommend a newbie who is sure he likes the sound of vinyl and will stick to it, to start with the best cartridge he can afford?
howie
I was asking the same question a year ago with little or no vinyl but a passion for the stuff and a need to cleanse myself of that digital grunge! I spent $250 on a Denon 103R and $2000 on a Scoutmaster, and boat loads on records. I guess my personal rule of thumb is spend 10-20% of the cost of the turntable on the cartridge. I'm considering something better now though, a year on. Maybe a Shelter 901, which would be pushing 50% of what I've put into analog this year.

Cheers, Nick.
one thing nobody's mentioned yet: in terms of sound the table is most important, followed by the arm, followed by the cartridge;
so you should spend as much of your budget as possible on the first two - you'll have to replace cartridges regularly anyway down the road (conventional wisdom is that they last about 1500 hours) and you can move up cartridge-wise at those points

and Raul is right, any decent TT dealer will set things up for you for no extra charge when you buy a cartridge. further, dealers will give you generous credit for trading in your used cartridge. I've never messed with my TT a bit, but I sure enjoy it!
I was told by my dealer and others that the list of importance goes. 1.cartridge 2.phono stage 3.arm 4.table

I have recently upgraded from an entry level setup to something that is far more expensive, and while the new rig sounds better, the big jump is going from only having digital to haveing an entry level turntable.
Ejlif, no offense, but I'd find another dealer. I've been playing records for a lot longer than 50 years and the table itself is by far the most important element. People thought Ivor Tiefenbrun (Linn Sondek) was crazy when he propounded this idea in the 70s. He wasn't.
First cartridge after 20 years was a Grado Green @ $60. It ran on an old Sansui table and sounded great. I upgraded modestly to a NAD533 and now use a Denon DL-110 that I got used for $85. Analog doesn't have to cost $$$. For the small ammount of money I am spending I am getting much more enjoyment from my table than from CD ... and now I building a Hagerman Bugle phono pre - never thought I would be doing that! And this is much much fun.