Cartridge under 1 kilodollar leaves you many fine choices!

Mentioning warmth made me think of the Grado line, with the Reference Master.

The Shelter 301 MkII may be up your alley, too.

The Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood is a killer all arounder. (It may be the bargain of the bunch.)

For your budget, it will be hard to go wrong!

When I made my return to vinyl I reviewed the DV10X5 on the P7 and the Benz L2 woodbody on a VPI Scout on different setups in different stores.
I have an active Linn system and value PRAT highly. Both combinations delivered well in this regard. The Benz/VPI won me over with a warm tonality and really strong well controlled bass.
Highly recommend you try this combination. The L2 will likely deliver similarly in the P7. Good luck in finding the auditions!
There are often good trade-ins against a new Benz. I bought an old cartridge on e-bay to get my price well below $1,000.
Happy listening!

Hi

Appreciate that you have picked out the Rega but i would suggest checking out the Marantz TT with the Virtuoso wood, this can be bought as a package for $1600 and really takes some beating especially if you have a good phono stage

Alan

Quote:
Hi

Appreciate that you have picked out the Rega but i would suggest checking out the Marantz TT with the Virtuoso wood, this can be bought as a package for $1600 and really takes some beating especially if you have a good phono stage

Alan

Sometimes it gets confusing about what's "done."

Welsh is right, the Marantz is a steal.

I started listening to my LPs more last year (I still have about 400 left, culled from about 800 originally before I moved...), and my old Karmon-Kardon turntable, which cost me about $500 in 1975 or so, decided to have a bearing failure.

I bought the Music Hall MMF-7, which I love, but was not happy with the Goldring cartridge that came with it. This cartridge also failed after 10 hours or so, so the dealer took it back and gave me a credit toward purchasing a different one.

After trying a couple of Grados and a very nice Audio-Tecnica, I finally ended up with the Benz Micro Ace, which I am very happy with and which cost $550; highly recommended!

i don't know if you can swing it, but the clearaudio aurum beta S is a good one. it is moving magnet with 3.6mv output so works well with standard phono input if you have that, so could save money buying a phonopre. changed up from a benz micro silver high output moving coil. very pleased with it.

Benz Micro cartridges are excellent they have helped produce some of the "blackest" backgrounds that I've ever heard.