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Another rookie question...in the $500 range, which would make the bigger improvement, a amp upgrade or a cartridge upgrade from a $200 base...

I'm a bit unsure what you're asking here but I'll try and help.
I guess you're talking about a moving magnet cartridge and not moving coil.
Moving coils require far more expensive phono preamplification than moving coils, cost lots more and are, in my opinion, far more temperamental and unreliable than moving magnets.
Having said that to answer your question we need to know how you're amplifying your existing LP source. Off hand though I'd suggest spending as much as you can afford on a decent moving magnet cartridge that's compatible with the arm you now have and later on adding a dedicated phono preamp. The best beginners deal is to buy a Shure M97XE , throw the stylus it comes with out and replace it with one from Jico, their N97xE. (stylus@export-japan.com.)
Give this combination a good arm/turntable & phono preamp to run with and the results will equal those obtainable from moving coils costing four figures.
Anyhow, tell us more so we can give more certain advice.

Hey, JIMV!

I would venture that your phono pre has more to give than the cartridge, so would aim at the needle end of the equation first.

For completeness sake, I'd say making sure the cartridge is optimally set up would come first, so the cost of a good protractor would come first.

If you have the cartridge comfortably set up and still wish to upgrade, my "start with the needle" recommendation would then kick in.

I think the Z Phono is pretty groovy, actually!

You're looking at 500 dineros or lower, so there are great options you should love!

The Clearaudio Aurum Alpha Wood is a fine moving magnet cartridge, as is the Grado Reference Platinum 1 - for 400 and 350 bucks, respectively.

The Denon 103 line is a long running cartridge that sounds better than its price would lead you to believe. It would also likely mate pretty well with your Z Phono.

The Benz Micro Gold and Silver may be worth a look, varying in output, but not price.

One of the all time heavyweight great needles....Sumiko's Blue Point Special EVO-III is in your range.

Lastly, I am not familiar with it, but the Soundsmith Carmen may be worth learning about.

(I guess if I had to pick one to mate with that amp, speaking only for myself, I'd go with the Sumiko.)

Buddha wrote: The Denon 103 line is a long running cartridge that sounds better than its price would lead you to believe. It would also likely mate pretty well with your Z Phono.

The question is, would it work well with the arm? The DL103 is a rigid pick-up, down to 5x10^-6 Dyn/cm, and will work optimally in fairly heavy arms only. Otherwise I do agree.

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Buddha wrote: The Denon 103 line is a long running cartridge that sounds better than its price would lead you to believe. It would also likely mate pretty well with your Z Phono.

The question is, would it work well with the arm? The DL103 is a rigid pick-up, down to 5x10^-6 Dyn/cm, and will work optimally in fairly heavy arms only. Otherwise I do agree.

Good point!

The stock cartridge for his arm on a TD 170 has a compliance of 20um/mN (20X10^-6 Dyn/cm, right?), and the Denon is lower compliance...so, I looked around for arm mass data for that tonearm and found several mentions of 12gm, kind of medium mass; making me a bit glib about thinking it should mate acceptably.

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Buddha wrote: The Denon 103 line is a long running cartridge that sounds better than its price would lead you to believe. It would also likely mate pretty well with your Z Phono.

The question is, would it work well with the arm? The DL103 is a rigid pick-up, down to 5x10^-6 Dyn/cm, and will work optimally in fairly heavy arms only. Otherwise I do agree.

Good point!

The stock cartridge for his arm on a TD 170 has a compliance of 20um/mN (20X10^-6 Dyn/cm, right?), and the Denon is lower compliance...so, I looked around for arm mass data for that tonearm and found several mentions of 12gm, kind of medium mass; making me a bit glib about thinking it should mate acceptably.

If the 12 grams is correct, it will end up with an arm resonance of around 14,8 Hz, which is on the high side if you ask me.

and 20um/mN equals 20X10^-6 Dyn/cm precisely.

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Didn't follow most of the arcane but thanks for the general into...

Keld worries the Denon's stiff suspension may not be flexible enough to work optimally with your tonearm. I can't find really definitive info regarding your tonearm's mass.

I made the math with these data:

Arm mass: 12 grams
PU weight: 8,5 grams
headshell/screws: 2,5 grams
PU compliance: 20 x 10^-6 mN

I must have had a major stroke. All of the above is nonsense. Since we are talking about the DL103 this is correct:

Arm mass: 12 grams
PU weight: 8,5 grams
headshell/screws: 2,5 grams
PU compliance: 5 x 10^-6 mN

And the result is 14,8 Hz. Sorry about my error.

JIMV!

With all that's going on with your table that is vexing you, it may be worth considering Ebay for the current table and cartridge, keeping the Z Phono (which I think is better than people may think) and waiting a bit to build the budget and hitting the ground with another table/arm/cartridge from your budget.

I'm not being cavalier with your cash, just that it may be worth building up your war chest a little and them aiming at a different table set up.