Quote Originally Posted by 02audionoob
The turntable and tonearm can handicap a cartridge every bit as much as the other way around. Members of another forum with far more talk of turntables than this one tend to overrate the importance of the cartridge. The OM series isn't so good that it warrants basing a turntable decision on it. It's all that simple.
If this were a general audiophile discussion about turntables, I'd agree with you. But, the topic is the entry level market, and from what I've seen in this market, the OEM-installed cartridge is very much an afterthought.

Music Hall doesn't even disclose which vendor supplies the cartridges for their entry level MMF 2.2 model. And the flood of USB turntables I've seen coming onto the market similarly don't typically disclose the cartridge make and model, and often use inferior conical styli. Indeed anyone can simply upgrade the cartridge, but that's yet another learning curve for a vinyl novice and an added expense on top of whatever the turntable itself costs.

I'm not claiming that the Ortofon OM series is the last word in cartridges, but it does offer up decent performance in the entry level price points and a seamless upgrade path. Given all that, its inclusion with the Pro-Ject turntable is a plus, especially for someone who's just getting into vinyl and doesn't have a huge budget.