my original plan was to go with the Ortofon OM20 because 1) I had an old Dual that came with a cart made by Ortofon that I liked and 2) the Pro-Ject tables come with Ortofon carts in Europe. I've also heard good things about Grado carts (except for the hum issue w/Rega tables) and considered the Grado Gold because I can get it for about the same price as the OM20. When my Christmas bonus was a little more than expected, I thought the Grado Reference Platinum for a little over $100 more would be interesting. It's $270 from audioadvisor with their 30-day guaranty. I can't justify going over $270 at this time - too many albums left on my wish list.

Pro-Ject and Sumiko are distributed in the US by the same company so I haven't asked them to recommend a cart thinking they would probably recommend a Sumiko cart.

The first cart I purchased was a Shure M92e for a Technics table (it's on an old Marantz table now), but I haven't really looked at their line lately.

Anyhow, I think I have a handle on my choices. Part of the fun for me is narrowing the field before I lay down the cash. Unfortunatley, living in a rural area makes it hard to audition fine audio gear. Thanks again.