In the early 80s, as a student I worked in an Amsterdam hifi store and have hands-on experience with the cartridges of that period. Either high compliance MM and heavier MC.
For turntable, a heavy / modified vintage Thorens(-derived) belt drive with sub chassis will be fine. For the MM tonearm is critical, for MC less so. Pre-amp is better resolution than transformer for low output, matching resistance and capacitance is not that essential.
MM provides better tracking, typically less open top end amd less firm base, mostly warmer sound than MC. MM Ortofons quite woolly, Shure bright, Stanton 681/881 harsh. Best are Stanton 980lzs (low output) and Grado Signature one and up.
Most complete range MC are Denon; 103 a rough diamond, 103S better but shrill, 103D accomplished. 301 don’t bother, 303 smooth middle of the range (par with Ortofon MC20 which is a lot softer), 305 excellent. Monster Cable Alpha Genesis 1000 a bit more resolution than 305. Dynavector Ruby gorgeous but a bit glassy and fragile (I broke two), Diamond nice but comparable Koetsu more accomplished and balanced. Kiseki curious and nice, wide variation in sound. Shelter fantastic and very sturdy. In my “audiophile” heavily damped tonearm Shelter 501 on Michell Gyro Dec. Alternative is Grado sig 1 in modified Thorens TD160 super.
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