A very good explanation, Frank. Thank you.
I do wonder though, if some of the colouration (however derived) that all cartridges display is part of their charm. Not hifi in the strictest sense, but pleasing to the ear, nonetheless.
I am absolutely sure you are right Paul.
Two things stick in my mind from my time at Garrard, one was picking up buses driving by 4 floors down and across the car park on the cartridge output if the deck wasn't isolated down to a very low frequency, the other was the amount of extra but different colouration there was added by arms and cartridges.
We only looked at the phono stage output btw, any shortcoming not effecting that was considered unimportant.