That's exactly what I thought. AT cartridges 'mild'? To my ears they are typically hi fi cartridges.
But then a very experienced dealer, who has probably heard as many varieties of cartridges as anyone else in the UK, casually remarked to me : ''95% of all cartridges are just awful...awful.'' That took me aback, but on reflection could be about right if you want to listen to music and not 'hi fi'.
And the better samples are not all very costly either. In fact very pricey cartridges are among the worst offenders, bright, aggressive, unnaturally detailed.....you'll never hear that sound when listening to live music.
There, got that off my chest. Too much of 'hi fi' is just unnatural sounding. A few decent cartridges, Shure 97xe (£70), basic Ortofon SPU, wooden bodied Grados. There are no doubt others but I haven't heard them. The 'worst'....probably Lyra, to my ears. All detail and little music. Too many brands fall into the 'loads of detail, all in your face' trap.
I should imagine a good dealer could install something nice on the Rega. But it depends what you want...hi fi or music. Quite rare to get both, sadly. Spending loads of cash usually makes it worse.
Bit of a challenge. And this being audio, you may hear things quite differently.