Any component you add to your system should be of the highest quality you can afford. That way the overall quality of your system will constantly improve one piece at a time.
If you match new components to the level of your current system its overall quality will always be the same.
Unless...
An excellent turntable, congratulations.
Try the turntable before you go fixing anything. Depending on how it was stored it may work just fine.
Sometimes you can find NOS Stanton/Pickering P-mount cartridges on eBay. $200-$400. Worth looking into.
Good luck.
"Handel - Messiah" performed by the Choir Of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and the Academy Of Ancient Music led by Christopher Hogwood on L'Oiseau-Lyre.
The problem I've run into in the past (most likely because I'm an idiot) is this: I start at the R2=120 position and jiggle the cartridge until it's aligned properly. Then I move to the R1=66 position and jiggle the cartridge until it's aligned properly. Then I double check the R2=120...