Edorr,
Your concern is right, but, OTOH, I agree with Peter that internet chatter cannot be any better.
I don't know which speakers you are using, but at the moment your not just browsing for a new cartridge or phono stage: you're looking for a entirely new amplification setup. In mean, that is really affecting the sound a lot!
In a perfect world, when a passionate music lover is about to drop several grands for an amplification, he could ask to test it in his environment. Sometimes it is possible. But if not, due to the important money investment, organizing an audition can be the most recommendable action.
The used market approach is another option, a tad risky but with a reduced money loss margin. The problem is that Spectral is not frequently running on the used market, specially when looking for the most recent realizations.