I’ve made my own using pucks, fabric furniture pads, and blue tac. Seemed to do the trick under my TT.

Yeah they are. I wanted to get them off the ground a bit more but retain the angle upwards.

What did the speakers sell for?

Marantz have always had decent phono stages in their integrateds. you’d have to spend a lot more to achieve significantly better results. Best to just upgrade your cart or stylus.

Those are in no way audiophile.

If you have the money why not? No different than collecting watches, wine, art, cars etc. All those hobbies at one point lose rationality when it comes to cost.