importance of phono cartridge

I'm checking into having Purist build a cable for my Cosmos. The motor is DC, so I want to have the imbilical cord running between the power supply and the TT upgraded from stock.

A couple of people have mentioned that upgrading that cord really helped. So far I have yet to be disappointed by Purist cables, but they won't add back what the cartridge didn't get from the LP.

Nrchy, you are quite right; "won't add back what the cartridge didn't get from the LP"

However, with regard to the original post, I do believe in giving any cartridge the opportunity to 'be all that it can be,' which brings us back to the TT and TA as the place to put the lion's share of one's available resources first, and upgrading cartridge, cables, phono preamp, as money permits.

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Once again, Raul does not directly answer the straightforward question posed to him.
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Dear Larry: How can any one state precisely an answer to a " wide open " question?

+++++ " will a $1600 TT/tonearm with a high end cartridge sound better than a $5000 TT/tonearm with a average cartridge ? " +++++

Example of an answer, YES: Technics SP10 MK2 with a Moerch DP6 ( second hand ) and a XV-1 Dynavector cartridge. This combination can beat a high price TT/tonearm with a cheap cartridge.

But all these tell us nothing at all, but that to have a good quality sound reproduction we need to have a good sinergy ( match ) between each one of the links in the very complex audio system chain.
The name of the game is: SINERGY .

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

The direct answer to a direct question for me is that the more expensive TT/Tonearm with cheaper cartridge is going to be the better bet 9 times ot of 10. Not least because the cartridge has such a finite life, very finite if you have an accident. A turntable tonearm is an investment with a very long life. My view is that a new cartridge choice can be used for variety, to change the tonal balance, so I use 2 cartridges. My vinyl system:
Origin Live Resolution/Illustrious
Ortofon Kontrapunkt B or Koetsu rosewood Signature
Clearaudio Reference Phonostage
The basics are always the same, the vinyl playback system is a unit. Those who say that you lose information at source without a reference grade cartridge, ignore the fact, not conjecture, that the data will never get off the grooves if the cartridge is'nt held in a commensurate arm, on a well set up, isolated(Mana wall shelf), level, TT.
As Raul says, the name of the game is SINERGY, though we spell it SYNERGY in the UK. The perils of a common language