Relative Spending on Turntables and Cartridges


It seems conventional, at least at the low to mid-range of equipment, to spend much more for a turntable than for the cartridge. I'm wondering about the logic behind that. It seems to me that, once you've spent enough for a well-made turntable that with a good motor, sufficient weight and torque, and a solid tonearm that a cartridge upgrade is, relatively speaking, more valuable than a turntable upgrade. For example, I have a Rega P3 that typically comes with (in the package version) and Elys II cartridge. On mine, I know use a Rega Ania cartridge, which, as upgraded by SoundSmith, costs a bit more than the turntable. But the audible return on that investment has been enormous. I also have a Pioneer PLX-1000, which I initially used with a Sumiko Pearl cartridge. I've since upgraded, first, to a Hana EL, and subsequently to an Ortofon Quintet Bronze. Each upgrade improved sound quality (frequency response, transparency, detail, sound stage, etc.) dramatically. Perhaps I'm not getting everything out of the Bronze or the Ania that I would hear if I used them on higher-level turntables. But in terms of bang-for-the-buck, I've reached the conclusion that it is smarter to budget 50% each for cartridge and turntable than the prevailing norm of 75% for the turntable and only 25% for the cartridge (at least once your total budget reaches around $1000. Your thoughts?
dancole
IF you have a great relationship with your dealer, this is a very easy thing to test out in the real world.... throw a 3x cartridge from the same brand ( in this case an Ortofon) on your REGA and see what it can do...,
+1, @mijostyn and @jperry.

As others have pointed out, it would be wise to max out your budget for a turntable. IME, the upgrade path for cart and phono becomes much easier once you have a solid foundation i.e. Turntable. 

I am in the process of setting up my analog and I went 70/30 between my TT and Cart. 
So....

Since I spent $75,000 on my table, I’ve got to spend $100,000 on my cartridge. I only spent $11,000.
you are not going to be able to go with a very good cartridge unless you have a very good arm. A nice arm can be $3500 to $$$$$. For example, Pioneer and music hall are not a good turntables.. I had a $2000 soundsmith cartridge on a $3500 arm, and the arm would have supported a much better cartridge. The turntable cost 5 digits and would support the better arms
If you put bigger and bigger engines into a compact sedan, at some point it won't work out as hoped.