Turntable versus tonearm versus cartridge: which is MOST important?

@ mijostyn
Excellent point! 

@millercarbon. “Put your money into table and arm. Then cartridge.”

+1

I really had to think about this. I have owned only four or five turntables and twice as many cartridges.  But MC is right… every one of my “wow, that is incredible” moments have been the turntable / arm changes (I don’t buy arms separately), never a cartridge change. 

I might point out that 3-4 of us delivered the same opinion as MC, prior to MC's post.  Anyway, it's a comfort to know we are mostly in agreement.

Perhaps it is not as extreme as this hypothetical, but, I know someone who bought a $5,000 cartridge to temporarily use on the cheapest Pro-ject table.  I helped another friend with the installation, which included milling a heavier counterweight to use than the one supplied by Pro-ject.  The installation involved using a Feickert protractor, and a very good digital scale (I own equipment for setting azimuth electronically, but, we thought this is overkill for this installation). The combination sounded good, except for some noticeable inner groove distortion.  The distortion was probably from the arm being barely able to handle the vibrational energy from the cartridge.  When the cartridge was installed in its permanent home, an EMT turntable/arm, there were no issues with inner groove distortion.

In my humble experience (40 years) your hunch would be incorrect. A proper turntable and tonearm (more expensive) will allow you to extract the most performance from a $500.00 phono cartridge. You will then have a platform (turntable/tonearm) that will reveal further improvements in phono cartridge performance down the road.

Summed up or put another way; buy the very best turntable and tonearm you can afford FIRST.