Turntable versus tonearm versus cartridge: which is MOST important?

I think we can all agree the most important component is to keeps spending gobs of money until all the problems and deficiencies go away...and then spend more to improve it incrementally until you go bankrupt or die!

I think it's important to get a turntable up to a certain level that the main "problems" of cheaper tables subside, and that it can facilitate a great tonearm. Preferably, it should include a whole-record clamping mechanism like a vacuum system or ring clamp. Past that, you biggest expenses should be phono stage and cartridge - properly matched, of course. And then, tonearm / cartridge matching is CRUCIAL.  

Agree with most of what you say, but the increment from a 10K turntable to a 3D air bearing was huge. Same tonearm, same cartridge.

Dear @terry9  : " That leaves physics, which is plenty complicated enough to defy analysis in a thread. ""

For me problem is not only physics but that due to all those imperfections that exist including the LP it self there are " hundred " of parameters that are and have a relationsship in between, this fact makes the whole subject extremely complex even to develop a mathematical model with. It's just impossible to do it.

Our opinions in all the posts in this thread are only our first hand expériences that are way different in all of us.

R.

Ralph, look at it this way, your bike is the turntable and your legs are the cartridge. You know darn well what happens when they fail:-)

That anaogy might be even worse than the one suggested earlier 😂

There is a vehicle analogy that I use. I've manufacturered my own 'table for about 22 years:

The requirement of the arm tracking the cartridge is nearly the same engineering problem as is steering in a car or motorbike. In the case of the arm, it must keep the cartridge in contact with the groove. In the case of a motor vehicle, the wheel must be kept in contact with the road- if not, if there is any slop in the steering and suspension system, if there is resonance, the vehicle will have handling problems and may be dangerous to drive.

Similarly the tonearm cannot have any slop in its bearings, no resonance in its armtube and there cannot be any slop in the platter bearing. Further, the coupling between the platter bearing and the base of the arm must be profound and lacking any resonance or susceptability to vibration.

 Beyond that the similarities weaken- for example the suspension in a steering system is damped in an immediate fashion (as in a Mcpherson strut) whereas if you are to damp the cantilever of a cartridge, it is done at the other end of the arm tube. Further, a tonearm is expected to have a mechanical resonance between 7 and 12 Hz where there should be no resonance whatsoever in a steering system- so at this point the analogy has fallen apart. 

If the arm is unable to keep the cartridge in consistent contact with the groove wall distortion will result. I've seen this happen with $10,000 cartridges. I've also seen a $35.00 cartridge track perfectly. The cost of the cartridge has almost nothing to do with it. This all comes from the arm and how well the cartridge compliance and weight works to allow for the mechanical resonance to fall into the right frequency.

If the arm has loose bearings (any bearing slop), if a required adjustment parameter cannot be met, if there is resonance in the arm tube, the result will be a coloration and/or mistracking regardless of the cost. While cartridges themselves are a bit miraculous in that they are so small and require a lot of precision at the same time; no matter how precise it is, it characteristics will not be realized if the arm simply isn't up to the task.

If you seek the best cartridge, make sure your arm is up to the task first!

Don’t quite understand, Raul. What parameters, other than the physical, do you mean?