What do you usually upgrade first - cartridge or phono stage ?

@inna I am blaming you and this thread for potentially expediting my phono stage upgrade. Lol

audphile1, you are right. Audiogon can be a disaster in this sense, I know it from the experience.

slaw, of course.

dwette, I see, serious upgrades.

Our cartridges are almost always better than we think and our phono stages are almost always worse than we think.

I upgraded my cartridge first and didn't realize how really good it was until I upgraded my phono stage.

+1 for @dwette comments. 

Have been through 5 phono stage upgrades. The biggest step up was the last. 

I have a pool of 6-8 LOMC carts and a couple of MM carts; many were tried out along the way with each phono stage. 

And a shocker for the most recent was the addition of a shunyata omega power cord for the phono stage only. Everything came into focus, with super glue holding your rear to the listening seat.