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

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.  

Yeah, power cords can make big difference. Good for me that I have full function integrated amp, one cord. I just put Purist Dominus Ferox that I had and all seemed right.